Ellie Belshaw

My name is Ellie Belshaw and I am from Orinda, California. I am a sophomore at Indiana University and am majoring in media advertising.



Projects by Ellie Belshaw

Journalism Story

Diving Deep into IU Ballerinas

By Will Morris, Ellie Belshaw, Jola Wright and Sylvia Sasse

BLOOMINGTON, Ind (April 3, 2025)

As a young girl, Anjuli Paul can still recall the times she spent twirling around her living room. She smiles as she remembers, “I was always just dancing around the house.” Her passionate path as a ballerina began with those carefree moments of spontaneous movement that eventually evolved into a serious endeavor.

 

Paul, now a freshman at Indiana University, began her formal ballet training at the age of four, encourag

Anjuli Paul, Freshman at IU ready for her day of being a ballerina. Her story telling and knowledge of this art is spectacular

ed by her mother, who thought it would be a good fit. But it wasn’t until she was eleven years old that ballet started to mean more to Paul. “That’s when I really started to take it seriously,” she recalls. Ballet changed over time from being a mere pastime to become her life’s passion.

“I think my favorite part of dancing has always been performing,” adds Paul. “It’s just such a special experience.” Paul sees ballet as an opportunity to share something really personal, rather than just a form of dance. She notes that her main form of self-expression has always been dance. Paul, who describes herself as an introvert, struggles to express her feelings in words, but she is able to do it on stage with each leap and pirouette.

Her capacity for nonverbal communication is the foundation of Paul’s relationship with dance. “Dance has always been a way for me to express myself,” she adds thoughtfully. Deeming herself a

As Anjuli Paul states “dancing is a way for her to express herself and show emotion”. This is her while she is practicing for her next big show.

s an introvert, expressing herself through movement

has always felt natural to her. 

A significant part of being a ballerina at Indiana University is not just the performances, but the preparation that goes into each one. Paul takes us behind the scenes to see what it’s like to get ready for a show, starting by explaining their pre-performance ritual. “We stand in a circle with the group, close our eyes, and squeeze each other’s hands. It’s a way for us to center ourselves and prepare for what’s coming,” she shares. 

The process leading up to a performance starts long before the first rehearsal. A choreographer arrives with a preliminary casting list, called ‘learning groups,’ to begin developing the routine. The following rehearsals serve as an audition, a time when the dancers may learn a “key phrase” of choreography. This could determine their role in the final performance. “After the choreographers leave, they won’t come back until tech week, which is the week before the show,” Paul explains. “Once we have the choreography, we’re running it every day, every week.”

Each day up until the performance is filled with rigorous rehearsals. The stakes are high, especially during tech week, which Paul describes as the “craziest” part of the process. “We are here from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day,” Paul says, laughing. “I tell my friends I’m going into survival mode.”

During tech week, the dancers run the entire show in full makeup and costumes, and practice with the orchestra. Though a dem

Anjuli Paul getting herself all ready before her practice begins. It’s a long day ahead of her.

anding schedule, it ensures the dancers are prepared for every moment of the show. Once tech

week is over, the group performs all week long, with the Monday following the performance being the only break. “The whole process is very intense,” Paul states.

The entire process—from auditioning dancers to selecting choreography and rehearsing for performances—takes about eight weeks. Paul’s most recent piece, ‘Sandpaper Ballet’, started at the very beginning of the semester. “From there we’ve just been working on it through now,” she says. “I would say it usually takes about two months.”

Paul’s path to Indiana University was shaped by years of dedication.She became even more dedicated to dance when she transferred to a Boston boarding school for her senior year of high school. She attributes this transition to the nature of being a dancer, having previously been living away from home since she was fourteen. “It definitely made the transition to college easier, especially with living away from home,” Paul added. 

Her time in Boston prepared her for the professional demands of ballet, especially the expectations at Indiana University. “Being able to work with the Boston Ballet Company really helped prepare me for that more professional environment,” she says. “It also helped with that transition from being a student to being more of a professional dancer.”

As she embarks on her freshman year, Paul continues to push herself both as a dancer and an individual. She believes ballet brings out the best version of herself. “It really allows me to express myself,” she explains. “There are certain things you can’t explain with words, and for me the way to express that is through movement.”

