Nashville for NUVO Dance Convention
Abby and I spent last weekend in Nashville for a dance convention called NUVO. Most of her dance studio went to a NUVO dance convention in Indianapolis the prior weekend. But, Abby was in the school play which was the prior weekend and as such conflicted with the Indianapolis NUVO event. Being in the school play impacted another dancer from her studio, Ella, so Ella and her mom went to NUVO in Nashville, too.
The convention was held in downtown Nashville at a hotel called The Renaissance. It would have been so convenient to stay there. However it was super expensive- $239 and that was before the city, state, street, and sidewalk taxes (ok, the latter two didn't exist but the taxes which did exist probably would have pushed the total cost to $260/ night). Even if I had found the cost tenable, it wasn't an option as there were, proverbially and literally, no rooms at the inn. All of the other downtown hotel options were super expensive ($400 for a Holiday Inn Express. Hard pass); I was pleased to find an Embassy Suites room (well, suite) for $140/night complete with complimentary breakfast about 15 minutes from the convention site.
Here is our hotel- the last time I remember for certain staying at an Embassy was in Chicago when we went to the American Girl Doll store there years ago. I have a picture of the girls and their dolls in the glass elevator!
Abby didn't attend school at all on Friday. I knew the weekend was going to be a tiring one for her so I wanted her to be able to sleep in on Friday. We began the nearly five our drive around 11:00 am. The plan was to check into our hotel and then head to the convention center to get there in time for early registration. Abby had a class that evening at 7:00 pm. Ella and her mom Amy were staying at our hotel, too. We all ubered into Nashville from our hotel (traffic was horrible at this time and ubering made more sense than driving).
The dance convention was HUGE. There was an incredible number of dancers. The convention brought in many well known (in the dance world) dance teachers so that probably contributed to the popularity of it. Abby follows some of the dance teachers on IG and was thrilled to meet some of them and take classes with them. On Friday, we didn't get back to our hotel room until 10:00 pm which was 11:00 our time. And we had to get up early the next morning.
Saturday was a super busy day for the dancers with classes throughout the day. They had breaks of course. We were gone from our hotel room from 6:30 am to about 10:30 pm. Parents had the option to pay to watch the classes; Amy and I demurred. Consequently, we had a lot of time to ourselves on Saturday :). The hotel had a lot of large rooms/ open spaces where we and others who didn't pay to watch the classes could hang out. Amy got some work done while I did quite a bit of reading. We walked around the city for about an hour. We could have gone back to the hotel except that the girls had breaks and we wanted to see them during the day. Again, this is where staying at the Renaissance would have been super convenient but it wasn't an option.
On Sunday, we left the convention a little early. Abby and Ella both decided to skip out on a ballroom dancing class. They'd taken classes in lyrical, contemporary, hip hop, and jazz. Ballroom dancing is not something they were interested in as it isn't a dance genre that they ever perform or practice in. Plus, we lost an hour being on central time and staying would have us arriving home really late. So, I 100% supported missing the ballroom dancing class. We arrived home at a decent time- about 8:00 pm.
Meanwhile, Donnie and Alyssa had a really busy weekend of their own. Alyssa's soccer team finished its fall season with games on Saturday and Sunday. They won one of the games and lost one of them. On Saturday, they went straight from the game to Cincinnati to pick up Jacob and take him shopping for something he had to have for class on Monday. They dropped him off and then headed home- but made a pit stop at Target on the way home to get items for the bathroom. They were gone from home for about eight hours straight on Saturday. On Sunday, they worked on painting the bathroom and doing lots of projects in the bathroom including hanging the mirror, shelves and artwork. When Abby and I came home, Donnie and Alyssa had a grand unveiling of the work they'd accomplished over the weekend. The bathroom is DONE from our end. We are just waiting for the glass shower doors to be installed.
And that was our busy weekend...
Abby and Ella on Friday
This was one of their teachers- Travis Wall I believe. He's choreographed dances for some famous artists (Abby told me which ones but I forget). Abby said that after the class he taught, he was swarmed with dancers wanting to get pictures taken with him. Abby and Ella didn't even try to get a picture with him. Then when we were in the lobby of the hotel after the class, we saw him and Abby excitedly approached him and asked for a picture with him.
On Friday, when the girls were in their classes, Amy and I walked around the city to find a place to eat. We passed some neat buildings like the Ryman Auditorium.
Saturday, while the girls were at classes, Amy and I had a lot of time to ourselves. Amy worked some and I read some but we didn't want to stay indoors all day. So, we ventured out into the city. It was a bit chilly, but beautiful day. We walked quickly when we could to keep warm but definitely stopped when we came to historical buildings/ monuments so that we could read about them.
Here is the Nashville War Memorial. We walked around this area for a while. There were poignant quotes and a list of every man from Tennessee who lost his life in WWI- all 3400 of them.
