NexStar Dance Competition
Abby's dance team participated in NexStar Dance Competition in Dayton last weekend. It was held in Memorial Hall. Abby is dancing in seven routines this year. The schedule had her competing one dance on Friday and six on Sunday.
Her Friday dance was her duo with Hanna. The girls weren't scheduled to dance until 10:05 pm- definitely later than ideal... Abby and I were at Memorial Hall by 5:00 pm so we could watch other dancers from her studio who were competing throughout the evening. Abby and Hanna's duo went fine; they'd only had about three practices prior to the competition. The award ceremony didn't start until 10:30 pm- that was past both of our bedtimes :). Their duo came in 4th place for duos in trios in their age and division.
Saturday, Abby didn't have any dances but she still spent most of her day at the dance competition. She wanted to watch the dancers from her studio who had dances on Saturday. I dropped her off at Memorial Hall around 10:00 am. One of her dance friends gave her a ride home around 4:30 pm. I dropped her off at Memorial Hall as opposed to staying because Alyssa had an indoor soccer game in the early afternoon that I didn't want to miss.
On Sunday, Abby and I arrived at Memorial Hall around 10:20 am. We would be at Memorial Hall for the next 10 hours (this is not atypical for a dance competition). Abby's first four performances were group routines. These went very well. One of her routines is a quad- it won first place in the overalls for small groups. It was up against a lot of great competition. The girls deserved to win- they performed it really well.
After the awards for small groups, it was time for solos. Abby is doing two solos this year. One is a contemporary and one is in musical theater. Abby's contemporary solo came first. I thought Abby did a great job on it. She picked out her solo songs herself. The contemporary one is a bit dark but it allows her to act which is her strong suit. Her musical theater dance is a bit more peppy- lots of opportunities to portray the story of the song.
Abby cleaned up at the solo awards. First off, she received the highest adjudication for her solos. But, many soloists received the highest adjudication. Merely receiving that doesn't mean that you're going to place super high in the overalls- it just means you may. Still, I was happy she received the highest score and that she won both of her solo categories. She also won a special judges award. Judges awards are given to a few routines when something stood out to the judges- it's not based on scores but something uniquely good about the routine. Abby won a special judges award for her contemporary solo. She was also one a few soloists to received an offer to participate in a dance intensive called PowerPak.
When it was time for the overall awards for soloists in her age group, the announcer started listing the top ten places (there were 35 dances in her age group). As name after name was called, I was a little bit worried that Abby wouldn't be in the top ten. I thought she'd done a great job, but obviously I'm biased, and I had seen a number of really good dances. In fact, after Abby's last solo, I went into the dressing room to compile all of our stuff so we'd be able to leave right after the awards. As I was gathering our stuff up, I couldn't help but overhear a couple of moms from a different studio talking about the soloists. They mentioned how good all of the soloists were and how it was impossible to know how the dancers would place.
When the second place winner was announced and Abby's name still hadn't been called, I thought to myself, Abby is going to be the overall winner or she isn't going to be in the top ten at all. Thankfully, it was the former... Abby won the overall!! So proud of her. I would have been proud of her no matter where she placed. However, I knew it meant a lot to her to win the overall. So, perhaps a better way of phrasing it, was that I was happy for her. And proud to be her mom. She does not get it from her mama- from where ever she got it, I'm thankful that she did 😁.
Here are some pictures from the weekend:
Abby and Hanna's duo- no, they're not ready to start a race :)
All the girls from their studio in their age group performing in duos and trios- after the awards
All the duos from their studio that finished in the top five
Saturday- turf became the surface on which one Rineer girl performed... No dance for me today.
Sunday- back to the stage- Abby and the dancers in her group's jazz routine
Musical theater- such a cute routine
The awards that Abby's group routines received after the group awards
Abby's jazz group with its award
Quad- bringing home first place in the small group overalls
Abby's contemporary solo- here's where I should probably mention that taking pictures during the competition was forbidden. Oops. I disobeyed the rule a few times. Here is where I stopped taking pictures on stage. I did end out purchasing all of Abby's solo prints (for whatever reason I don't have them yet) so I don't feel too bad about my malfeasance (since I'm assuming the whole reason for the photo ban is that you'll purchase photos that their photographers take and I did end up purchasing them).
