Last Dance Contest of 2014

Tonight was my niece's final dance competition of 2013-2014.  She performed her solo and was phenomenal, and I think it just might have been her best routine of all.

Sis, I love you and am so unbelievably proud of you!  Not only do you work hard at dance, but you are a reader, love school, and work hard on your grades.  Love you!

Thoughts from a Delirious Dance Auntie

I spent March 28th-March 30th and April 5th-6th at dance competitions.  These are thoughts I had:

1. Just because you wear white does not mean you are invisible.  We cannot see through you! Not only should people sit down while dancers are on stage, people should not get up and walk through the aisles while dancers are on stage--only in between dances.

2. Speaking Spanish (or any other foreign language) does not mean everyone around you can't hear you.  You can be heard! And you are being disrespectful and interfering with our enjoying the songs and routines.

3. I will choreograph dances to every song I hear for at least the next week. I wonder how it would do if I did create a routine & someone performed it.

4. If you have prom or dance teachers know their dancers have prom, do not register for a dance competition that weekend. 

5. Bring in my heavy coat no matter what. It doesn't matter if I look silly or wind up not needing it.  Those competition rooms are cold. 

6. Audience members should be mindful of their comments when sitting directly next to someone. You never know if the dancer belongs to them or not.  (An older lady made a negative comment while my brother and other members of the studio were setting up props. Her husband said, "That was interesting!" after one of the hip hop routines from my niece's studio finished.)

7. Children & the elderly should not be at a dance competition after 8:30 pm.  (My niece and others her age did not even do their first dance until after 9:00 pm yesterday.)

8. I would love for dance competition companies to outlaw pelvic thrusting, chest pops, & booty shaking. It irritates me even more when those are the routines winning and scoring higher and good, clean routines are not.

9. Never should a dance routine involve pretending to shoot up the audience. (A hip hop type routine that involved several genres of dance actually had a stage full of dancers make guns out of their arms and hands and then point them at the audience and move them across their bodies to the machine gun sounds of shooting bullets in the music.) I was APPALLED!!!  I don't let any children in my presence every play like that.

10. Just b/c there are few boys in dance, they should not get favoritism. 

11. Dance competition companies need to cap how many routines can register. These last 2 weekends have been far too crazy, far too many people, cramped changing rooms, and not enough seats in the audience. 


12.  I LOVE watching my niece dance!  Her solo pictures from today were amazing.  I just LOVE her to pieces!

I'm a Closet Choreographer!

My niece dances competitively.  This year, she dances with groups for Jazz, Tap, Acro, and Lyrical, and she has a Jazz solo.  Her competitions are normally in the Spring, and we are halfway through competiton season right now.  Every year, after every weekend contest, the same thing happens to me.  For every song that comes on the radio, I immediately start choreographing a dance routine.  I decide what kind of dance it should be--Jazz, Tap, Lyrical, etc.--and I design a dance for the whole song.  This goes on for weeks after the last contenst. In my mind, my dances are phenomenal, but in reality, I have no idea how good they are.  It would be interesting if I could teach one to someone and see what happens.  This might be another way to fund my Conference Presentation Habit, as I call it.

Spring Break--Weekend #1

Spring Break began on 3:25 on Friday.  Woohoo!

Mom and I left my work and headed south to see my niece and nephew.  We arrived, despite horrible traffic and adding 30 minutes to an hour to our time, to go enjoy a delicious dinner.  I actually ordered a salad.  For people who know me, they know what a big deal that is.  I don't eat salads out much, but I chose a yummy one.  It was probably high in calories, but I had them to spare today.

On Saturday morning, my niece and sister-in-law got up early to go watch her friends during the morning dance competition.  A dance friend's brother came to hangout with my nephew.  Mom, my nephew, his friend, and I went to breakfast, bought some homemade tamales to bring home to my cousin, and went back to their place to wait for my brother.  We got a call that we were needed at the dance competition, so we got ready quickly and left.  (My brother is a Stage Dad, so they needed his help.)

