The camera lights flickering from the background, capturing the gracefulness of the dancer. Beauty beyond the eye being held by the lens. Being put in a trance, mesmerized by her movements.Cheers could be heard from the crowds who flocked heavily to see her last performance. Standing ovations with much clapping and whistles could be seen and heard from outside of the arena.
A dancer, from a small country, worked very hard as a child, with persuasions from her family, had paid off. She had started in her own small school in plays and worked her way to America, performing in the most well-recognized halls. She had never married, but was married to her talent. People followed her from around the world. Now, today, twenty-five years later, she was giving the audience what they had always hungered. Her greatest performance, her finale. Roses were given, along with hugs, tears and kisses. Fare-wells could be heard echoed from corner to corner.
A small two-week break, and she would be teaching young children with talent on how to better express themselves through their dance.
Thank you to Picture It & Write It, for allowing me another chance to express myself through your picture.
This bring me to the film abut “Billy Elliot” – very nicely written.
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thank you Viveka! I have never seen this film.
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Loved it Terry! I’m so glad that you are enjoying doing these prompts!! I’ll make sure to let you know when Eliabeth does the next listen and write too 🙂
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thank you Terri. I am happy that you thought it was alright. Alright, you let me know about the listen and write, if you think I can do this to satisfaction
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Good, Terry! Have another suggestion for you. When you are writing ask yourself these questions…who, what, when, where, and why. Some you addressed in this story, but some you could address more. How did she feel about dancing? How did she feel about this being her last dance performance? Had she struggled to get here? How did she feel about teaching children to dance? How did the people or things that she was surrounded with make her feel…the lights, the audience, the stage and so on? Who was she inside, that made her want to dance or to teach children to dance? Was it an emotion she felt that made her want to dance, or that made her want to teach children to dance? What spurred her on to keep dancing? What really made her decide to stop and move on to teaching others? Who was she, a child who struggled from the depths of poverty, or a child who had all the benefits of wealth, and how did that drive her choice to teach children?
Sometimes when I write I take a piece of paper and write myself a set of questions for my characters, that if I were writing an article as a reporter, or that I would want answered if I was writing his/her autobiography? It makes the character much more alive to me, and helps me to determine how to make the characters personality shine through each event they face in the story. Just a thought that might help drive your writing.
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i understand what you are saying but from my understanding picture and write its are short, not very long. the most u can say with small frame
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I understand that too, but you can do it with just a few sentences. For instance…” As she twirled in the limelight of that stage, she danced with joy at the triumphs over poverty that it had brought her. It had been worth all the hard work and now she hoped to pass on this joy and the feeling of self confidence she had been given throught the gift of dance, to children who struggled through the existence of each day because of their station in life.”
You see just a few sentences and you have brought the past into the present and expressed how she was feeling at this moment, and why she is choosing to stop her own career to give the same chance to children.
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thank you For
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Ermisenda will be quick to tell you that there is nothing wrong with a writing prompt inspiring a longer piece, even a whole novel. A cap of 1,200 words is a good margin for a blog post because it’s where you lose the average reader’s attention.
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thank you Anne. I thought when I read the guidelines, it was different from what you are saying. thanks for clearing this up
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I’m glad you to be able to offer such inspiration weekly. Thank you for being such a lovely contributor. I really liked how you described this part… ‘She had never married, but was married to her talent.’ Being married to her talent. Now that’s dedication. Nice work, Terry! See you next week. 🙂
– Ermisenda
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thank you Ermilia! glad that you enjoyed this.
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I also got camera flashes and a dance finale from this picture. I like the devotion to dance, and how you show the camera view and then her view.
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i think these writing exercises are so interesting on how we all look at the picture. the camera was the first thing i noticed, and you also. wonderful!!!
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