At the solos award- Abby receiving the special judges award- photography fail!! Yes, unfortunately, my camera was not on the right setting. Everything happened so quickly that by the time I realized it was on the wrong setting, it was too late.
Abby and Arianna getting invited to the dance intensive, Power Pak.
Abby getting her medal for first place among soloists- she is obscured mostly by the lady from NexStar
Arianna came in second place in the overalls and Amy came in third (Amy and Arianna dance with Abby)
After the awards ceremony
A few shots from my cell phone- not sure why the quality is so bad... Here is Abby in her musical theater solo costume
Alyssa loves to watch her sister dance!!
Her Friday dance was her duo with Hanna. The girls weren't scheduled to dance until 10:05 pm- definitely later than ideal... Abby and I were at Memorial Hall by 5:00 pm so we could watch other dancers from her studio who were competing throughout the evening. Abby and Hanna's duo went fine; they'd only had about three practices prior to the competition. The award ceremony didn't start until 10:30 pm- that was past both of our bedtimes :). Their duo came in 4th place for duos in trios in their age and division.
Saturday, Abby didn't have any dances but she still spent most of her day at the dance competition. She wanted to watch the dancers from her studio who had dances on Saturday. I dropped her off at Memorial Hall around 10:00 am. One of her dance friends gave her a ride home around 4:30 pm. I dropped her off at Memorial Hall as opposed to staying because Alyssa had an indoor soccer game in the early afternoon that I didn't want to miss.
On Sunday, Abby and I arrived at Memorial Hall around 10:20 am. We would be at Memorial Hall for the next 10 hours (this is not atypical for a dance competition). Abby's first four performances were group routines. These went very well. One of her routines is a quad- it won first place in the overalls for small groups. It was up against a lot of great competition. The girls deserved to win- they performed it really well.
After the awards for small groups, it was time for solos. Abby is doing two solos this year. One is a contemporary and one is in musical theater. Abby's contemporary solo came first. I thought Abby did a great job on it. She picked out her solo songs herself. The contemporary one is a bit dark but it allows her to act which is her strong suit. Her musical theater dance is a bit more peppy- lots of opportunities to portray the story of the song.
Abby cleaned up at the solo awards. First off, she received the highest adjudication for her solos. But, many soloists received the highest adjudication. Merely receiving that doesn't mean that you're going to place super high in the overalls- it just means you may. Still, I was happy she received the highest score and that she won both of her solo categories. She also won a special judges award. Judges awards are given to a few routines when something stood out to the judges- it's not based on scores but something uniquely good about the routine. Abby won a special judges award for her contemporary solo. She was also one a few soloists to received an offer to participate in a dance intensive called PowerPak.
When it was time for the overall awards for soloists in her age group, the announcer started listing the top ten places (there were 35 dances in her age group). As name after name was called, I was a little bit worried that Abby wouldn't be in the top ten. I thought she'd done a great job, but obviously I'm biased, and I had seen a number of really good dances. In fact, after Abby's last solo, I went into the dressing room to compile all of our stuff so we'd be able to leave right after the awards. As I was gathering our stuff up, I couldn't help but overhear a couple of moms from a different studio talking about the soloists. They mentioned how good all of the soloists were and how it was impossible to know how the dancers would place.
When the second place winner was announced and Abby's name still hadn't been called, I thought to myself, Abby is going to be the overall winner or she isn't going to be in the top ten at all. Thankfully, it was the former... Abby won the overall!! So proud of her. I would have been proud of her no matter where she placed. However, I knew it meant a lot to her to win the overall. So, perhaps a better way of phrasing it, was that I was happy for her. And proud to be her mom. She does not get it from her mama- from where ever she got it, I'm thankful that she did 😁.
Here are some pictures from the weekend:
Abby and Hanna's duo- no, they're not ready to start a race :)
Abby and Hanna
All the duos from their studio that finished in the top five
Musical theater- such a cute routine
The awards that Abby's group routines received after the group awards
Abby's jazz group with its award
Quad- bringing home first place in the small group overalls
After the awards ceremony
A few shots from my cell phone- not sure why the quality is so bad... Here is Abby in her musical theater solo costume
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