The Dance Mom Thread

[AZMickeyfans]

So today we didnt have school but we were in rehearsals all day. I got to see all the dances completed and cleaned up. They looked fantastic. My dd needs to work on her facial expressions a little more as she tends to concentrate on the technique instead of the performance sometimes. They are doing a jazz number to "Fabulous" from High School Musical 2 and they all need to have big flashy, showy smiles and overexaggerated looks. We still have 2 weeks to get that part! The dance looks great though! I was really impressed.

Oh and my dd also did a clean triple pirouette tonight!!! She's 7!!! After she did it she held her pose for a few seconds before her teacher jumped up and started screaming she was so excited! It was cute to see them run around jumping and screaming over her accomplishment. Apparently they have been working on that for awhile. Man I thought she was going for ther double! Boy was I surprised. She said she wanted to surprise me and it worked.

 

[undercovermom]

I had the misfortune of reading what the troll wrote ... you didn't miss anything.

Glad to see we're back.

 

[jwsqrdplus2]

May 22- new season of SYTYCD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been dying to post this, but had to wait until today because I didn't want to get anyone in trouble. One of the dance teachers at our studio left today for Vegas.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

How cool is THAT!?!? for the instructor. YOu'll have to keep us posted.

 

[missypie]

One of DD's teachers tries out for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders every year. Every year she makes it to the part where they each perform a solo, then she gets cut. We watch the CMT show every year and catch an occasional glimpse of her, but they never seem to feature her. You'd think that after making it to the same point all those years, the CMT show would feature her for the possible drama of getting cut yet again. (Personally, I don't think she has the "physcial attributes" to be a DCC, if you know what I mean. )

 

[luvflorida]

Just catching up on a few things I've missed & I'm absolutely in shock that luvflorida's DD wouldn't realize that if she chooses dance, it will definitely choose her. Just those few photos prove, hands down, she has the dance skills & the showmanship ability to go all the way.

Now, I'm not saying that means she must choose dance, but it kills me that someone could have such a spectacular gift & not recognize it. Confidence in hard-won abilities in no way equates to her being some kind of egomaniac. What I especially see in the casual photos is an innate sense of joy & fun. In the dance photos I see a tremendous ability to relate that joy & fun of the performance to the audience. (Not to mention some incredibly mad dance skilz!)

The genuine-ness of her emotions reads off my screen as clear as a bell. Be very proud of her accomplishments & her attitude & realize that you're doing a great job keeping a girl that talented in such a ferociously self-consumed arena from being arrogant. If moms & dancers were more commonly this way, I'd feel a bit more comfortable calling myself a dance mom.

We've been away on vacation and I'm just now catching up on this thread. I just finished reading your post for the tenth time. Seriously, thank you SO much for all your kind words!

I think my daughter's ability to remain grounded is just part of her personality. She's always been a sensitive person and very attuned to other people's thoughts and feelings. Her emotions are always right on the surface and she is very empathetic toward others. She's also had the opportunity to take master classes and attend workshops with dancers from across the country and to work with top notch choreographers. She knows it's a humbling experience to get out in the world and see a lot of incredibly amazing dancers. She is also incredibly talented, but she knows there is so much more to learn, and that the learning and growing never stops.

And, of course, our daughter knows that we've always expected her to treat others exactly as she would want to be treated. That has been pounded into all three of our kids since they were toddlers!

Anyway, I digress... Yes, there are a lot of people that can't imagine daughter not pursuing dance. I suppose time will tell, but I do believe that, after exploring other options, she'll return to dance.

The funny thing about the dance competitions is that DD doesn't even particularly enjoy competing. She loves being with her dance friends and she loves to dance. However, the thing that she is really enjoying this year is her apprenticeship with a local modern dance company. She has been working since September with a wonderfully talented group of dancers, and they've welcomed her into their company. These dancers are a lot older than daughter (ranging in age from 21-40+) and have much more experience than she does. Despite that, they have her doing everything they do and then some! DD is loving the creativity and the chance to spread her wings beyond the studio.

