Dance dance!

This is my beautiful little baby comp dancer on the day of her very first competition.  This weekend was our first experience with competition.  Well, at least Avery's first experience with it.  I grew up dancing and vaguely remember what it is like to be a competitive dancer.  It was very interesting being on this side of things.  A dancing parent plays multiple roles and while it was an awesome experience, I will have to say that being a dancer is much more fun. 

The competition was called Hall of Fame and it was held at Roy Wilkins in downtown St. Paul.  It was a crazy maze inside the place with little to no direction on where to go.  It took me an entire day to figure out where the girls' dressing rooms were.  Each time that I had to go back up there I was confused.  Perhaps it is just me and my old age!  Avery did both her jazz and tap routine on Saturday.  Since we needed to be there two hours early (10am) and then stay until awards(4:30pm) I decided to leave the twins home along with Chadd and allow them to attend a birthday party that they had been invited to.  In hindsight, I am SO GLAD I did that.  We went up to the dressing room and got her into her jazz costume.  They are little Zebra's complete with a Mohawk made out of tulle.  It is an adorable costume, but terribly itchy for the girls.  It is a good thing that they were running early because we had a lot of little girls who were very unhappy wearing that costume.  Avery spent the majority of the weekend with her leg held up like that.  If you think I am exaggerating, think again.  It became a problem at dinner when she refused to sit in the booth and chose to stand in the aisle with her leg held up like that! 

Their next routine was their tap number.  They dance to "Ma, He's making Eyes at Me" and they wear little white dressed with a headpiece that looks like a veil.  It is an adorable number and Avery gets to do a solo with the little boy Austin.  That costume is thankfully less uncomfortable than the jazz costume so there were far fewer complaints.  They did a fabulous job and it was time to watch the show and wait until awards time. 

I think it is astonishing that the dance studio that used to win all first place awards when I was growing up is still the same studio who wins all the first place awards.  If you know dance in MN, you know the name of this studio.  They are absolutely amazing to watch. 

My mom, dad, sister, brother in law, nephew and best friend all came to cheer Avery(and Chadd)on.  A big thank you goes out to them for showing their love and support.  It means so much to us. 

The awards system is very complicated.  Their are four tiers.  Platinum, High Gold, Gold and Silver.  Then, within each category, you score a place.  It is very confusing at first, but by Sunday evening I think I had it down.  The judges score the dance and based upon your score you land in one of those four categories.  Then, you get ranked against all other dances within that category.  Our 5 year olds were the only 5 year olds in their category so they got first place and their score landed them in the High Gold category.  I was so proud of these little girls for dancing their hearts out and getting High Gold for their first competition.  Instead of ribbons(like I got as a kid)each girl gets a pin that said High Gold Hall of Fame dance competition.  Pretty neat if you ask me.  I have a bulletin board that we can display all of our pins on now. 

After dinner, Avery and I went back to watch some more dancing.  It was so much fun to relax and watch the show and the other dancers up on stage.  Saturday night proved to be a late one.  Thankfully we were not scheduled to dance until 2:50pm so I was able to let Avery sleep in a bit.  While I was getting her ready for day 2, I was able to let her watch the live stream and she got to see some of the older girls doing their solo routines.  You have got to love technology!

Avery and her friend Sophia in their cheer leading outfits for the dad/daughter line.  I sent Avery to the competition with Chadd and I was going to meet them later.  The girls all got their costumes there on Sunday morning.  When I showed up, they were dressed up and practicing in the hallway and I was so impressed with their darling costumes!  Once again, I had to tell Avery to put her leg down so that I could shoot this picture! ha!  She is crazy flexible but she needs a new pose!

Oh look!  A new pose!  Ha, ha!

This is Jenny and Avery.  Jenny is a senior at our studio this year and she has taught Avery along with Miss Heather.  Avery truly adores her as do all of the little girls.  She is such a great role model for the girls and we are so lucky to have her as our assistant teacher.

Chadd was all geared up and ready to go for their number, "Football Hero."  It is so awesome to watch 35 dads dance with their girls up on stage to show their love and support. 

I am so proud of my darling daughter and my husband.  It is an amazing thing to watch and I couldn't be happier with the studio we are at and the friends that we have made.  Go Studio 4!!!