DOB

Mass Update: Dance

May 24, 2008

Our second competition, Masquerade, went well. We were put in the recreational category as not to compete with Broadway’s Best. We ended up competing against the Ladies in the adult recreational category, a.k.a. “parents”, which is how they introduced our group. It was pretty comical at the time, maybe there are 5 parents in our class of almost 30. What made it even better was the judge’s comment at the beginning of our feedback recording. He said, and I quote, “You can be my mommas.” (Think large man, overly flamboyant voice). We ended up winning two platinums and got little plastic medallions a la Mardi Gras colors for souvenirs. I wrapped them, and my gold bracelets from the first competition, around my 9 year trophy and put it on full display in my house. I was glad to get a trophy this year. All the awards are trophies now, as opposed to having things like plaques, medallions, etc.

Recitals were fun. We were in all nine of them, three on 5/11, three on 5/17 and three on 5/18. The days pretty much consisted of warming up, waiting, going on stage, waiting, intermission, waiting, going on stage again, waiting for not as long, going on stage for the finale, waiting for 90 minutes for the next show to start, repeat. They were at Osseo High School, the same place they used to be at. It was very nostalgic. I admit after the first Sunday I was kind of emotional. What can I say, it just brought me back. It’s funny how certain things can mentally bring you back to a place in time or an emotion you felt. Memories that were otherwise forgotten pop back in your head.

On the Monday after the first recital I was spent. Waiting takes a lot out of a person. I think I would rather be in 4 or 5 dances instead of two. At least time goes by quickly. And I’d stay warmed up. Re-stretching is way harder than the initial stretch. Besides, I’m such a stage whore. I love being out there. Anyway, I planned on taking the following Monday off work, seeing I would be doubling my performances and I was such a wreck the week before.

The next weekend went all right. At the last performance on Saturday I had some friends and family there (Nick (against his will), Sarah, Michelle, Kristy, Renee, Blog Reader Kristen, my dad, my mom, Randy, Lani, Pat and Denel). There was an extra ticket, so I snuck in during the extremely long wait between my two dances and watched the show live. That was exciting. It’s completely different than watching on a 20″ tube TV with a bunch of little kids singing along to Miley Cyrus’s “See You Again.”

The next day didn’t go so well. The foot issues (see Mass Update, non dance, post) that I was previously having with my right foot started appearing in the left foot, which is my turning foot. No good. Grand pirouettes, I fell once. Triple during the finale, ended up being a single-and-a-half. It made me weep :cry: … it was just upsetting to end the year so crappy. And it made me feel old. It was so bad that I went and paid another $35 for a DVD of Saturday’s performance where I did good. I’m sure glad the people I knew were there on Saturday. Oh well, there’s always next year!!

Contest: Legacy

April 14, 2008

My first dance competition in 9 years was yesterday. I woke up at 9, showered and loaded my hair full of styling product, packed up my Caboodle, threw on my Dancin’ On Broadway hoody, ate breakfast and hit the road at 10:30 am. The competition, Legacy, was at Kennedy High School in Bloomington. We weren’t on until 2:45, but I wanted to get there early to watch some other groups perform. I stopped at the gas station and picked up a box of raspberry Nutrigrain bars, a Diet Coke and a banana for sustenance since there wouldn’t be any concessions at the school.

Once on the highway I realized I didn’t have any pants to wear while stretching out, so I turned around and headed back home. 10:40 am and I was out the door again. It felt strange to be driving myself to my first competition. In the past I never had to think about all this nonsense of when to leave, how to get there, etc. because Randy took care of everything. Fortunately the drive was easy; two highways and then onto Nicollet. The Google map said 32 minutes, but it only took 20 (not including the turn around of course). I’ve had competitions at Kennedy before, but none of it looked familiar anymore. I found the dressing room (cafeteria) and dropped off my stuff. No one from my class was there yet so I moseyed into the auditorium to watch the dances that were going on. Since I didn’t know any of the other classes at my studio (DOB) I had to look around at the people who were cheering the loudest and see what studio logo they wore.

The biggest change from back in the day that I noticed was hair and jewelry. We wore earrings my senior year and I think barrettes for pointe too, but now it seemed that everyone had earrings, rhinestone chokers, barrettes… There were even classes where the girls with belly button piercings wore matching danglies. High school kids didn’t even have belly button piercings when I was that age. One girl in my class had hers pierced, and I remember thinking that was really weird.

The hair styles are different too now. When I danced before the styles cycled through curly ponytail, long curly banana clip wig, short curly banana clip wig, then tight slicked back style a la bun or French braid with tail tucked under, in that order. Buns were always in style of course. Now it’s straight pony tails adorned with rhinestone pony holders, or hair down and straight, and giant back combed poofs as well. I saw one class with short curly pony wigs, and they almost looked out of place.

Anyhow, after watching dances for about an hour I headed back to the dressing room to do my hair and makeup. Then some stretching took place, followed by putting on my bright pink jazz costume and a little group rehearsal.

Jazz didn’t go as well for me as I had hoped. Nerves got the best of me and I blanked out for about 4 counts. My turns hadn’t gone as well as planned either. I was too overstimulated to think about things like pulling up my knees, tightening my core and spotting. It wasn’t horrible by any means, just not my personal best. I’m going to blame it on my first time back out, as tap went just fine. I had a lot of fun on stage, it felt like the class had a good vibe going on, and I don’t recall messing up. I will have to get a new pair of tights though. In the past I’ve always cut out the waist bands, can’t have unsightly mid-stomach lines you know? Unfortunately once the waist band was missing from my low rise (yet another style difference) tights, there was nothing holding them up other than my costume and I could feel them slipping to the mid-butt area. Oh well, lesson learned.

