Competition #4: Adrenaline in Downtown LA

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog.

This last weekend, my team and I went to our fourth competition this season. But this one included a dance convention. For those of you who don't know what that is, a dance convention or workshop is where the competitors (usually divided by age) take master classes from people who are big in the business. This includes people who have their own dance companies, people who dance for big stars, who are big stars, or might have been on TV at one point or another in their careers.

The competition/convention spanned over the entire weekend, including Friday. Because it's so long, I'll divide it up into two smaller blogs (although they'll both be kind of long... sorry.

-----------------------------------------------Friday-------------------------------------------------------------------

So I had a short day at school on Friday, getting out at 12:47. That gave me time to go home and pack everything my sister and I needed for the trip. We were staying at our grandfather's house which is only 20 minutes from the competition location: Hilton Los Angeles Airport, right next to the LAX airport. So in the packing, I had to include all the dance clothes I needed. snacks, makeup, hair stuff, and costumes. My sister got home from school around 3:30, so we had to finish getting ready and go to the competition.

It took us about 40 minutes to get to my grandpa's house, where we ate dinner and relaxed before making our way to the hotel for the competition. Neither my sister nor I were dancing that night, but we had to support our friends who were.

Unfortunately, by the time we got there, we had missed all but one of the dances performed that night. We stuck around for the time before that dance, and we watched the dance. It was performed beautifully. Our team has grown so much since last competition. We could not stay for the awards because it had gotten too late, so we went back to my grandpa's house around 10:30 that night. I texted my friends who did stay for the results of every dance, and our studio quickly learned that this competition would be difficult to score well in. The judging was harsh and the difference between a High Silver and a Gold was a matter of nine points. That could be two feet pointed or three legs straighter.

----------------------------------------------------Saturday-----------------------------------------------------------

The next morning, we got up at 5:50 in the morning, got in our dance clothes, did our hair, had breakfast, packed our makeup and costumes, and brought everything to the convention. There was no time to drive back to the house to get our stuff between the convention and competition, so we had to bring everything with us. We got to the hotel around 7:00, met our studio to receive our studio to receive our wristbands to get into the convention classes, checked in, and went in for warm-up and the opening ceremony at 7:30.

At 7:45 we had our first class which was contemporary. which was very hard. The teacher taught everything once, all at one time, and then we did it with music. It was hard to pick up, especially that early. I enjoyed the choreography, but it was hard to dance.

At 9:00, our second class was Jazz. It was a lot of fun because it was a  very different style of Jazz than what we usually do in class. The teacher was very upbeat and was a lot of fun to learn from. Her view on dance was insightful and it was great to take a class from her.

10:00 was Tap. I have only been taking Tap for half a year and am not very good at it yet, so that was a struggle for me. And the fact that there were so many people that I couldn't see the teacher's feet and could only hear the terms (some of which I don't know yet) didn't help.

Following Tap was (sigh) Hip-Hop at 11:00. I am NOT GOOD AT HIP-HOP AT ALL. Granted, I have only been taking it for a year, but I am a more classical dancer. Contemporary and Jazz and Ballet are more my thing. And this Hip-Hop was so fast I just could not keep up. To make matters worse, I learned at the end of the class that we would be auditioning to be on the "Adrenaline Crew and Performance Team" with this routine. That mean we would have to perform it in front of the teachers who would judge us. And my teachers new in advance and didn't tell us. That was not fun at all.

From 12:00-12:30 we had lunch, which was nice. We just relaxed and talked for the first time that day.

We had our final class of the day at 12:30... another Jazz class. I really enjoyed this Jazz class. It was more Musical Theater Jazz style, but it was very enjoyable. At the end of that class, we learned we would be auditioning that dance as well, which was nerve-racking.

At 1:30, we had our audition. We started with the Jazz. I did alright, but the girls in our group were so good, I knew my chances were incredibly slim. Following the Jazz, we did the (sigh) Hip-Hop auditions. I got through it mostly by laughing because, to be perfectly honest, I didn't really know what was going on.

The winners of the audition were announced and someone from our school got in because of the Hip-Hop audition. We were all so proud of her.

Everything ran really late, so my sister's team had half an hour to crimp their hair, so their makeup, get in costume, and get everyone together. It was incredibly tight, but it was somehow managed. With less than one number to spare, they were able to get backstage and perform the best they ever had. With five dances to change, they changed costumes and got backstage for their second dance. It was the last time they would perform this dance, and it definitely had a proper send-off with tons of energy and great technique.

