UVU is now under our belt, as well as the debut performance of our new fox trot! As a whole the comp went pretty well. I could have wished to have been able to perform a little better, but it was a great learning experience and we have come away with a new found determination to train harder.
The alterations to my dress have worked out beautifully! I don't think we tripped on my dress once during the whole comp. I have decided to add more rhinestones as soon as I possibly can, I do love lots of bling!
My shin splints have pretty much disappeared within the past three weeks. My research into what causes them and good remedies and prevention methods have paid off. The combination of getting good walking shoes, as well as getting inserts for my ghillies seem to have really made the difference in how I walk and dance. Quick step is no longer a torturous dance because of my shin splints.
American Fork is this weekend, on my birthday, and I compete both Friday night and Saturday afternoon I believe. I am excited to compete again, I love competition more than anything else, but two days is going to be tough!
Hopefully I will have more pictures and better video soon. My new found goal for next year is to be confident enough to compete in Amateur Standard at Nationals!!!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Center Stage
It's the Monday after Center Stage's competition at Thanksgiving Point. It was a small competition, and rather expensive at that! We danced a Semi-final in Novice Standard, and after looking at the call back sheet a couple of judges wanted us back for the final!!! However, we did completely bomb both dances pretty well, I was most certainly not happy about that. We hadn't warmed up before hand, and I was tired from my night shift the previous night.
I was feeling really despondent after that, I nearly pulled us out of the Pre Champ event that was a few hours later. But after feeling sorry for myself for a while, I picked myself up and decided that I wasn't going to quit! Pre-champ went much better for the Waltz! The score sheets showed that a couple of judges placed us 6th in the waltz!!! However, every judge concurred that we were seventh in Tango and Quickstep....I actually have to agree. At the end of the Tango I hit heads with another couple and received a mild concussion from that!! I didn't really know it at the time, all I could think about was how much it hurt and how I couldn't show it!!! The quickstep was a disaster! We broke connection left and right, and then we nearly ran into someone and couldn't recover, so we ended up practically walking to the corner to start again....I was mortified!!! And in the end we got 7th out of 7 couples!! I wouldn't have traded the experience for anything though. I can see that we're improving and that's encouraging. I sometimes expect far too much from myself and others, and I need to be a bit more realistic about my expectations.
And so now we will simply prepare for the next few competitions, and these add a fox-trot onto Pre-champ, and I despise Fox-Trot more than quickstep!!! I really only like Waltz and Tango. I plan on getting my dress fixed in time for UVU so that i'm not killing myself all the time. Hopefully by nationals we will have all of these hiccups taken care of!!
I was feeling really despondent after that, I nearly pulled us out of the Pre Champ event that was a few hours later. But after feeling sorry for myself for a while, I picked myself up and decided that I wasn't going to quit! Pre-champ went much better for the Waltz! The score sheets showed that a couple of judges placed us 6th in the waltz!!! However, every judge concurred that we were seventh in Tango and Quickstep....I actually have to agree. At the end of the Tango I hit heads with another couple and received a mild concussion from that!! I didn't really know it at the time, all I could think about was how much it hurt and how I couldn't show it!!! The quickstep was a disaster! We broke connection left and right, and then we nearly ran into someone and couldn't recover, so we ended up practically walking to the corner to start again....I was mortified!!! And in the end we got 7th out of 7 couples!! I wouldn't have traded the experience for anything though. I can see that we're improving and that's encouraging. I sometimes expect far too much from myself and others, and I need to be a bit more realistic about my expectations.
And so now we will simply prepare for the next few competitions, and these add a fox-trot onto Pre-champ, and I despise Fox-Trot more than quickstep!!! I really only like Waltz and Tango. I plan on getting my dress fixed in time for UVU so that i'm not killing myself all the time. Hopefully by nationals we will have all of these hiccups taken care of!!
Monday, February 1, 2010
Frustration before comp
Yet another competition is on the horizon, Center Stage is hosting the Dancesport Championships this Saturday at Thanksgiving point. It will most likely be another all day event for us, but hopefully not quite as long as Provo. They don't have a schedule up yet so I have no idea when our events will be.
Scott and I were having trouble agreeing on counts in the quickstep today, and on a certain move in the Tango we were trying to go two different directions. It is gonna be a long season yet! We still have yet to get a fox trot, which we will need for the next three competitions if we're gonna do Pre Champ. I am NOT excited for that, I absolutely hate fox trot!!!!!! sigh, but i suppose i knew this would come someday. I also need to register with the NDCA which i'm not entirely sure what that stands for entirely, it has something to do with the National Dance Association or a variation on the title.