There were less than ten performances after us, then it was time for awards. We won gold for both dances, as well as high score in our category for tap and 2nd high score for jazz. Of course, we weren’t actually competing against anyone, so I guess the high score awards are really not that impressive. There were about four studios there and hopefully next time there will be someone in our age bracket. The ladies got platinum for both of their dances, as well as a couple other DOB classes that danced in the Sunday afternoon competition. Golds were a popular award, but I did hear a few silvers get called. The judging must be more strict these days because it seemed like the dancing was a lot better, but with much less platinum awards given out. We also got bracelets color coded to our award. You know those rubbery bracelets with the words imprinted in them? Yeah those. I think they say Legacy. It’s kind of cool. Not that I’ll make them a accessory to my next outfit or anything, but typically the dancers don’t get anything, so it’s a nice little souvenir. DOB also took some awards for best choreography and high scores.

It was a fun day. It felt good to be back on stage again. I think next time will go better since I’ve got a feel for it again. Hopefully the nerves will go away and only excitement and anticipation will remain!!

Piqué, Revisited

September 5, 2007

My first night of dance went well!! Much better than anticipated. After stretching (which was very painful, if I may add), we did some crunches, then some kicks, then some various turns and leaps across the floor. Laurie had a baby tonight, so Debbie will be teaching the class for a few weeks (YAY!!) She made it clear a few times that it’s not about how good we used to be, or how good someone else is. Everything is just for fun. She cracked some age jokes too. Which was kind of funny.

My leaps weren’t too bad. My turns across the floor however… no good. I felt all lopsided and dizzy. They felt horrible, but looking at everyone else they didn’t look too bad when put in perspective. The good news is I could go in a straight line. The bad news is the line was diagonal. But after I did a couple double left pirouettes Debbie complimented me in front of the class and said I did really good for not dancing for 8 years. And people clapped. I can’t put into words how good that made me feel. Then we did some tap moves. Pretty simple stuff. It was the first time I did wings!! Well, not the first time doing them, the first time actually doing them, if you know what I mean. I even did a one footed wing!! Only on the right side though. At first I thought it had to do with turn out (because the way they are teaching things has changed, and apparently it sounds like they are taking all turn outs out of tap), but I think it’s really because of Curtis. You see, I just visualized what it would feel like to actually do them, as opposed to just doing them, and voila!! Well, apparently I’m visually impaired on the left.

The hour and a half went fast, and before I walked out Debbie told me I did really good tonight. Perfect ending to a perfectly fun class. I can’t wait until next week. Maybe I’ll have to practice at Lifetime :D

Back to Dance

September 5, 2007

After pouring through tapes of dance recitals I decided to go back to the studio and join the Young Adults class.

Watching the tapes (technically watching them on the computer, but I just haven’t acquired the phrase “dance DVD” yet) made me kind of sad. For the first time it really hit me that that part of my life was over. And not just that it was over, but that it was something that I couldn’t get back. I had grown up and it was no longer an option. Not only that, but since there are about 3 dances of the bunch that I can actually remember, I was kind of in awe at what I used to be able to do, so then I was kind of depressed that I’ve more than likely lost those skills. I’m not much of person to reminisce about the good ol’ days, so that made it a little more difficult do deal with. I was in an unfamiliar territory. I went through about a week of a mid-mid-life crisis, then decided to register for this year.

I had always intended on joining the YA class. The first year they started it was my last year in performing lines. I didn’t want to join it right away, being more than happy to be through with dance for the time being. It was a time in my life where I was looking forward to freedom. No more dance, no more school, no one to answer to or tell me what to do, no responsibilities because I was an adult…. Ahhhh, adulthood through the eyes of a teenager. Anyway, I digress.

Like I said, I had always intended on dancing again. But when it would cross my mind was at such inconvenient times. December, when it was a little too late. Or June, when I had plenty of time to put it off and forget about it. But this time was different. It was August, and I was in the midst of a mid-mid-life crisis, and they have a website. Everything seemed to be falling into place. Not to mention I had accepted and let go of some of the bitterness I had carried around for awhile. Perhaps I’ll get into that in a later blog, but not now. It’s funny what growing up will do to a person.

My first class is tonight, and I have to admit that I’m a little bit nervous. I looked at the class photo online from last year. I recognized a couple people who are a couple years younger than me, but I don’t actually know them. For the most part everyone looked so young. The class is for 18-30 year olds, but I’m hoping I’m not the oldest one. I’m also hoping that I’m not the only one who’s taken a few years off (8 to be exact). Tammy and Debbie (sisters/owners/my old teachers) said the class was fun and laid back, so hopefully that means there will be no burpies.

A few of the instructors there now are people I danced with. The YA instructor is Laurie, who I danced with and who is also another sister. I was hoping Debbie would be teaching it because I had her most of the time and it would be more… I don’t know… normal, I guess. If it was someone I didn’t know I probably wouldn’t have signed up, because it would have just been too strange. So hopefully all goes well, I’m not the oldest, I know someone and I don’t completely suck. I’ll have to practice a bit to get my flexibility back. Actually I was never as flexible as I wanted to be, so my goal is to be better in that department. Again, I digress.

Anyway, on one hand I know what to expect, and on the other I don’t. The YA class is a bit different concept than the classes I was in before. Hopefully we’ll get to go to a competition or two!! I keep thinking about how much everything changed in the eight years I was there, and now it’s eight years later, so I wonder how much has changed. But I’ve been told it’s fun and not to worry, so that’s what I’m trying to do.

And what do I wear?? I can’t be out of style, ya know!! For now I’ve got some stiff new tap shoes, my old ballet slippers and some leotards that, surprisingly, still fit!! :D

Congratulations if you made it to the end of this post, and thanks for being interested, I guess… ;)