The Tennessee State Capital was nearby so we walked around that building, too. The doors were locked or we would have gone inside.
Nearby were the graves of former president James Polk and his wife Sarah
The Nashville Public Library
Abby back at the hotel...
The convention was held in downtown Nashville at a hotel called The Renaissance. It would have been so convenient to stay there. However it was super expensive- $239 and that was before the city, state, street, and sidewalk taxes (ok, the latter two didn't exist but the taxes which did exist probably would have pushed the total cost to $260/ night). Even if I had found the cost tenable, it wasn't an option as there were, proverbially and literally, no rooms at the inn. All of the other downtown hotel options were super expensive ($400 for a Holiday Inn Express. Hard pass); I was pleased to find an Embassy Suites room (well, suite) for $140/night complete with complimentary breakfast about 15 minutes from the convention site.
Here is our hotel- the last time I remember for certain staying at an Embassy was in Chicago when we went to the American Girl Doll store there years ago. I have a picture of the girls and their dolls in the glass elevator!
The last time that I was Nashville, five months ago (also for dance), we stayed at the Gaylord Opryland which is renowned for its glass topped roofs (and all of the plants, water features, etc beneath said roof). This hotel wasn't as fancy but there were trees inside of it just like the Gaylord.
The dance convention was HUGE. There was an incredible number of dancers. The convention brought in many well known (in the dance world) dance teachers so that probably contributed to the popularity of it. Abby follows some of the dance teachers on IG and was thrilled to meet some of them and take classes with them. On Friday, we didn't get back to our hotel room until 10:00 pm which was 11:00 our time. And we had to get up early the next morning.
Saturday was a super busy day for the dancers with classes throughout the day. They had breaks of course. We were gone from our hotel room from 6:30 am to about 10:30 pm. Parents had the option to pay to watch the classes; Amy and I demurred. Consequently, we had a lot of time to ourselves on Saturday :). The hotel had a lot of large rooms/ open spaces where we and others who didn't pay to watch the classes could hang out. Amy got some work done while I did quite a bit of reading. We walked around the city for about an hour. We could have gone back to the hotel except that the girls had breaks and we wanted to see them during the day. Again, this is where staying at the Renaissance would have been super convenient but it wasn't an option.
On Sunday, we left the convention a little early. Abby and Ella both decided to skip out on a ballroom dancing class. They'd taken classes in lyrical, contemporary, hip hop, and jazz. Ballroom dancing is not something they were interested in as it isn't a dance genre that they ever perform or practice in. Plus, we lost an hour being on central time and staying would have us arriving home really late. So, I 100% supported missing the ballroom dancing class. We arrived home at a decent time- about 8:00 pm.
Meanwhile, Donnie and Alyssa had a really busy weekend of their own. Alyssa's soccer team finished its fall season with games on Saturday and Sunday. They won one of the games and lost one of them. On Saturday, they went straight from the game to Cincinnati to pick up Jacob and take him shopping for something he had to have for class on Monday. They dropped him off and then headed home- but made a pit stop at Target on the way home to get items for the bathroom. They were gone from home for about eight hours straight on Saturday. On Sunday, they worked on painting the bathroom and doing lots of projects in the bathroom including hanging the mirror, shelves and artwork. When Abby and I came home, Donnie and Alyssa had a grand unveiling of the work they'd accomplished over the weekend. The bathroom is DONE from our end. We are just waiting for the glass shower doors to be installed.
And that was our busy weekend...
Abby and Ella on Friday
This was one of their teachers- Travis Wall I believe. He's choreographed dances for some famous artists (Abby told me which ones but I forget). Abby said that after the class he taught, he was swarmed with dancers wanting to get pictures taken with him. Abby and Ella didn't even try to get a picture with him. Then when we were in the lobby of the hotel after the class, we saw him and Abby excitedly approached him and asked for a picture with him.
On Friday, when the girls were in their classes, Amy and I walked around the city to find a place to eat. We passed some neat buildings like the Ryman Auditorium.
Saturday, while the girls were at classes, Amy and I had a lot of time to ourselves. Amy worked some and I read some but we didn't want to stay indoors all day. So, we ventured out into the city. It was a bit chilly, but beautiful day. We walked quickly when we could to keep warm but definitely stopped when we came to historical buildings/ monuments so that we could read about them.
Here is the Nashville War Memorial. We walked around this area for a while. There were poignant quotes and a list of every man from Tennessee who lost his life in WWI- all 3400 of them.
Nearby were the graves of former president James Polk and his wife Sarah
I love the simple epitaph on her tombstone. It reads, "A noble woman, a devoted wife, a true friend, a sincere Christian."
The Nashville Public Library
Abby back at the hotel...
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