My dress will have to bide it's time before we can make the alterations to the skirt, which means this weekend will be danced with a slightly too long skirt...sigh, oh well. Such is life. I'm furiously avoiding my Biology homework, even though I have a test on it tomorrow that i need to take. I would rather have my entire being devoted to dancing right now. But alas, while i'm in school, this is my lot. Hopefully when the parents get back from China my life will be a bit more manageable. Being the mom, student, dancer, and dispatcher is turning out to be more difficult than I had anticipated. All i'm hoping for right now is that my parents and brother have a great experience together, that would make all this effort worth it!
Scott and I were having trouble agreeing on counts in the quickstep today, and on a certain move in the Tango we were trying to go two different directions. It is gonna be a long season yet! We still have yet to get a fox trot, which we will need for the next three competitions if we're gonna do Pre Champ. I am NOT excited for that, I absolutely hate fox trot!!!!!! sigh, but i suppose i knew this would come someday. I also need to register with the NDCA which i'm not entirely sure what that stands for entirely, it has something to do with the National Dance Association or a variation on the title.
My dress will have to bide it's time before we can make the alterations to the skirt, which means this weekend will be danced with a slightly too long skirt...sigh, oh well. Such is life. I'm furiously avoiding my Biology homework, even though I have a test on it tomorrow that i need to take. I would rather have my entire being devoted to dancing right now. But alas, while i'm in school, this is my lot. Hopefully when the parents get back from China my life will be a bit more manageable. Being the mom, student, dancer, and dispatcher is turning out to be more difficult than I had anticipated. All i'm hoping for right now is that my parents and brother have a great experience together, that would make all this effort worth it!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Provo Comp
Well, this week has been crazy what with getting parents and brother off to China, a feat which we contributed greatly!! ;)
Last night was the Provo Competition and boy was it filled with interesting happenings!
It started out with my first event at 10:00 a.m. which was the Novice Standard event. My dress was gorgeous, except that I can't quite zip it up all the way by myself... While practicing for the event, Scott and I discovered that my dress might be a bit too long!!! He stepped on it quite a few times. But we saw other dresses about as long as mine, so we didn't think about it too much after that. The first round went fairly well, except that Scott didn't put me in the right direction for the quickstep so we kind of started doing our waltz but to the quickstep timing! We got back on...sorta, and finished with me hobbling off the floor because of my shin splints. Brittney came and talked to me and Scott after we did our waltz and told me that my hair was falling out, and that I needed to come to her right after the event to fix it, and she also gave us just a few pointers to remember while dancing. And then shock of shocks, we got called back!!!! I did not go to Brittney to get my hair fixed because i was certain we weren't going to get called back, but i did do my best to secure it. So off we went again to try to look better than we really are. This round went better, it was the Quarter Final, but we didn't get called back again. However the judges marks showed that three out of the six judges wanted us back!
Mindy called me a while after my event finished and informed me that she was sick!!! Her voice certainly sounded like it. But she was determined to dance, so I got some stuff for soup that night and after dinner we went back to the comp for the night events. After I got ready for Pre Champ and Scott and I were warming up, we heard a commotion out on the floor and ran out to discover that Landon had collapsed while doing his five dance event! He apparently fainted, most likely from exhaustion. He did not finish the event. But this also pushed things back a bit, so i ended up being on my feet, in my heels for too long. I was tired, and preparing to hurt yet again. Mindy wasn't really any help as she was dealing with her increasing headache as well as losing her voice. Pre champ was kind of disastrous, nothing went right and Scott nearly tripped on my dress in Tango. We danced a Semi Final so it was all three dances in a row, suffice it to say that i was dead after quickstep, and I was quite relieved that we were not called back.
Mindy wasn't scheduled to dance until 11:00 p.m.!!! She had gotten to the point of not even being able to be stay near the competition floor because the music was too loud. She hadn't eaten since before 8:00 or earlier, and she was refusing to eat anything at all! I tried to reason with her that the rule was more that on a normal day you stop eating two hours before bed, and this was an occasion to break her normal routine. But would she listen? NO!!! Boy I wanted to wring her neck! Brittney tried to instruct in what to do while we were sitting by the floor. She had taken something for her headache, but it wasn't helping and she wouldn't take anything else! Laine Shapiro was sitting next to Brittney, and when he heard what she was complaining about he tried to help and told her to rub her temples in a counter clockwise direction. And she refused to do that! She did everything in her power to do nothing to abate her sickness!! She danced anyway, and came off the floor shaking and coughing. They did not get called back, and Mindy said that she really wanted to, even though I doubt she could have danced again. However, she could have been being dramatic and was really perfectly able to continue dancing....That child...
