Catching Up - Freddie Ball & A Day

So, this past weekend was the big awards ball and ceremony for our region.  Nominations are a huge honor.  Last year, Tiny didn't get a nomination, because she only competed once, and hadn't been at the studio very long.  This year she scored two nominations, one for Top Youth, and one for Top Competitor.  Even though she didn't win, she was very pleased to have been nominated. 

The real reason we attended, though, was because we knew two of her instructors had been nominated for Top Teacher awards, though it turned out that all three of them were! 

The dinner was delicious, both Matt and Daniel won awards, and the photographer who has been doing all of the dancesport events for our region was there, and he took an amazing picture of Shara with Matt.  The dance floor was packed all night long, and getting to watch Mark & Olga Elsbury was fantastic.  We were, however grateful to be heading home after a while, since we didn't get home until just after midnight. 

The next morning was A Day, and while Tiny isn't signed up to do a big number for Rhythm of the Night, we still enjoyed the classes all day.  We ran into the photographer (Stephen Marino, who is fantastic!) during the day, and he did an impromptu photo shoot with Shara & Richard, since we have tons of pictures with her & Daniel, and tons with her & Matt.  I wasn't expecting a full pictorial, but hey, no complaints here! 

Girl sees dance instructor...

 

 Her next event will be Starlight - I believe she is doing a swing with Daniel to "Confident", and she is in fifth gear working on her open rhythm routines for the Lone Star competition in August of this year.  Today she has a special coaching session with Mark Elsbury, and she is pretty excited about it. 

Catching Up - Mini Match

 I was supposed to post right after Mini Match (January 30th), but I kept thinking I had already done it!  We haven't gotten Tiny's score sheets back yet, but the judge told our studio director that she has the potential to do quite well, competitively.  Hopefully, he'll be able to pass on some good comments that will help her grow.

Anyhow!

She started the day out with a swing with Matt, and then a cha cha.

He passed her to Daniel for a cha cha, then she was back with Matt for a rumba.

Daniel took over for four dances:  a swing, a waltz, a tango, and a foxtrot.  The tango with Daniel was her favorite, because while they were facing the judge, Craig swung his partner out for an open, and placed his hand on top of Shara's head.  She said her facial expression was quite startled, but she laughs about it every time she watches the video.

After the foxtrot with Daniel, she was back with Matt for another tango and a swing.

Daniel got one last rumba, then she finished the day with Matt doing waltz, foxtrot and cha cha.

It was a little difficult taking any of them seriously in their over-the-top disco costumes, but everyone definitely had a lot of fun, even though it was a long day.

Pictures and Video From Dancescape

So, Tiny's Lita got some video from the show and posted it.  However, due to her privacy settings, you won't be able to watch it if you aren't friends with her on facebook, so you may have to wait for me to put it on our youtube channel.  We're still waiting for the "official" video, but we're not expecting that for a few weeks, since they'll need to process the footage, and it was five hours worth of video.  Ish.  Either way, they did post photos today, so we downloaded some great pictures.  And some not-so-great pictures.

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.