UNDER THE INFLUENCE BY: Taylor Lutcher, Katie Evans, Julia Parker, Alia Pearlson, Nicole Kim Scene

1: (Girl walks into attic and opens chest.) NARRATOR: Seeing the dress reminded me of the old story that grandmother used to tell me about the dancer and her struggle to find her own path. I remember how all the girl wanted to do was stop dancing and lead her own life, yet her family did everything in their power to make sure that those ballet slippers stayed on her feet. (Scene will last between 45 and 75 seconds.)

Scene 2: (Girl is dancing in front of her mirror, keeps messing up.) NARRATOR: She hated ballet, and she thought she wasnt good at it. It also killed her feet. She just wished she could stop dancing and do what she wanted to do with her life. (Her dad walks in and begins yelling at her.) DAD: Get up! You need to keep dancing! Without dancing you are nothing! Without ballet, you are nothing! You are good for nothing and lazy! Keep going, you need to keep dancing. (Girl leans over, starts crying.) NARRATOR: She told herself that she was worth nothing, and that she will never be a great ballerina. She feared she would disgrace her familys name. She thought her parents would end up disowning her, and she would have nowhere to go... Scene 3: (Girl in room, throwing her ballet clothes all around her, fed up with what her parents are doing. After all the clothes are off the bed, she crawls into it and starts crying.) NARRATOR: One day she was so overwhelmed that she decided to quit. She took all her ballet stuff and threw it on her floor in a fit of anger. Her mind was whirling around her like her dreams crashing down the drain. Her body ached, her feet felt like they were going to fall off and she was mentally exhausted. Though most of all, she was fed up with the fact that her parents saw dance as her only chance at being successful. Scene 4: (Sister comes into her room, sees she is sleeping. Picks up her ballet shoes and places them on the bench next to her. Exits. Camera

zooms in on shoes, then zooms in on the girl in her bed sleeping.) Scene 5: (The sister and her mom are having a heated discussion in her living room on the issue of letting the dancer quit ballet.) SISTER: Mom? MOM: Yeah? SISTER: We need to talk about my sister. She shouldnt have to dance anymore! MOM: But, thats her only way to get into a good college. SISTER: Yeah, but she hates it. It hurts her feet! Theyre bloody after she dances... MOM: But its for her own good. SISTER: No mom... MOM: This is the only way. SISTER: No... MOM: We cant let her quit now! SISTER: Mom, I promise, Ill take care of her if this dancing thing doesnt work out. Ill watch over her. MOM: No. You wont be able to do that. You have to go through your studying and your college! SISTER: I promise Ill be able to support her, Mom. MOM: No you wont! SISTER: Ill make sure I can do it... MOM: We need her to do ballet! Scene 6: (Girl wakes up and hears all the fighting. Peeks over railing and sees her mom and her sister in their heated conversation.) SISTER: Ill take care of her Ill... MOM: No, you cant. You need to concentrate on your own studies to get by. SISTER: But she hates it.

MOM: No, but you know she needs it thats her only way out. Your sister needs to do ballet. SISTER: Yeah, so we should torture her by making her wear those shoes that kill her feet... (Mom and sister keep arguing, dancer walks down the stairs, camera positioned on her feet with each step she takes.) NARRATOR: When she woke up from her nap, she heard the bickering from downstairs. She quickly realized they were fighting about her freedom, and knew it was her turn to intervene. She loved her sister dearly for sticking up for her, but knew it was her time to finally stick up for herself. Scene 7: (Sisters stand together, mom tries to stop their arguing.) MOM: This conversation is over. You need to continue on with ballet! SISTER: Mom, its not your decision to make. Its hers. MOM: Yes it is, shes my daughter and I need to make the right decisions for her. DANCER: Mom, I am not living under your influence. (Storms out of room, mom and sister are left alone.) Scene 8: (Scene starts with back of dancers head towards the camera, facing the door. She walks towards the door, opens the knob, places her ballet shoes on the knob, and walked out slamming the door behind her.) NARRATOR: That day she took a leap of faith and left the clutches of her familys tough grasp. It was a hard decisicon for her to make, because she knew they loved her, yet she knew it was the right thing for her to do to save herself. Never did she look back on her past, and never did she revisit the pain ballet put her through. She hung up her shoes for good and left to live her own life, out from under the influence. Scene 9: (Girls Reflection on grandmothers story)

NARRATOR: Seeing the strength that my grandmother had back in the day to leave her old life of dance behind made me proud to be the granddaughter of such a powerful lady. My grandmother went on to great things without dance. She graduated top of her class at Stanford and then went on to medical school. She has gotten many awards for her

innovative surgical techniques and she still had time to raise my mother. My grandmother has inspired me so much that I am now applying to Ivy League colleges where I wish to pursue a medical degree, just like my grandmother.