Showstopper Weekend

We had a very fun and successful weekend at Showstopper dance competition. It was held at the Foxwoods Casino. We've been competing at NEDA for 13 years and this was the very first time we have done Showstoppers. I'll be honest. It was definitely a love hate thing for me. My review is below in case anyone comes here to read about the competition and would appreciate some honest feedback.

All of Gianna's dances did great!! She looked amazing! I just can't get over how much she has improved! She's so versatile. She looks great doing every style of dance. 

Senior Small Groups (Friday night):

1st place: Lacrimosa (Kara) - won a Crystal! My favorite routine!! 

2nd place: Recovery (Courtney) - won a Double Platinum 

Senior Large Groups (Saturday night):

1st place: Bond Girls (Jill's jazz) - won a Crystal!

2nd place: One last Breath (Hope) - won a Crystal! 

5th place: The Ritz (Jill's tap) - won a Double Platinum

Teen Large Groups (Sunday):

10th place: RiRi (hip hop) - won a Double Platinum! They actually placed this time! They changed some of the choreography and cleaned it up a lot from the last competition. It was so so so much better!!  And they moved Gianna from the sides to the center more so you could actually see her dancing. She has so much rhythm and looks fabulous doing hip hop! 

Production (Sunday):

1st place: Who Can Stand (acro) - won a Crystal!  This was Gianna's debut - hahaha!  I saw some pretty big mistakes with falls and timing issues but you have to cut them some slack as it is so incredibly difficult and I know they must have been exhausted. It was the last routine for our studio after three very long days of dancing back to back routines. I was hoping for a clean video. Oh well. Maybe next competition. 

2nd place: The Year of the Dragon - won a Crystal! I think it should have won first as it was super clean and just fantastic! 

I can't wait for the videos and professional pictures to be ready!! I'll post them soon. I hardly took any pictures myself. It's different this year as Gianna gets ready by herself and she's always off on her own with her friends. She doesn't like me taking pictures of her anyway. Although she'll always ask for them later : \

Small Group awards from Friday: 

One Last Breath:

Senior Large Group awards from Saturday:

Teen Large Group and Production awards on Sunday:

And what about this comment from the judges this weekend??  Our studio is amazing!! 

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Here is my personal opinion of the Showstopper competition.  Again it was a love hate thing for me. 

First the love...

1. They booked a big venue. They made sure the competition rooms and the dressing rooms were very large. So nice!

2. They have beautiful background screens that change with every routine.  It was stunning!  The lighting was beautiful too.

3.  They shoot great camera angles for the videos...not just from head on. 

4. The trophies are beautiful, especially the crystal trophy. It comes in a box which is such a nice souvenir. And they give the kids medals instead of the tiny pins. We were just at the Imagine dance competition and they give out flags to the top routines. Yes. Cheap flags and tiny pins. 

Now for the bad...

1. First and foremost the numbering of the routines was crazy.  They did not go in order. They assign numbers to the routines as the studios enter the competition. So that made for a crazy program book. 

2. Not only was the numbering of routines crazy, they didn't pay attention to the order they were dancing in. They had routines from the same studio with the same dancers back to back which is obviously not possible. So that caused for so much confusion as the routines were running completely out of order.  In my 13 years of competition, I've never been to a competition that ran like that. Also it made if very frustrating for my family trying to watch the live stream. We didn't know what time the girls would be dancing as they were consistently skipping routines and moving them to a later time slot. 

3. Speaking of the live stream, it was terrible. It kept going in and out. I will give the competition the benefit of the doubt and say it was probably the venue's issue. BUT I'm not so sure it was being monitored consistently by their competition staff.  By the end of the day, it was completely off air which tells me someone just gave up on it. 

4. And this was a big problem. They didn't have anyone working backstage to check in the dancers!! Like what was that about???  That made it terribly chaotic and confusing. They were literally leaving it up to the young dancers and the teachers to decide who was ready to dance. I guess there was a cell phone backstage that you used to let them know if you were ready to dance?  Like what???

