Texarama 2016

This past weekend was Texarama!  We split Tiny's entries between the Junior category and the Ladies category.  We were honestly just really happy that she made the finals for her championship round in the Ladies category, since it is such a competitive division, and the people she danced against were formidable, and when she ended up winning, we were thrilled! I haven't had time to write a full post, but here are the links to her videoed rounds and our favorite pictures from yesterday.  Stephen Marino (the photographer) got some amazing shots of everyone, and these are the ones we loved the best!

Open Cha Cha, Rumba and Swing with Daniel.

Ladies Championship Semi-Final Round.

Ladies Championship Final Round.

Junior Scholarship Championship Round.

January Show!

Yesterday was the big show!  Things have been crazy, and I haven't been keeping the updates as current as I would like, for two reasons really.  The first is that we have been SO busy, and the second is that other than rehearsing for last night, and our bi-yearly "team meeting" to plan for the next year and a half, Tiny hasn't really been up to much.

Yesterday was a long, long, long day for her.  She got there at 10:45 for hair and makeup, and was really excited that they didn't have to make hair helmet for her this time, since it was an exhibition rather than a competition. 

 

That's her bored face.

The dress rehearsal ran until about 4:30, and the show started at 6:30.  It didn't end until a little after 11:30, and we just couldn't scrape up enough energy to make the after party, so we packed up the magical trunk of mystery (she got a rolling makeup case for Christmas) and snuck out.

 By the way, a HUGE shot out to Heather, the Singing Seamstress, for not only her original work on the dress, the gorgeous additions to the dress, and all of the alterations to various costumes, but for the perfect last minute vest she put together for Tiny's partner, which really made them look extra professional on stage. 

 She looked like a doll that came to life!  I didn't see many people with that level of matching costuming, and it really added a nice touch.  He said it will definitely be nice to have, in case they need to match again in the future.  (He even let me put some crystals on the lapels!)


The choreography was scary, and she may take a few days to heal the last of her bruises, but she did a fantastic job!  We get a DVD once the company is finished processing them, and I'll post her performance on the private youtube channel as usual.

She got roses.

I know she's really excited to get back to focusing on her competitive Bronze steps tomorrow.  There has been a new development at the studio with instructors, and so she will now get to rotate among three partners:  Richard, her first instructor, Matt (the one from the above pictures, and two of her competitions), and Daniel (from the other competition back in May).  Her next scheduled event is a Mini Match at the end of this month.  After that, she has a Level Passing in February, Regional Team Match in April, probably a studio Starlight in June, Texarama Regional Competition in August, and the big star on the tree:  Nationals in April of 2017.  

Competition Jacket Came In!

So, Shara's dad bought her an official competition jacket for her birthday to wear in the ice-cold ballrooms over her costumes.  We went into the studio for a West Coast Swing class, and not only were we able to pick up her jacket, but we also got on the list for this weekend's events - the Professional Competition on Friday night, and a show with renowned Latin World Champions, Maurizio and Andra, during the Into the Woods ball.  We're pretty excited, and by we, I mean I'm pretty excited, and the stoic teenage female thinks it's "cool."

Lone Star Results Came In!

We got Shara's results and plaque from the Lone Star competition back in May, where she danced all Latin with Daniel.

So if we do the math, the girl she was going up against beat Shara four times (or six if you count the championship round) and Shara beat that girl eleven times (or twelve if you add in the championship round).

 

I will say that Tiny Dancer was pleased to hear that, simply because the loss in the championship round shook her confidence a smidgen. Taking first in every round at the competition the following weekend really helped, and knowing that the choreography that they put together for her was a reflection of their confidence in her ability to learn it helped, too. 

From here until the end of the year, it will be working on choreography for the October Spotlight, which will be an Open Swing to Uma Thurman and potentially a preview of her Dancescape choreography.

The Journey of the First Year (Part 8 - May: Dancescape)

The next weekend, we were headed to another hotel, the Westin Memorial, in Memorial City.  But first, there was a tan incident.  I was trying to save a little money.  I'm pretty sure that's how most tan horror stories start.  Anyhow, I found a groupon for a $20 airbrush tan, and managed to squeeze in an appointment that Friday evening (May 29th).  Everything was looking normal-ish, except that the tan wasn't developing.  After a panicked text message to the airbrusher at 10:00 that night (she was trying a new product and asked us to text her a picture of how it was developing), she offered to let us come back at 7:30 in the morning and she would retouch Shara's tan.

We had an appointment for hair at 11:30, and she was scheduled to start dancing after 1:00.  We dashed over to the tanner at 7 am, got retouched, went back to the house, let it develop as much as we could, then she rinsed off so we could head to the hotel.

After finding the studio manager, picking up her souvenier blanket (obviously because it was freezing in the ballroom), and getting checked in, we headed up for hair and makeup.  Her makeup artist was one of the male pros from the independent circuit, and he was excellent!  I loved his color choices, and she got a lot of compliments from our guys.



She had been feeling a little concerned, since she went into Latin the prior weekend a little self-conscious, and didn't come out on top, and with Latin being the stronger of her styles....

Shara Houston Dancesport Classic May 2015

But she blew everyone in her category out of the water.  All of her rounds were danced with Matt this time, and she quite literally placed first in every category she entered, including her championship round.  They even figured out how to pronounce her name halfway through award announcements.

Even better, all of the competitors from our studio did really well (including our pros), and up against some really strong competition, too.  I was really proud of everyone.  We won some kind of Top New Studio award, or something.

While we were there, we looked around at some of the dresses on display, and even though we knew Shara was going to need a new Latin dress to really move forward competitively, we also knew we weren't going to find it there!

 

The Journey of the First Year (Part 7 - May: Lonestar)

The first of her two competition weekends was in San Antonio at La Toretta Resort and Spa.  We went to a local spa for her spray tan, this time.  We tried getting her tan hand airbrushed.  It was a little more expensive, but it looked a lot better, less streaky than the one she had in December from the spray tan shower.  We drove up to San Antonio for one night at the Hilton, since it was a lot cheaper than staying at the resort both nights.

We painted nails and toenails back in the room and had a terrible night's sleep, despite the king size bed.  The next morning we got up early enough to head to the resort for check-in and makeup.

 

 The view was gorgeous, and so was our room, but I had to stash our stuff quickly and head down for coffee.

Once she had hair and makeup done, she got set to dance.

It was an all Latin competition for her, and she only danced with Daniel.  She competed in mambo and bolero in addition to her regular cha cha, rumba and swing categories, and went head to head against a really great dancer a little older, but in her category. 

 

 As usual, I'm not the best photographer.

 

But the professional photographer got some really great shots.  Shara and the other dancer went back and forth winning categories, and in the final round, with five judges voting, Shara wiped the floor with the other girl in cha cha, lost all five votes in swing, and lost by one vote in rumba, giving her a runner up youth title.  She had a great time, though, and it helped to restore some of her confidence after the Foxtrot Debacle. 
 

Shara Lonestar May 2015 

After she was done competing, we enjoyed being at the top of a hill during a huge flood, hit the resort's water park the next morning between showers, and headed back home before the rain started up again.