Gosh. So much and yet so little happened here. Things were moving along as planned, and I coughed up my tax return as a downpayment on her national competition. Neither of us have been to Disney World, so we were both fairly excited. She started on her foxtrot open, which she was going to be using as a Spotlight dance to the Pink Panther in May. I started rehearsals for a production of Sound of Music that I ended being the Assistant Director for, and put in way too many hours of time.
Right around the beginning of February, we also learned that Richard was getting a promotion that involved him transferring to our sister studio. We were really disappointed, but we did get a fantastic new instructor for Shara to work with, and she did (and does) continue to work with Matt. I will say that her new instructor, Daniel, is easy on the eyes.
Anyhow, this was around the time of signups for their big dance production (which just happened in June), but that we didn't participate in because all of our money was budgeted for nationals. At the end of February, we did the household consolidation, and got half of our stuff put into a storage unit. I just kept putting money into the kitty, until we got word that the amount I had budgeted and been paying off did not include her dance entries. I was pretty upset, and not at all sure I would be able to scrape up enough money to make it happen, even with help from her other relatives. The studio manager conferred with the owners and some of the other professionals, and sat me down for a chat at the beginning of April.
He told me that since Shara's end goal is not necessarily to be the world champion (not that she wouldn't be thrilled, and not that it wouldn't be excellent for her career), we don't need to put all of our financial eggs in one basket. He advised taking the time until she turns 16 to have her participate in all of the different types of events the studio offers, so that when the time comes for her to teach, she can truly speak with the voice of experience.
This meant I could relax a little bit about the nationals bill, and put the money we had already saved up towards two competitions in May (one Fred Astaire, one independent Dancesport), and instead of focusing on nationals, have her do a Showcase event in January, which would involve intricately customized choreography to a song of her choosing.
Along the way, she had her spotlight on May 9th.
Which meant she needed another costume.
We bought a pink coat dress, which I paid extra to have shipped expedited. It didn't arrive until two days after the event. The day before, we had to go out and find her a shirt she could wear with her smooth practice skirt. This is the only event she's had that I haven't been able to attend. I still feel guilty about it, since she went with her dad and Lita, lost a heel cap, psyched herself out, and managed to twist her ankle while she was dancing. I still think some of it was psychological. She was convinced she wouldn't do well and might hurt herself, and sure enough, she did. Mind over matter. Anyhow, I don't have any video, since I wasn't there, and she wouldn't let me have the video from her phone. She looked really cute, but I don't even have pictures. The main issue was that it gave her a lot of self-doubt right before she was about to hit a major set of events. She had competitions coming up one weekend after another, and she really needed to walk into them with her head held high and feeling really good about herself and her current level of ability.
Showing posts with label Spotlight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spotlight. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
The Journey of the First Year (Part 3 - September through November 2014)
As soon as the level passing event was over, it was time to focus on where we wanted to go in the next six months. They asked Shara if she would like to compete individually, and she got really excited. This was about the same time she was transitioning from her other style, and she was worried about finding time to compete in both styles in addition to her rehearsals, but after she let go of the contemporary dance, she was able to really throw herself into the preparations for her first competition. First things first, we had some shopping to do. She needed tan shoes in both Latin and smooth styles, since we went
with a "cute" pair when she first started, and the black ones didn't do
my poor tiny dancer any leg-lengthening favors. She also needed a dress she could wear when she competed in her smooth styles (waltz, tango, foxtrot), since we already had a basic Latin dress (cha cha, rumba, swing). After trying on about seven dresses, some of which were pretty horrifying (she looked naked!) and some of which were just unflattering, we settled on one that we thought would be eye-catching for the judges, looked nice on her, and didn't break the bank.
She didn't love it though, at least, not at first.
The Latin dress, however, needed a lot of work. When girls compete in ballroom, it involves crystals. Lots and lots of sparkly, shiny, dazzling crystals, and we found out that anyone who's anyone needs to use Swarvoski crystals. I found a website that sold star-shaped crystals in silver night and another that sold individual circle shaped crystals at an even better price, and order a lot. Then a lot more. I underestimated at first. She ended up with 1600+ crystals on the dress in a starburst pattern that took more hours than I want to remember to attach. Fortunately, I discovered hotfix right at the beginning, since life would have been a lot more painful if I had been going the old-fashioned route of E6000 and a toothpick.
