Recital and Starpower Nationals

Last Saturday was the recital. It was Julia's 6th recital and Gianna's 3rd. I thought the girls did a fantastic job!

(Papa Can You Hear Me and Barnyard Boogie costumes)

with teacher and choreographer for "Papa", Miss Hope....

Ballet "A Dream is a Wish"

Tap "Cold Feet"

Julia and her friends, the Vigevani sisters

Vigevani sisters and Julia & Gianna

Leah, Onecia, Julia, Caitlyn and Sarah

Jada, Emilee, Leah, Alyssa, Julia & Sarah

Sarah & Julia

The morning after the recital, Julia and I had to drive down to Mohegan Sun for Nationals.  Her solo was on at 8:00 a.m.!!!!  She was entry number 12 out of 1493 entries!! That meant getting up at 4:00 a.m. and leaving the house at 5:15 a.m.!!!  And that was after a very long day of dancing in two recitals (and me running around doing a ton of costume changes)!  But our adrenaline got us through!

 

Julia did another beautiful performance of "Colors of the Wind".  It was just the two of us there at that crazy early hour.  I clapped and cheered like crazy for her!!  And here is a gorgeous picture of her dancing....

So there she sat....all alone on the stage....I was sitting right in front of her trying to keep her company....we made faces at each other.  : )

She won a trophy for winning the "open" division...

and then....she won SECOND PLACE OVERALL in the junior 9-11 all-star category!!!!!!  She competed against 35 girls!  Look how tiny she is compared to the girl who won first.

The trophy is bigger than her! 

I'm so proud of her!!!  Pretty awesome for her first solo!  

Then we walked through the lobby and Julia spotted a picture of herself on the wall!  (Far left...)  What a day!!!

Later that day as we walked through the mall at Mohegan, we saw people gathering around a stage and found out Derek Hough from Dancing with the Stars was going to perform!!  I love him!!!

He is so gorgeous and super talented!!

Here he is dancing....

The next day the trio competed.  The talent at Nationals was crazy good!!!  Julia's teachers were all nervous and edgy.  They wanted the girls to be super stretched out.  So here they are torturing my girl!!  ; )

Before they danced, we waited for the petite solo awards.  And Julia's teammate and good friend, Alyssa, took first place!!!  So exciting!!!  It was a really hard competition so it was huge that she won!  Look at the size of that trophy!!

Here are the kids helping her carry it back to the dressing room.  Yes, they walked through the casino dressed like that carrying a crazy huge trophy.  So funny!

Nicholas and Gianna had so much fun helping!

Shortly after, we found out the trio won FIRST PLACE in the petite division!!!

What a great day for the little ones!!!

And Nicholas won the trophy for being the most helpful, amazingly good boy there!!!

Here are the girls getting ready for an award ceremony...(Julia's in pink)

Junior Acro Team performed "The Matadors".  They won 2nd place!!  

And Julia's jazz team won 1st PLACE for "Steam Heat"!  So exciting!!!

Here is the winning moment!!!

I'm so proud of all the girls but especially my baby girl!!  Just 9-years-old.  She amazes me with her talent and poise!