Christina had her dance recital and it went really well. I had thought she was in the back for all her dances and was upset about it, but it turns out that I just suck at picking her out with a camera. I took over 600 photos at the dress rehearsal and she was barely visible in all of them. After watching the performance, there were lots of opportunities for me to take pictures of her in the front. Apparently I have some work to do when it comes to dance photography. We went out to eat with Rosina and Dion afterwards – it means so much that they come all the way from Daytona for these things, especially on a work day. I hope Christina is proud.
Tag: dance
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June 2
Today was recital dress rehearsal marathon day. We left the house at 1:45 and didn’t get home until 9:20. Long afternoon. Luckily after a few years, I know to go prepared, so it was tolerable. I played with my new camera so much that I used up the battery by the time they were halfway through. I even have two spare batteries, but I left them at home because I never expected I’d use one up like that! Now I know. I’ll have to look at the photos on my laptop tomorrow or Thursday to see how it did. The photos looked a little blurry in the low light, but I’m hoping some came out ok. I had fun playing around – I just wish I had more shots of Christina’s dances and not everyone else’s.
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April 12
Day two of dance competition was a lot easier than day one. I got to watch the production piece from backstage because I carried a table onstage. They won a golden egg! Christina’s pieces didn’t do as well at competition this year as they did last year and I think she was disappointed. I’m proud of her anyway. She puts her whole heart into it and it shows. It’s almost worth the 16 hours I spent there to watch her four dances. Nah, it was definitely worth it. Love this kid.
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March 27
The kids had a half day today, so Robin and I went to Leaderboard and played video games for a while before getting ready for tonight’s middle school dance. Looking at these two tonight, I really have to wonder what the heck happened to my babies?? At this point I have no chance of surviving prom. They had a great time and I’m glad.
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March 1
Day two of dance was so unbearably long. We got there at 10:30 in the morning and Christina’s performance was at 12:30. Awards weren’t until 4:30, and they lasted an hour, so we were there for seven hours. I was good until about 3:15 or so, and then the walls started to crush me. Christina did ok – her dance came in third out of five in the category. It was a tough weekend with a lot of very good dancers to go up against. But the studio did win the sportsmanship award for the weekend, which in my opinion is worth more than any other of the awards they could get. Christina seemed in good spirits, so that’s what matters to me.
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February 28
Christina had day one of a dance competition today. She did ok. Her junior team dance won third place out of five, but her intermediate team dance didn’t even place. Billy and I were really surprised because the dance looked great to me. I didn’t see any obvious issues with it that should have kept them from even an honorable mention. Christina said she knew it wasn’t a good performance, so I guess that makes it a little better. It would be worse if she thought she nailed it and still didn’t place. We went out for dinner at the Local, which was a new place to us. I went once for brunch with a friend from church, but not for dinner. It seemed pretty good – nice to try something different. Christina has another performance tomorrow, which will be a very long day. They perform at 12:30, so we have to be there at 10:30, and awards are not until 4:30. Today’s awards session was almost an hour long, which makes Christina’s lack of placing even worse, because when they give out so many awards that it takes an hour to do it and you STILL don’t win anything… just damn. I hope tomorrow is better.
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February 7
Christina had a short competition where only her trio performed. They did so great! They earned a platinum award, first place overall, and a judges showmanship award. I’m so proud of them, even though it was an insanely long day. Definitely worth the long wait!
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January 25
Christina wrapped up her competition and did ok. Not the showing she was hoping for, but she had a great weekend with her friends and had fun dancing. We spent seven hours sitting in our seats to watch three performances and didn’t eat or drink anything during that time. We couldn’t leave our seats because there were about 600 people watching and only about 25 seats (or so it felt). By the time we left, we were all mostly melting. Now we’re home and I’m achy and my throat feels scratchy and I’m sad because I thought I’d evaded Robin’s flu. Apparently I got it by way of Billy. I don’t know what I’m going to do if I’m sick and can’t do this training tomorrow. I’ve literally been working my ass off for a month to prepare. I guess a day or two delay won’t be the end of the world, but it still sucks. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow.
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January 23
We decided on a whim to go to Toothsome Chocolate Factory at Universal City Walk for lunch, and it was pretty good. A little too much sweet for me, but that was my own fault for ordering dessert for breakfast and then dessert after that. Christina’s trio did ok… she felt really good about it, but it didn’t place well. She always manages to stay positive anyway, which I so appreciate about her. Day one in the books!
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May 28
Christina had her dress rehearsal for Sunday’s recital this afternoon. It’s so cool watching Christina grow into her dancing, especially knowing how much she loves it. It was a five-hour long rehearsal, which probably irritated many parents, but this is one of those mom things that I’m thrilled to get to do with Christina. Just look at her!
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May 5
Christina showed up at the dance studio for picture day but walked out as soon as she walked in, asking to go home. We missed her scheduled picture day because we were out of town for cheer, and when we got there today, she was surrounded by little girls in matching tutus and she felt completely out of place. So we came home and did the shoot ourselves. It was her idea to shoot in her room, which just seemed kind of perfect. It’s the epitome of her. I had fun doing this with her, and I’m kind of glad we decided to come home.
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April 26
Christina had another great day of competition today. “Let It Be” won first in the category, second in the level 1 small group category, and was one of only three teams in all of level 1 that received a nomination to go to the world championships in NYC in July. She was so excited, as well she should be! I’m so proud of her.
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March 9
Christina’s performances were both really good! Apparently one of her teammates was sick, so they had to perform without her. We never even noticed! The production dance was so entertaining – it really woke up a crowd that was falling asleep. We didn’t stay for awards because they were more than an hour behind schedule and we wouldn’t have gotten home until midnight, so I don’t know how they did overall. I’m sure Christina’s friends will fill her in! They looked phenomenal to me.
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February 8
Christina had a dance performance at the Riverside Arts Market on a foggy Saturday morning. I loved getting to watch her. They look so great!
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June 5
This year’s dance dress rehearsal was much more tolerable than last year’s, primarily because I had food in my belly and I knew it was going to take eons to get through. Christina was also in more of the dances, which made it more interesting to watch. Could be worse ways to spend a Wednesday afternoon and evening.