I made the mistake of joking with Richard when they were looking at the blue dress that we could always add some more stones to it to, with a wink, and he introduced me to what would become my new motto: More is more. I'm not sure how many hundreds of additional crystals went on the blue dress, but it was a lot. Shara started helping with it, too, when I wasn't using the hotfix gun.
In September, we started splitting her rehearsal time between preparation for her competition and her November Spotlight. I also started making monthly payments into her competition account so we could afford to send her, in addition to starting up a gofundme, which got some action from my ex-husband's family. Honestly, we couldn't have sent her without their help. But first, they had to choreograph her routine, which they planned as a rumba to Please Come Home for Christmas, and she had to find out how well she could pick up ballroom choreography.
Which also meant we needed another costume.
We found this cutie on Amazon (I love you, Amazon!), but it was just too plain after weeks of adding crystals to dresses. I added a row of red crystals around the skirt, white opal crystals on the netting underskirt, and dusted the balls at the end of the hood with spray glitter.
The Boy went with a Grinch theme, which meant I got to revisit my time doing makeup for high school theater.
This was also about the time that we met Matt. Shara goes in for group lessons at least twice most weeks, in addition to her regular private lesson times and weekly Friday night dances. Shara had been her usually oblivious self regarding the chatter about the new coach transferring in. She first encountered him during a rumba group class, and thought nothing more of it than another new student. She seemed quite horrified that this was the same person she danced with at the group class upon learning the next day that he was the new coach. Shara was assigned to start working with him almost immediately to help prevent her from getting too locked into one way of following.
Halloween started approaching, and there was no way the studio was going to let that pass unnoticed. Which meant we needed another costume, and she absolutely had to be Captain America. In a tutu.
Shortly afterwards (November 8th, 2014), the studio started a promotional month at the local mall for the grand opening of their Microsoft store. Originally, they planned out blocks of time for students to have individual performances, so we scheduled both of the kids around the same time. We got there really early, and as the day progressed, it was discovered that we drew more of a crowd when we either had the younger kids dancing, or when there were multiple couples, since it seemed more purposeful. The kids had a great time, and I got to be of use to the studio, passing out information packets while the pros danced. We also spent some time working with new makeups, trying out different sparkles and colors.
We also found out Richard was having some health problems, and we were concerned, because Shara had Spotlight coming up. We weren't worried about her competition, because it was a full month out, still.
Richard's health continued to be an issue into November, so her Spotlight was performed with Matt. In a way, he really kind of stood in as a substitute big brother for her, overprotectiveness and all.
After Spotlight, the decision was made to have Matt and Craig (the studio manager) partner her for the competition. Once they decided that, I felt better, because we were no longer waiting for him to get better and worrying about how much rehearsal time they would have. We could just focus on the competition. Of course, she didn't feel the same way. She was very worried because she started out dancing with Richard, and she wasn't nearly as used to dancing with Matt.
There's a story here. Shara and one of the female pros were tidying up around the studio to put up decorations. We spend enough time there that I keep tea in their cupboard, and Shara and I help with random tasks. Shara was trying to wrap lights and tinsel around the tree, and fortunately the studio manager, who clocks in at a solid foot and a half taller than she is, came to rescue her.
She didn't love it though, at least, not at first.
The Latin dress, however, needed a lot of work. When girls compete in ballroom, it involves crystals. Lots and lots of sparkly, shiny, dazzling crystals, and we found out that anyone who's anyone needs to use Swarvoski crystals. I found a website that sold star-shaped crystals in silver night and another that sold individual circle shaped crystals at an even better price, and order a lot. Then a lot more. I underestimated at first. She ended up with 1600+ crystals on the dress in a starburst pattern that took more hours than I want to remember to attach. Fortunately, I discovered hotfix right at the beginning, since life would have been a lot more painful if I had been going the old-fashioned route of E6000 and a toothpick.
I made the mistake of joking with Richard when they were looking at the blue dress that we could always add some more stones to it to, with a wink, and he introduced me to what would become my new motto: More is more. I'm not sure how many hundreds of additional crystals went on the blue dress, but it was a lot. Shara started helping with it, too, when I wasn't using the hotfix gun.
In September, we started splitting her rehearsal time between preparation for her competition and her November Spotlight. I also started making monthly payments into her competition account so we could afford to send her, in addition to starting up a gofundme, which got some action from my ex-husband's family. Honestly, we couldn't have sent her without their help. But first, they had to choreograph her routine, which they planned as a rumba to Please Come Home for Christmas, and she had to find out how well she could pick up ballroom choreography.