The Junior Hip-Hop Team performed next. This was their first time performing this dance, and I was really proud of the way they did. They were followed by the Junior Jazz team, this was their first time performing as well. They did a Musical Theater number which was very fun to much. The Mini Company went next. They were much younger than the rest of us and I was incredibly impressed with their maturity.

Acrobatics Team B followed the Mini Company. Compared to the rehearsal, it looked like a completely different team and number. They did so well. I had to get ready for my dance and did my makeup, so I missed the Pre-Teen Jazz dance, but I heard that they were really good. I was done in time to see the The Ballet Small Group. I had never seen the dance all the way through with the costumes and was pleasantly surprised at the grace that was presented with the dance. The last dance before awards was Acrobatics Team A (including my sister) and they were FABULOUS. It was a sassy number, and they performed it like they never had before. I was so impressed.

It was time for awards. I went on stage with my sister for the awards. They did well. Not as well as we had hoped, and definitely not as well as they deserved, but the competition was tough, and some of the people in her category were amazing.

It was finally time for my team to go on. According to the people watching, we did it better than we had ever done before. I was proud of the way we did and was excited to see how we did. I changed out of my costume just in time to see the Teen Hip-Hop group. This was their first time competing and I was pleased with their performance. The last dance of the night from our studio was the Small Group. I love their dance and think they did great.

We had about an hour between the Small Group and the awards so we just rested and hung out and talked. Awards started at 12:30 on Sunday morning, so by then, everyone was exhausted, though the minis had gone home three hours earlier. Like my sister's group, we didn't do as well as I hoped or think we deserved. But at the time, I was too tired to cared.

We got back at 1:00 that morning and didn't get to bed until 1:30. I fell asleep so quickly that I don't really remember crawling into bed.

Here's a list of most of the songs performed to these two days (I don't know them all. Sorry) :

• "Maniac" - Flashdance Michael Sembello
• "Every Heart" - Sara Haze
• "Alegria" - Cirque Du Soleil Francesca Gangnon
• "Uptown Funk" - Mark Ronson
• "Colourless Colour" - La Roux
• "She Works Hard For The Money" - Donna Summer
• "I've Got The Music In Me" - The Kiki Dee Band
• "Flying Without Wings" - Westlife
• "Father" - Demi Lovato
• "My Wish" - Rascal Flatts
• "Beautiful Girl" - Sarah McLachlan
• "Right Now" - Van Halen
• "You Can't Stop The Beat" - Hairspray Elijah Kelly, John Travolta, Queen Latifah, Nikki Blonsky, Zac Efron., Amanda Bynes
• "Heroes (we could be)" - Alesso
• "Jellicle Songs For Jellicle Cats" - Cats Original Broadway Cast
• "Dancing In the Streets" - Martha Reeves & The Vandellas
• "Spice Up Your Life" - Spice Girls
• "Clap Snap" - Icona Pop
• "California Dreamin'" - San Andreas Sia
• "Stranger" - Active Child

And a full list of the awards received those days: 

• 22 Golds
• 2 High Silvers
• Performance Team Membership

Stick around tomorrow for the second half of this post! Thanks! 

Sherlocked

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog! This week I will be talking about a new show I have just been introduced to called "Sherlock".

"Sherlock" is a modern take on Arthur Conan Doyle's classic book series "Sherlock Holmes". While you may be thinking: "modern adaptations of 'Sherlock Holmes' are never good," this one is. All the characters from the book that you love and hate including Dr. Watson, Mycroft, and even Moriarty, are included. They don't try to hard, and make it more like a real mystery show. The personalities are the same; Sherlock is arrogant, Dr. Watson is a war veteran who has been shot in the leg and so on and so forth.

The show stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson. The acting is fabulous at the least. The characters pull you in and the show itself is BRILLIANTLY written. The plot lines pull you into the story and mystery makes everything better.

The show is obviously a mystery but there is no doubt that it has its funny moments, as any great show should. I would recommend this to everyone who likes a good story. I'm not a huge fan of the murder mystery genre, but I'm in love with this show. You don't need to like the genre to enjoy the show, you can love it anyway. I encourage people to give the show a shot. It may not be for everyone (what show it), but I implore you not to judge it right away.

Going along with Sherlock and Watson on their investigation is so much fun that you can't help but to try to solve the case with them, even if it's sometimes impossible for us normal human beings.

The show is on BBC/BBC America and will return in 2017. The episodes that have aired are currently on Netflix and Amazon if you would like to watch it.

