Dear Boomerang,

You were a tough one to come back to when I started my teacher training. Our relationship is complicated because there is very little about you that is not complicated. You look pretty when done well. Then there are the days when we are fighting and it’s a straight up mess. There is choreography for the arms. While you are supposed to hold a Teaser. That’s not easy. But the best thing to with complications is to break it down and work on the pieces. Luckily the pieces have mostly been worked on the mat up to this exercise. And they come back again, all together this time.

The Tennessee Performing Arts Center was my constant from age five. I was somewhere in the building at least once a year probably every year since. I moved in, every December from age 13-18for Nutcracker, minus the year I was in A Christmas Carol. I have performed in all three theaters. I’ve been an usher, a patron, a special guest, an understudy. My last Nutcracker I butchered the pre-show announcement and made the audience laugh. I know the backstage and how all the theaters are connected like the back of my hand. I’ve been in every single dressing room. This is the place where I dreamed and some of those dreams came true. I did my homework by the footlights during dress rehearsal. I almost set off the fire alarm for the entire building during the Nutcracker of 1997. This is where my now husband and I saw the same show only a few days apart in 1994. This is the place I wanted to spend all my time. One day I was visiting backstage and one of the crew said I was there every time she turned around, usually in a different way each time. TPAC is the place that shaped me the most of all the places in Nashville.

Just like the Boomerang, I keep coming back. I love you the most TPAC.

Love,

Heather

Photography by Jennifer Gouge