Which also meant we needed another costume.
We found this cutie on Amazon (I love you, Amazon!), but it was just too plain after weeks of adding crystals to dresses. I added a row of red crystals around the skirt, white opal crystals on the netting underskirt, and dusted the balls at the end of the hood with spray glitter.
The Boy went with a Grinch theme, which meant I got to revisit my time doing makeup for high school theater.
This was also about the time that we met Matt. Shara goes in for group lessons at least twice most weeks, in addition to her regular private lesson times and weekly Friday night dances. Shara had been her usually oblivious self regarding the chatter about the new coach transferring in. She first encountered him during a rumba group class, and thought nothing more of it than another new student. She seemed quite horrified that this was the same person she danced with at the group class upon learning the next day that he was the new coach. Shara was assigned to start working with him almost immediately to help prevent her from getting too locked into one way of following.
Halloween started approaching, and there was no way the studio was going to let that pass unnoticed. Which meant we needed another costume, and she absolutely had to be Captain America. In a tutu.
Shortly afterwards (November 8th, 2014), the studio started a promotional month at the local mall for the grand opening of their Microsoft store. Originally, they planned out blocks of time for students to have individual performances, so we scheduled both of the kids around the same time. We got there really early, and as the day progressed, it was discovered that we drew more of a crowd when we either had the younger kids dancing, or when there were multiple couples, since it seemed more purposeful. The kids had a great time, and I got to be of use to the studio, passing out information packets while the pros danced. We also spent some time working with new makeups, trying out different sparkles and colors.
We also found out Richard was having some health problems, and we were concerned, because Shara had Spotlight coming up. We weren't worried about her competition, because it was a full month out, still.
Richard's health continued to be an issue into November, so her Spotlight was performed with Matt. In a way, he really kind of stood in as a substitute big brother for her, overprotectiveness and all.
After Spotlight, the decision was made to have Matt and Craig (the studio manager) partner her for the competition. Once they decided that, I felt better, because we were no longer waiting for him to get better and worrying about how much rehearsal time they would have. We could just focus on the competition. Of course, she didn't feel the same way. She was very worried because she started out dancing with Richard, and she wasn't nearly as used to dancing with Matt.
Decorating the studio tree
There's a story here. Shara and one of the female pros were tidying up around the studio to put up decorations. We spend enough time there that I keep tea in their cupboard, and Shara and I help with random tasks. Shara was trying to wrap lights and tinsel around the tree, and fortunately the studio manager, who clocks in at a solid foot and a half taller than she is, came to rescue her.
The Journey of the First Year (Part 2 - August 2014)
So, in order to attend the level passing and for her to perform a spotlight, we had to make our first foray into the world of costumes. I had the worst ideas about what would look good on her. Mind you, she's only five feet tall and curvy, and it isn't looking like she's going to grow any time soon, so even with heels, it's a challenge finding things that don't either drag the ground or just look entirely too provocative on her frame. Fortunately, even though I tried to stuff her into an outfit that was completely awful, the owner of the store we went to knew enough about body shapes and costuming that he walked over to the rack, picked one up, handed it to her to try, and it was perfect. It only had one problem, but that wouldn't be an issue until later.
I was so proud of her! Proud of both of them, actually, though this is really more about her journey.
It was a wonderful event, held at Anthony's Steak House. Watching these old videos, I can smile and really see how much she has improved, though of course I thought she was the best thing since sliced bread. About that time, she decided that committing to being in the dance company at her original studio was too much, since she wanted to focus more time and energy into ballroom. When they told us she couldn't reduce her hours at the studio, we had to pull her out entirely. I was pretty mad, to be honest. Fortunately, studio has become so much like family that it really softened the pain of walking away from something she had been doing four days a week for as long as she could remember. She increased her hours at the ballroom studio so she could still count it as her PE for school, which let her get out early her 8th grade year. As the month progressed, we also got to participate in Texarama Team Match, which is an event for students who have not yet competed individually in a Fred Astaire competition. Shara loved it! She said she had found her people.
Greyson, Shara & her pro-partner Greyson & his pro-partner
I was so proud of her! Proud of both of them, actually, though this is really more about her journey.
