Countdown Continues

One week until the first competition!! It seems like it is right around the corner, yet taking forever! The Dress Rehearsal last weekend went really well, (at least for most of the dances.) My sister and I are teacher assistants at our dance studio, so we were constantly up and down. We barely had time to change our costumes because we were helping the youngsters with their routines, etc. We were in charge of making sure that all dancers were present before they went on stage, checking their make-up, and making sure they were in full costume. If they weren’t in everything they were supposed to, Kara and I would have to report to our teachers. Let’s just say we let some things slide! I know we were bad, but why let little less important things punish the whole team, like for example if a girl didn’t have enough lipstick on. Kara or I would just quickly run to get more lipstick! It was crazy, but it is so much fun and everything worked out in the end! Not every studio is strict as mine, they just want things done their way and they don’t care what you have to say about it!

One of my favorite dances is called “I Keep Forgettin.” The song is from the Broadway musical, Smokey Joe’s Café. This dance is Kara and I’s musical theatre duet. It is a really fun number, and I love to dance right next to my sister. This may sound cheesy, but we have been dancing together for about 15 years. We might fight often, but that’s what sisters are for. I remember my mom begging us, bribing us to do a duet back when I was about 5. We just did not have a big interest in doing it, now especially my sis, (she secretly loves it!!)

Dress Rehearsal

One week down, two more to go! Friday, today is one of the most important days to my studio. Tonight is the biggest dress rehearsal ever! The dress rehearsal starts at 5:30pm till whenever my teachers decide we do not need to rehearse any more. Since I am a teacher’s assistant at my studio, I have to be there at 5:00. It will seem like such a long night!

A full dress rehearsal means you are required to be in full costumes, hair done, make-up, and shoes. My teacher’s are strict about disobeying rules. They “lecture” us on everything, like the way they want things to look, and if we choose not to obey, we pay the consequence. Like if we do not have our hair done correctly, or if we are not wearing the right pair of tights. Simple, little things you can get into trouble for. Not just the dancer that disobeys, but the whole team gets punished. Their favorite motto is “There’s no I in team.”

This year, I am competing in five dances so I have to be in full dress and makeup for that. We have fifteen to twenty minutes to rehearse. Each dancer gets in full dress and gets to go on a stage to practice our routines. We go on stage so that we are able to space out our dances and not be so scrunched up and so we know what we are doing when go to compete in a week at the real competition.

Preparing can get stressful!

Exactly in three weeks is my first dance competition of the year. The whole studio seems to be going crazy! My dance teachers are getting so stressed out and it is effecting the whole studio. During classes one person’s simple mistake could cost the whole class some push-ups or suicides as a punishment. It is turning into “crunch time.“ Due to the” wonderful” weather this past week, classes were cancelled and I finally got a break!

Preparing for competitions can get very stressful, but in the end are really fun. Just like any other sport, you have to work your hardest to succeed. I spend long hours after school preparing for dances and making sure everything looks the way it should. Our teachers make sure we know how to execute every move and perform our best. They expect us to perform and do the routine strong every time we practice in class. That way when we get on stage, our nerves do not get the best of us and we are able to give the dance our all.

At the competitions, studios compete against each other in the same age level. Studios perform routines such as solos, duets, trio, small groups, large groups and productions. My sister and I get really excited watching the other studios perform. Seeing the kind of dances they come up with that really show creativity and their abilities are so amazing! Awards we can achieve are judges’ choice, special performance and first, second and third place. Each group are eligible to score high enough to have high point awards as well. I am really excited and can not wait !

My passion for Dance

Dance has always been something I enjoy doing. I have been dancing since the age of two-and a half years old and still counting! I have always had a strong passion for dance. I have been on my dance studio’s competition team since the age of five years old. I have been trained in so many different styles of dance, which includes tap, jazz, ballet, pointe, lyrical, hip-hop, musical theatre, and so many more.
For many, many years I have been going to dance classes every night after school. Practicing for some of the biggest dance competitions in the states. We have to make sure that our group dances are “perfectly” unison.
My experience at my first competition, I was so nervous and excited at the same time to finally get to dance on the “big stage.” My older sister, Kara had been performing on the team for a couple years before me, so she knows what it was like and she was more confident then me. That day, my first dance was a tap duet with Kara. We had to wear a pink poofy dress, and our hair in pigtails. Our song was called “Cadillac Cuties” and we got to dance with a pink “fake” Cadillac car made out of cardboard that our dance teacher made for us. We thought we were so cool! Kara and I scored some high points on our dance. We won our age division and got many top honors. We won this High First place trophy, that was way taller than us and hard to carry! Everyone was so proud of us and all that we accomplished.