This weekend a wave of moments occurred and I was fortunate enough to have box seats for the unexpected.
My girls were at the final dance competition of the year. The Dance Showcase USA national competition. For those of you new to the rough and tumble world of competitive dance, there are basically two halves to the event. The first stage of the event you could consider the ‘regular season’ where the teams in each category perform and the judges grade the dances and rank them.
Grades in dance are a little different than the rest of the world with terms like silver, gold, elite gold, platinum, elite platinum. A grade of silver is the judges way of saying you might want to take up bowling. In addition to the grade classification, the performances are ranked with the top five dances in each category making it to the Showcase (the playoffs).
To understand the back story of this past weekend a little explanation of the most recent 24 month history is needed. Flash back two years ago and the teams from our studio were not scoring well and didn’t even attempt to attend the nationals competition. This led to an exodus of many dancers looking for the plie promise land among one of the many other studios in our area. From my discussion with friends in select softball and soccer such an exodus isn’t unique to dance.
That left our teams smaller, but we believed in the instructors who were put in place and the determination the girls showed. That led the team to attending the nationals event last year and having a few dances qualify for the Showcase (playoffs), but finishing 5th, 5th and 3rd. The highlight of last year was when the results of the last dance were announced and the 5th place was named and it wasn’t our team the captain turned to her team members with a big smile and said, ‘we're not last!’
Fast forward to this past weekend and four dances from our studio qualified for the finals.
The first of the finals to be announced were for our Mini team. Mini is both the name of the team as well as a description of their physical stature. They had qualified 5th with their Candy Shop dance. One by one, fifth, fourth and third were announced and it wasn’t our team. Then they announced second place and that wasn’t us either. At the same time myself and one of the mothers said, ‘holy #*^T, they won!’. I looked over and our two instructors had sprung up like giant springs had launched them from their chairs. The Mini team was awarded a trophy that was a two feet taller than all of the dancers. They could use the red bespeckeled behemoth as a jungle gym.
Then came time for our Premier team. They had weathered the storm of team mates leaving years before and worked hard to take leaps forward in their skill and synchronicity. They were up against very quality routines and their dance titled ‘Why’ hadn’t exactly wowed the judges all season. There they stood hand in hand as the announcer named the fifth and fourth places. They were now assured at least third place – highest they would have had to date. Then the third place team was named and it wasn’t them. They now held each other’s hand tighter and the ability to stand still escaped them. Our team and the other team were side by side as the announcer called the other teams name for second place.
The following is the snapshot of the pure moment that occurred with that announcement.
Their expressions are that of utter shock, stunning disbelief and exuberant joy all in one. It was as pure a moment as can be. A moment that did a whole lot to erase the disappointments of the past, while making the investment in time, effort and dedication to their instructors all worth it. In twenty-four short months they had turned it all around.
The awards continued with the studio wide ballet number receiving a special choreography award and first place overall. That first place award spanned even more dancers from the studio, including both of my daughters on that team. The final Showcase tally was three first places and a third.
Here is the video of ‘Why’ – Alex starts on the far right facing the crowd and half way through comes from the left to center stage for her solo turns.
Why - http://youtu.be/alXGd7AGRBw
Here is the video for ‘Waltz of the garlands’ – a traditional ballet. Sarah starts on the front left – she is the vertically challenged one. Alex starts in the back right – she is not vertically challenged.
Waltz of the garlands - http://youtu.be/3v4XccnQLZ4
Just a little warning. If you take a few big ass trophies to Buca DiBeppo for a celebration dinner, there is only about a 1.5 inch clearance between the trophies on the table and the ceiling.