It was a wonderful event, held at Anthony's Steak House. Watching these old videos, I can smile and really see how much she has improved, though of course I thought she was the best thing since sliced bread. About that time, she decided that committing to being in the dance company at her original studio was too much, since she wanted to focus more time and energy into ballroom. When they told us she couldn't reduce her hours at the studio, we had to pull her out entirely. I was pretty mad, to be honest. Fortunately, studio has become so much like family that it really softened the pain of walking away from something she had been doing four days a week for as long as she could remember. She increased her hours at the ballroom studio so she could still count it as her PE for school, which let her get out early her 8th grade year. As the month progressed, we also got to participate in Texarama Team Match, which is an event for students who have not yet competed individually in a Fred Astaire competition. Shara loved it! She said she had found her people.
The Journey of the First Year (Part 1)
With my daughter recently celebrating her one year danciversary (the day she began ballroom dancing) on June 10th, it got me thinking that we should be chronicling this journey. She began dancing when she was three, after I took her to see the Nutcracker performed by the Houston Ballet. She told me she was going to be a dancer when she grew up, and I patted her on the head and said, "Of course you will, sweetie," in probably the most condescending way an adult can.
It hasn't been an easy road. She threw herself into contemporary dance (quite literally, as I describe contemporary dance as throwing oneself on the ground emotionally) and was taking private lessons in pointe, yet still managed to injure herself more often than not. Ballroom started out as a lark, really. I think I've dreamed of her competing on So You Think You Can Dance way more than she has, and so when I found a sign advertising a six week ballroom course during a time when her dance school was on hiatus for the summer, I gave them a call. When they told me that they didn't take younger students, only people 18 and older, I'll admit that I got irritated, and determined that I would find someplace that would teach an almost-thirteen-year-old. My first call was to Fred Astaire in Clear Lake, and they said they'd love to work with her. I had no idea how much that phone call would change both of our lives.
I see moms bringing in new students now, and I have to laugh at myself, because I was THAT MOM. You know, the one who takes hundreds of pictures and videos of her precious angel and how good she was. My son started taking lessons about the same time, for fun, and he was subjected to similar treatment, the poor boy.
Her first lessons were with Richard, and she picked it up really quickly. She ended up only taking four lessons of basics before they moved her into their Bronze program. I credit a lot of that to her prior experience, but she has always had a great deal of natural ability, so it wasn't too surprising. In fact, they recommended fairly quickly that she participate in a "spotlight" dance at the celebration for her promotion into Bronze (level passing that they do twice a year). She attended her first in August of 2014.
Before that, though, she began attending all of the group classes available. We could only afford for her to take one private lesson per week, but she gets all of the extra practice she can.
She attended weekly parties with her brother, who "happily" danced with her.
Sometimes her brother would even go to group classes, too, so they could learn the same steps.
During all of this, she was still attending camps at her main dance studio, but was starting to pull away from it a bit emotionally.
At this point, they began focusing on her cha cha for the spotlight.
It hasn't been an easy road. She threw herself into contemporary dance (quite literally, as I describe contemporary dance as throwing oneself on the ground emotionally) and was taking private lessons in pointe, yet still managed to injure herself more often than not. Ballroom started out as a lark, really. I think I've dreamed of her competing on So You Think You Can Dance way more than she has, and so when I found a sign advertising a six week ballroom course during a time when her dance school was on hiatus for the summer, I gave them a call. When they told me that they didn't take younger students, only people 18 and older, I'll admit that I got irritated, and determined that I would find someplace that would teach an almost-thirteen-year-old. My first call was to Fred Astaire in Clear Lake, and they said they'd love to work with her. I had no idea how much that phone call would change both of our lives.
I see moms bringing in new students now, and I have to laugh at myself, because I was THAT MOM. You know, the one who takes hundreds of pictures and videos of her precious angel and how good she was. My son started taking lessons about the same time, for fun, and he was subjected to similar treatment, the poor boy.
Her first lessons were with Richard, and she picked it up really quickly. She ended up only taking four lessons of basics before they moved her into their Bronze program. I credit a lot of that to her prior experience, but she has always had a great deal of natural ability, so it wasn't too surprising. In fact, they recommended fairly quickly that she participate in a "spotlight" dance at the celebration for her promotion into Bronze (level passing that they do twice a year). She attended her first in August of 2014.
Before that, though, she began attending all of the group classes available. We could only afford for her to take one private lesson per week, but she gets all of the extra practice she can.
She attended weekly parties with her brother, who "happily" danced with her.
Sometimes her brother would even go to group classes, too, so they could learn the same steps.
During all of this, she was still attending camps at her main dance studio, but was starting to pull away from it a bit emotionally.
At this point, they began focusing on her cha cha for the spotlight.
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