Let's Talk Dance

Since it has been awhile!

So about 3 weeks ago I took my girls to Encore DCS in Myrtle Beach, SC. I was really looking forward to this competition because I had two pieces this time, and I was going to see my friends, Nicole and Kyle.

I met Nicole and Kyle in 29 Palms, CA. Kyle is a Marine, he got out a few years ago. Nicole and I were introduced by a man whom I'll refer to as, Crazy Joe, and I think we drove that man crazier than he already was. That's not saying that he didn't drive us crazy, because he did! Oh, the stories we have! Nicole and I taught dance together and we coached the MCCS youth CheerDance group. Nicole was a great friend and support system that year. That was during the first deployment. They now live in SC, and we talk regularly on Facebook. Since I was going to be in SC, they decided to come see me! We picked up like we had seen each other yesterday, instead of 4 years! That is what true friendship is, you can go years without seeing each other, but it's like you have never been away from each other.

I went down on Friday night to watch a few of my students do solos. The next day I was able to see Nicole. We were trying to find each other in a large auditorium. I had actually been about 3 seats from her, but I didn't recognize her with long hair. Then I looked on the other side of the auditorium, so I called her and asked where she was. Finally, we saw each other and we were running down the aisle and then hugging! Clearly, we were excited to see each other! BTW, that all happened between pieces.

We watched a lot of dance. We saw some good pieces, I don't remember being as impressed at this competition as I was from DTI though. I had some "wow" moments, but not as many. The Senior age group had some good male/female duets. I have always enjoyed watching couples dance, and I admit, I LOVE men who can dance.

My girls did a good job. My younger ones were in new costumes and and they looked good. When they danced they looked like they were having fun! My older ones have never done a modern piece for competition before so they weren't confident in what they did. No matter what I told them, they thought it looked horrible! They did do good though. The stage was HUGE and they let that get to them a bit.

Last week during class, I had the older girls watch their piece from competition. They were so funny, before we watched it they were saying, "We want to see how bad we looked." After they watched it it was, "Oh, it wasn't as bad as we thought," or "It actually looked pretty good." So hopefully they have more confidence now that they have seen themselves and that they looked good.

The judges remarks were the same things I tell them every week and multiple times during class! Point their feet, spot while turning (more for my little ones), straighten their legs, strong arms, reach, stretch, etc. So that's something they have to work on and remember. Hopefully, they'll listen to what the judges say, since me saying it doesn't do it.

We are actually gearing up for another competition that is in a couple of weeks. I have been working them hard. The older girls and I are having a Lock In, and dancing all night soon! Then about two weeks after that we are going to another competition, that is our last one for the year. Then we have a month and half until recital! This year is going so fast! But that is a good thing.

So I'll leave you with this, "Dancers are instruments, like a piano the choreographer plays." George Balanchine.

The Dancer