Thanks for reading. Come back next week for more!

P.S. Thank you to my friends Marissa and Kimia for introducing for this show. You should go check out Kimia's blog, it's awesome.

Competition #3 Cont. + Rehearsal

Welcome back to my blog! In this blog, I'll be telling you about the results from Sunday (including mine) and about the four hour rehearsal we had.

Our group got 3rd Place Overall against girls who are MUCH older than us and MUCH MORE experienced. Here are the rest of the results in no particular order:

• 3 High Golds
• 4 Platinums
• "Triple Threat"
• 2 3rd Place Overalls
• 4th Place Overall
• 2 5th Place Overalls 
• "Lovely Lifts"
• 1st Place 
• "Light as a Feather"

And a list of the songs performed to:

• "Uptown Funk" - Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars
• "She Works Hard for the Money" - Donna Summer
• "Flying Without Wings" - Westlife
• "California Dreamin'" - San Andreas Sia
• "Imagine" - Unknown (Sorry!)
• "Stranger" - Active Child
• "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Lorde
• "Father" - Demi Lovato

So yeah, we didn't win much. But I'm proud of the way we did. Our group's average age is 13, and we beat groups who's average age was 16 and 17. The groups we competed against danced an average of 30 hours a week and are homeschooled. Most girls in my group dance 11 hours a week and are straight A students and we beat those girls. Everyone performed great and I am so happy with our results. It's not about winning. It's about doing what we love and getting a great experience. 

So anyway, we had a four hour rehearsal on Friday at Calabasas High School. This was a stage rehearsal for all the younger kids who have not performed on stage yet, but the older kids (like me) had to come to set a good example and for the extra rehearsal time. I got back home from school at 3:30, had to eat, put on my costume, do my hair, and get there by 4:30. It actually started at 4:00, but I was the 12th number so I had time to spare. I got there and had one of my friends do my makeup so it would be done faster. The younger kids took almost two hours before they were done, so I didn't go until almost six. But after that I just sat and cheered on the younger kids. So that was about it!

Thanks for reading!

Competition #3: StarQuest in San Diego

Welcome back readers! As I promised, this week's blog and next week's will be more exciting. This weekend is our very first "real dance competition". It took place in the University of San Diego in, you guessed it, San Diego.

It started on Friday when I was picked up early from school so we could get a head start on the road. We picked up my sister and then drove through a fast-food place for lunch. They got our whole order wrong, which set us back about half an hour. After that though, we were on our way.

We got to the hotel and got our rooms. We got settled in, and then we went to some of our other friend's hotel rooms and just had a good time. It was a pretty care-free night. We also watched the first episode of "Fuller House" on Netflix which was INCREDIBLY exciting.

On Saturday, we woke up at 6:30, and met our dance team for a Make-Your-Own-Waffle Buffet in the hotel at 7:00. We then went to the competition to watch the first solos. It was their first time doing a solo and they were super nervous, but in the end did great.

We then went back to the hotel rooms and just hung out and ate lunch while my sister and her team were getting ready. After 3 hours, we drove back to the competition to watch the group dance and a duet that made me cry.

After awards, we went back to the hotel room and, you guessed it, hung out. We then went back to the competition for the last solo. She danced beautifully.

We went back to the hotel room and had dinner and took a little dip in the pool which was REALLY refreshing. For the last time, we went back to the competition for the awards.

Here is the full list of the given awards:

• 2 Platinums
• 6 High Golds
• Second Runner-Up for Junior Miss StarQuest
• 5th Place Overall Out of 45
• 4th Place Overall Out of 45
• 9th Place Overall Out of 39
• "Best Costume" 
• "The 80's Rock!"
• "Smile That Lights Up the Stage"

And here is a full list of songs performed today:

• "Maniac" - Flashdance Michael Sembello
• "Every Heart" - Sara Haze
• "This is My Now" - Jordin Sparks
• "Alegria" - Cirque Du Soleil
• "Beautiful Girl" - Sarah McLachlan
• "Right Now" - Van Halen
• "You Can't Stop the Beat" - Hairspray Nikki Blonsky
• "My Wish" -Rascal Flatts

I'm performing tomorrow along with a lot of the other dances, so I'll let you know how I did next week. Thanks for reading!

Rehearsal Weekend

TWO BLOGS IN ONE DAY! WOW! I know. I know. But this one is less exciting. Don't worry though, we have a dance competition next weekend and you will get all the updates.