5. The music was oddly soft on the third day. That is so unusual for a dance competition so I will just assume there was an issue with the speakers?  

6. And lastly, they only use two wings on their custom built stages. It was very distracting because you could see the dancers backstage the whole time. 

Weekending

I had quite the fun weekend.  Friday night Julia and I went to the movies to see Scream VI.  Buttered popcorn and being with my Julia...simply the best combination! It was so nice having her home last week on break. We went to dinner twice and did some shopping together. I loved having the house fuller again and hearing the girls laugh together. I miss her already : ( 

Saturday night we were invited to dinner with awesome friends. Lots of laughter...

Then Sunday, I spent the day with my sisters in Ogunquit celebrating Kimmy's birthday. We did a craft, played games (so many laughs) and had a delicious meal with ice cream for dessert. 

How does a weekend get any better than that?  Good food, good company and lots of laughter. It did me a lot of good. 

Battling Anxiety

I struggle with anxiety.  I'm anxious. I'm fearful. And I'm a little bit scared.  I try hard to block out the noise. The loud noise of life.  I have to think to myself first thing in the morning...what am I thinking about today and what am I going to allow into my mind?

What helps me have peace?  Tuning out the noise.  No TV...no news...no social media.  I look at it this way. Each day I wake up with a certain amount of energy.  If I let in the outside noise of things that upset me, my energy starts to deplete and I literally can feel myself getting physically tired.  So I have to make a choice each day as to what I let in. 

Being Thankful. Being Grateful. Instead of focusing on all the negative things happening around me, I change my thoughts to the Good things happening around me and all the Good things I have in my life. I focus on my Blessings. 

Peaceful music, encouraging videos, distracting activities.  Going outside and looking at the sky and the trees. I close my eyes and focus on how many sounds I can hear.  I breathe in the fresh air.  

Then I tell myself...I am safe. 

Nicholas

LITTLE MAN

I remember that cheek

when it curved like a bow

and those arms now so strong

once soft as fresh dough.

I remember the smell

of your baby sweet head

and the sound of your breath

as you slumbered in bed.

I will never forget

how your hand fit in mine

and your arms wrapped around me

all of the time.

You are grown now my love

and it fills me with joy

to see how you’ve journeyed

to man from sweet boy.

But that cheek with its plumpness

still lives in my heart

and I’ll never forget

you were mine

at the start.

by DONNA ASHWORTH

Imagine Dance Challenge

What a Sunday at Imagine Dance Challenge competition! I was completely blown away at Gianna's performances, all her routines, all the studio's routines and all the unbelievable talent at our studio! From the little girls to the oldest girls...simply amazing!! 

Small Groups:

1st place: Recovery (Courtney) - also won a Golden Ticket to the World Dance Championship and the Senior SDA Regional Champion 

2nd place: Lacrimosa (Kara) - also won the Senior Groups Technique Award - this dance was my absolute favorite! Kara is a genius! 

Large Groups:

1st place: One last Breath (Hope)

2nd place: Bond Girls (Jill's jazz)

4th place: The Ritz (Jill's tap) - also won Outstanding Group Tap

Line:

1st place: The Year of the Dragon

Hip Hop, Brand New Funk, didn't place in the top ten but Gianna was awesome! Also the senior acro was phenomenal and received a much deserved perfect score!

Gianna went up to receive the special awards for Recovery...

Competition recognizing the seniors from each studio...strangely we only have two this year...

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Lacrimosa video...my favorite routine of the day...

Not the best photographer at this competition but I still want to share some pictures for the memories.

The Ritz:

One Last Breath:

Bond Girls:

The Year of the Dragon:

Brand New Funk:

Lacrimosa:

Recovery:

Mothers and Daughters

The top picture is of Julia and and friends at UConn.  The bottom picture is us moms of those gorgeous girls...in the same order!  That wasn't planned! Too funny!  I love that I'm friends with their moms. That's the beauty of long term hometown friendships...