Best. Accident. Ever.

Hi. It's me, Nathalie. I just spontaneously rhymed… Not on purpose. Though, it does seem that most of the good, amazing, life-changing things I do were a mistake. A slip of the finger, if you catch my drift. Including me joining CLS. Best Accident Ever.

I, like many other people in the club, was dragged to CLS against their will in 7^th grade. And, like most people in CLS, I will thank the person who dragged me into the wonderful world of Wagenseller (and improv) for probably the rest of eternity. For me that person was Ellie Feng. Ellie promptly forwarded me all the emails about CLS meetings after I first showed a tiny bit of interest. Including a fateful one, the survey (remember that!?). Which I took, accidentally put that I would like to be in a CLS leadership position, and submitted. Which led to me ending up on the leadership counsel for both years of CLS. I had no idea what improv even was when I showed up to the first leadership meeting. And I loved (most) all of the moments.

Okay. Here's the mandatory backstory that explains why CLS was life changing.

Even since I was a little girl, theater enthralled me. Every time I went to a DHT production or even the HTY's that were so much better than boring old field trips, I came out a whole new Nathalie. And what's more, I wanted to be that person performing on stage. Every year I watched jealously as selected 6^th through 8^th graders performed our annual Christmas musical. Until 5^th grade, I was just a jealous spectator and choir member.

In my 5^th grade year, something miraculous happened. The Christmas Musical auditions were extended down to 5^th grade. I think they just wanted to give us a chance but that year about 20 people auditioned. I think they only cut one or two people, for having no rhythm or something. And so, I was finally in my first musical. (See I was previously in an opera in like 4^th grade or something. HYOC's Na Uhane o Hawaii, if you were wondering.) To say in the least, it was amazing.

So yeah, that was one of the early steps in becoming a musical theater enthusiast. And this has to do with CLS because? Well, through CLS I gained more of a chance, parse of actually being an actress. Because of CLS, I gained the confidence to embarrass myself in front of my peers, actually learn about acting, and get better at acting and performing. Very subtly, even so I didn't even realize it, my best area of MT shifted from singing to acting. And, as they say, that has made all the difference.

And so Mr. Swag and all of you amazing, hilarious, talented, and crazy people out there, thanks. Because of you guys, my dreams are coming true.

Nathalie