Craig and Brittney did not stay for her event, and Mindy was quite upset that they had made a point of saying goodbye to everyone but her. She is feeling very neglected by them right now. But if i'm honest, i'm getting tired of this needy attitude she has with them. They are her coaches, not her family. Here I am following her around, talking for her, making sure she has everything, cheering for her, and yet all she cares about is if Craig or Brittney were watching ...This is exhausting! I'm getting very tired of being her mother when she doesn't even support me in return. I had more fun when I was alone at the comp sadly...
Myleigh spent the day with James and Ali, and from her stories about what they did, it sounds like she had fun with them. They even played doll house with her!
Myleigh and I are now just hanging out watching Disney together. We slept through church, mostly because the comp didn't end until about 12:30, and we didn't get back until after 1:00. She is playing with the mermaid doll that she opened today, and so far she hasn't been missing the parental units too much.
Well, i'm off to clean the kitchen, and start baking Caramel Chocolate Eclairs!
Last night was the Provo Competition and boy was it filled with interesting happenings!
It started out with my first event at 10:00 a.m. which was the Novice Standard event. My dress was gorgeous, except that I can't quite zip it up all the way by myself... While practicing for the event, Scott and I discovered that my dress might be a bit too long!!! He stepped on it quite a few times. But we saw other dresses about as long as mine, so we didn't think about it too much after that. The first round went fairly well, except that Scott didn't put me in the right direction for the quickstep so we kind of started doing our waltz but to the quickstep timing! We got back on...sorta, and finished with me hobbling off the floor because of my shin splints. Brittney came and talked to me and Scott after we did our waltz and told me that my hair was falling out, and that I needed to come to her right after the event to fix it, and she also gave us just a few pointers to remember while dancing. And then shock of shocks, we got called back!!!! I did not go to Brittney to get my hair fixed because i was certain we weren't going to get called back, but i did do my best to secure it. So off we went again to try to look better than we really are. This round went better, it was the Quarter Final, but we didn't get called back again. However the judges marks showed that three out of the six judges wanted us back!
Mindy called me a while after my event finished and informed me that she was sick!!! Her voice certainly sounded like it. But she was determined to dance, so I got some stuff for soup that night and after dinner we went back to the comp for the night events. After I got ready for Pre Champ and Scott and I were warming up, we heard a commotion out on the floor and ran out to discover that Landon had collapsed while doing his five dance event! He apparently fainted, most likely from exhaustion. He did not finish the event. But this also pushed things back a bit, so i ended up being on my feet, in my heels for too long. I was tired, and preparing to hurt yet again. Mindy wasn't really any help as she was dealing with her increasing headache as well as losing her voice. Pre champ was kind of disastrous, nothing went right and Scott nearly tripped on my dress in Tango. We danced a Semi Final so it was all three dances in a row, suffice it to say that i was dead after quickstep, and I was quite relieved that we were not called back.
Mindy wasn't scheduled to dance until 11:00 p.m.!!! She had gotten to the point of not even being able to be stay near the competition floor because the music was too loud. She hadn't eaten since before 8:00 or earlier, and she was refusing to eat anything at all! I tried to reason with her that the rule was more that on a normal day you stop eating two hours before bed, and this was an occasion to break her normal routine. But would she listen? NO!!! Boy I wanted to wring her neck! Brittney tried to instruct in what to do while we were sitting by the floor. She had taken something for her headache, but it wasn't helping and she wouldn't take anything else! Laine Shapiro was sitting next to Brittney, and when he heard what she was complaining about he tried to help and told her to rub her temples in a counter clockwise direction. And she refused to do that! She did everything in her power to do nothing to abate her sickness!! She danced anyway, and came off the floor shaking and coughing. They did not get called back, and Mindy said that she really wanted to, even though I doubt she could have danced again. However, she could have been being dramatic and was really perfectly able to continue dancing....That child...
Craig and Brittney did not stay for her event, and Mindy was quite upset that they had made a point of saying goodbye to everyone but her. She is feeling very neglected by them right now. But if i'm honest, i'm getting tired of this needy attitude she has with them. They are her coaches, not her family. Here I am following her around, talking for her, making sure she has everything, cheering for her, and yet all she cares about is if Craig or Brittney were watching ...This is exhausting! I'm getting very tired of being her mother when she doesn't even support me in return. I had more fun when I was alone at the comp sadly...
Myleigh spent the day with James and Ali, and from her stories about what they did, it sounds like she had fun with them. They even played doll house with her!
Myleigh and I are now just hanging out watching Disney together. We slept through church, mostly because the comp didn't end until about 12:30, and we didn't get back until after 1:00. She is playing with the mermaid doll that she opened today, and so far she hasn't been missing the parental units too much.
Well, i'm off to clean the kitchen, and start baking Caramel Chocolate Eclairs!
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