As I said, next week I will be driving to San Diego for a weekend dance competition. Today, we had a four hour rehearsal for all the dance competing. There are four group dances, one small group, three duets, one trio, and seven solos. So altogether we have 16 dances competing, and a good chance of winning.

At first, it was a lot of sitting around and waiting for other dancers to finish rehearsing, but then it was work work work. We ran through our dances several time and were done, but then had to make costumes. We had bought white shirts, and our dance is about a natural disaster. We got to cut up our shirts and dirty them up. To achieve this, we had to put dark foundation on them and smear it around. It was a lot of work, but it was fun to tear and cut up our shirts.

At the end, we got to see every dance performed, which was really great.

That's all I got. Come back next Sunday to see the results of the competition.

Loving to Dance

Welcome back! So, this week I'm going to talk about something a little more dance related. My dance instructor gave us the assignment to write down two reasons why we love dance. To just come up with two reasons was more challenging than you would expect. So, in this blog, I will be talking about why I love to dance.

A lot of people ask me why I love to dance. To me it's a pretty ridiculous question. Why do we love to breathe? Why do we love that our hearts our beating? Why do I love dance? Because it's a necessity to me. Without it I don't know how I would live. I'm not being dramatic; I'm dead serious. When you think about it, you don't love to breathe until you can't. Dancing is like breathing in that aspect. During the year, we all want to take breaks and stop dancing, but when a break comes along, even if it's just a day, I can't stop.

When I dance, I feel a freedom and a passion that I just can't put into words. It's like the whole world stops just so you can dance. The stress and anxiety of the outside world just dissolves, like it was never there. It is such an experience. You can't understand unless you HAVE experienced it.

Before you go onstage, you get an adrenaline rush like nothing else. It is the best feeling in the world. It's similar to being on a rollercoaster, and going up for what seems like forever right before the big drop, but completely different at the same time. When you dance, it's all up to you, as opposed to the rollercoaster mechanic. Everything depends on you in the moment. If you mess up, you can't turn off the music and try again, you have to keep going.

This reason is a little more deep. My grandmother was a dancer and it was something she loved to do. She was the one who introduced me to it in the first place, and the reason why I'm dancing. She passed away several years ago, and dancing makes me feel closer to her.

On a happier note, the last reason I love to dance is because I'm around people I love. My team, my teachers, and everybody else I dance with. Spending time with them is great. They are some of the funniest people I've ever met and I love hanging out with them.

Thanks for reading. This blog was kind of deep, but that's okay. Tune in later!

A Hectic Week: Part 2

Welcome back to blog! Sorry it's been so long but I have been busy, as the title says. 

So this week, was CRAZY!!! First of all, I was not feeling well all week and was not having it. So my week kicked off to a bad start when I had a cold. We also learned that we had a science test on Thursday, and a math, English, and history unit test on Friday. Besides that, we had an essay due on Friday as well. 

Besides all of that, we had dance without our teacher who was out of town. The pressure was on us all week. 

Monday was spent preparing to study for the big tests. As was Tuesday. 

Wednesday came and I skipped classes because I wasn't feeling well and to spend the time studying. I stayed up late studying for everything and writing my essay, but focusing on the science test I had on the next day. 

Thursday came around and it was time for the big test. Everyone was last-minute studying, not worrying about everything else we had to do that day. In history, we learned that the essay wasn't due until Tuesday, which made us rejoice. Science period came, and we were all nervously anticipating the test. When we got to class, our teacher started talking about the lab we had done the day before. Everyone took this as an opportunity to get some more studying time in. Others of us were watching the clock wondering how much time we would actually have to take the test. Time was running out to 20 minutes, 15 minutes. At the 10 minute mark, someone plucked up the courage to ask if we were actually taking the test. She replied with the fact that someone in our class had received pictures of the test and was studying those. It remains a mystery who it was, but the test was canceled and we learned that we will now be receiving 5 question quizzes which puts a lot more stress on studying. We went home that day disappointed and confused. We all spent that night cramming for the next day's tests. 

On Friday, we had three tests and everyone was feeling the pressure. We began the day with an English test, proceeded by a history test, and the day ended with a math test. Overall, our class felt good about most of them, but we were all nervous about our results. 

In other news, on February 15, 2016, the show Gravity Falls ended. It was a cartoon mystery show about a town in Oregon full of mysteries. It was incredibly entertaining and I'm sure all if it's fans (including me) will miss it. 

That's it! Tune in next week and thanks for reading.