Her experience is proof of the ability of performance to not only display skill but also to discover one’s voice in a manner that words cannot always express. Ballet is more than just an art form to Anjuli Paul; it’s a place where she discovers who she is and shares that with the world.

From the living room to the stage, her journey is just beginning, but it’s clear that dance will continue to be a key part of her story, both at Indiana University and beyond.

https://youtu.be/rDuIrTfzyaA

Public Relations Story

Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveils revolutionary new Apple Watch

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 9th, 2014 

Apple Inc. 

Noah Ablove, Ellie Belshaw, Nathan Cohen 

nablove@iu.edu, ebelshaw@iu.edu, cohennl@iu.edu 

Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveils revolutionary new Apple Watch 

CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, Sep. 9. Unveiled last Tuesday, Tim Cook introduced the Apple Watch, a revolutionary piece of technology described as Apple’s most intimate product. The watch is a first of its kind in the world of smart watches and promises functions that would normally only be available on a standard iPhone. Cook was overwhelmed with joy when announcing the watch saying that it had been in development for years up to this point. The watch promised to have such functions as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, a microphone to make calls, and the ability to text your friends. Cook made sure to highlight the digital crown on the watch that acts as the equivalent of the home button on the iPhone. Cook stating that “the crown includes infrared LED’s and diodes that translate rotary movement into digital data.” Once again, the Apple Watch showed its uniqueness compared to the rest of the market as Cook made sure to hammer home that this was a function that really separated the Apple Watch from its competitors.  

Apple launched their latest product, the Apple Watch, which showcased advanced features comparable to the iPhone. This Indiana University student found his new Apple Watch helpful in completing his school work.

Next, Cook brought up a video narrated by Jony Ive, Senior VP of Design for Apple. Ive made sure to make it very clear it the audience in Cupertino how personal the Apple Watch was going to be. Saying “we’ve designed a range of products so personal; you don’t put it on your desk, you wear them on your wrist.” Ive also made sure to talk more about the digital crown saying that the most important part of the crown is that you can use it without disturbing the screen on the watch. Another major part of the watch is its use of taptic feedback to make sure the watch isn’t just focused on what you see but what you feel and what you hear. This is just another part of this watch that has separated it from the rest of the smart watch pack when it comes to functionality. When Ive talked to the crowd through video it was easy to tell how passionate he and the Apple team really were about this product.  

The latest Apple Watch assisted this 29 year old man in staying productive even during his lunch break. With advanced features for messaging, health tracking, and task management, it’s the perfect tool on the go.

The next part of the presentation had Cook bring out vice president of Apple, Kevin Lynch to talk more about what people could expect from the Apple Watch upon its incoming release. While both Cook and Ive went into information about the watch before Lynch, this part of the presentation focused much more on the specifics of the watch. Lynch went into more detail about the taptic technology and how that would be used specifically for notifications people would get when using the watch. The watch also was revealed to have mostly the same apps as its iPhone counterpart with Lynch going into depth about how to text, call, and use apps such as Twitter, Watch Kit, and Pinterest. Once again, the Apple Watch proved how it was nothing like its smart watch counterparts by showing its capability of being able to use apps that would normally only be able to used on iPhones and iPads.  

Finally, Cook came back out on stage to go through the final most important parts of the watch. The Apple Watch, while having all these other functions, is still being marketed as a smart watch and Cook made sure to show things that would be commonplace on other smart watches but are improved on the Apple Watch. The fitness and workout apps were shown to be the main apps for tracking peoples activeness during the days. The workout app was shown to be able to create specific workouts for people to do and also be able to track what a person might work on throughout the day. Cook then showed how the watch was able to work well with not only the iPhone 6 line but also the iPhone 5 line as well. To cap off the magical night in Cupertino Cook revealed the Apple watch would cost $349 and was to be released in early 2015. 

 

Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, the Mac and Apple Watch. Apple’s three software platforms — iOS, OS X and watchOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay and iCloud.  

Tim Cook enthusiastically introduces a revolutionary new Apple product in the form of a hi-tech smartwatch. Not only does the watch contain many features but can appeal to viewers with its slick design.

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