We arrived at the dance competition by 11:20 and were there until 8:30.  My niece was in 5 dances, one was her solo.  She was in group Lyrical, Jazz, Tap, and Acro dances.  Her Jazz got 1st Overall in Jr. Large Groups and her Tap got 2nd Overall in Jr. Large Groups.  Her Acro group got the coveted Most Entertaining Award and an invite to Las Vegas this summer.  Overall, they did well for the first competition of the season.

We were starving when we finally left, so we went to dinner.  Again, I made good choices.  We got back to their place and pretty much passed out.  We were tired.

Sunday morning came early.  Besides the time change, my nephew had to be at his Young Marines Boot Camp by 7:45.  He decided he wanted to join this group/organization to see if the Military is what he might want to do when he is older.  He had already had a day of drills and to get to know people.  This week puts the kids through a real boot camp simulation.  They will be treated just like the Military personnel.  I am so worried about him.  He doesn't have a lot of upper body strength, and he (and I) does/do not like to be yelled at.  The Military guys yell at them even if they do something right.  I can't stand that yelling and meanness.  We have been able to see some pics via Facebook daily.  I am sure he is worn out, but he seems OK in the pics. I had a very hard time leaving him.  I was teary, but I didn't show him.

We ended the day with my niece's dance pics.  They were to be the weekend before, but the dance owner's grandmother passed away, so things were changed.  We were at the dance studio from 3:00-7:00 for pics.  When we finally finished, we went to eat.  I made bad choices. Again, I was teary leaving my niece.

Mom and I then headed home and got home at 1:00 AM.  Man, I miss those two, but I am so glad we had a great weekend.

My adorably handsome, intelligent nephew before Booth Camp.

My adorably beautiful, intelligent niece at her dance pics.

Encore Dance--Nationals

The whole reason we were in Las Vegas was because my niece's tap dance team was invited to participate in the Encore National Performing Arts, Inc. National Dance Competition.  Because one group was invited, anyone from the studio could register to compete in Nationals.  My niece performed with her jazz team, and she performed her Lyrical solo.  The teams did a great job, and it was a wonderful experience for the young girls.  She performed with her tap team at the big performance/show/dance-off on the final night.

I am so very proud of my niece b/c she made one of her highest personal scores on her Lyrical solo routine at National.  Only she and one other soloist from her studio scored that high.  There were not enough participants in her age/ability level to do a Top 10 or name a National winner.

I just love her love of dancing, and I more proud of her than I can express.  She is phenomenal!

Note: This awesome picture was taken by a photographer at a competition in May.  (I LOVE this picture!) We were not allowed to take pictures at this event.

A Quick Weekend of Fun

March 22-24 was a weekend of fun with my niece and nephew.  My mom was so excited about going to my niece's dance convention, but because she was still in rehab for her broken leg, she couldn't go, so I went alone to take her place.  I was responsible for my niece on Saturday at her convention while my sister-in-law got my nephew to and from the Bullying Conference he had been specifically invited to because he is such an amazing student. My niece learned various mini dances with a hip hop twist throughout the day. When she finished and my sister-in-law & nephew arrived, we did some shopping, swimming, and eating. 

Warming-up

It was warm outside, but the water was cold.  They didn't care.

 On Sunday, my sister-in-law stayed with my niece at dance while my nephew and I went to Aquarena Springs to ride the glass bottom boats.  That was the one thing he wanted to do, so we did it, and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

Crayfish

turtle

Checking out the fish.

Blind Salamander

Salamander--Can you see the three eggs at the end of the body and above the tail?  We watched it lay egg #4.

The view from the top of the Aquarium building.  You can see one of the boats with a blue tarp.

Beautiful view!

Looking down into the water from on top of the Aquarium building.  It is clear, so you can see the bottom.