Anyway, I have a problem with being succinct! Thank you again for the kindhearted and generous comments!!

 

[luvflorida]

Thanks so much to everyone for all the nice comments on my daughter's dance pictures!

AZMickeyfans- Congrats on your daughter's triple pirouette!

jwsqrdplus2- That's awesome about the instructor at your studio! I hope she makes it onto the show!

I imagine everyone here is preparing for upcoming dance recitals. My daughter's recital is mid-June. It's her last one (of course, it's only her fifth one since she hasn't been dancing a long time) and I have mixed emotions about it. I know she's ready to move on, but it's still going to be bittersweet. There are six high school seniors leaving this year and each mom is preparing a special foamboard/poster tribute for her own daughter, to be displayed at the recital. I guess I better get busy making my daughter's poster!

 

[undercovermom]

No recital for us, my daughter dropped her studio classes when she joined the high school team.


The studio where she danced was founded by one former
Rockette It is owned by another former Rockette. And the director is a current Rockette, does the Christmas show every year.

 

[AZMickeyfans]

I have been dying to post this, but had to wait until today because I didn't want to get anyone in trouble. One of the dance teachers at our studio left today for Vegas.

One of ours is too! Actually I just found out today when he was missing. Yeah! Way to represent AZ!!!! I guess the released them at 11pm last night and said they might extend the auditions there because of the number of talented dancers this year. Should be fun to watch.

 

[AZMickeyfans]

Ok so good news and bad news.

Good news is that I found a dance smiley

Ok make that bad news. Apparently, the code to the ballernina smiley on photobucket has a word with 2 b's and 2 o's in it and it won't post. How funny is that. Its cute though if I can get it to work.


Bad news now. Dd is in mini company so it doesnt directly affect her BUT one of the older girls just quit. Yep just up and quit. Competition is NEXT weekend. They were bringing 7 dances. Recital is in 5 weeks. YIKES! Now since we are a new studio and it opened mid year the company is small so there were only 5 girls in there to begin wth so now they had to make the choreography work with 4. She just decided it wasn't her thing anymore. Couldn't she have at least waited 5 more weeks. OR at least until after next week. I mean the recital they could have changed but the competition All the Senior company girls are upset naturally. I'm afraid this will really throw their groove off. Hopefully they can show that they can work hard and bounce back from this.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

AZMickeyfan--Too bad we can't see that smiley! Grr on that girl quitting. I hope they can work out the routine and do the best they can. I'm mystified as to why kids do that...and parents just let them!

Is anyone here from the Keene, NH area? We may suddenly be moving, and I promised a new dance studio. Any info greatly appreciated.

 

[UMTerp]

AZMickeyfan - that is so frustrating! Best of luck to the remaining dancers!

Anyone competing this weekend? DD isn't so we have a little break! Next weekend promises to be a killer so I'm happy that we can kick back this weekend!

Good luck everyone!

UMTerp

 

[missypie]

Yeah, last year a girl in the senior company quit on the Monday before a Saturday competition....the competition conflicted with the high school drill team banquet, so she quit company (leaving her fellow company members to have to reset the dances) rather than to miss the banquet. This year, that girl is one of two vying to be next year's drill team captain. Of course, all of our girls are hoping she doesn't make it!

 

[missypie]

Tonight they have varsity drill team auditions. DD15 is feeling very confident.

The drill team manager every year has been a girl in a wheelchair. Every year she auditions for the team and doesn't make it, then she agrees to be manager. She's a junior and is back for auditions this year; she has told people that if she doesn't make the squad this year, she is going to be really angry.

This is a very competitive squad. There will be quite a few girls who don't make it because they don't have the skills. How can they turn down lots of girls and let the girl in the wheelchair in, when objectively she doesn't have any of the skills? My daughter says that on the kick, the only thing she does is the head movements. I feel bad for her, the judges and the team coach.

I have read articles and seen footage of people in wheelchairs being part of modern dance companies-dances are choreographed with their particular abilities in mind. But in a high school drill team, it's so much about uniformity.

What do y'all think? I know that for competition season, the team does do a few modern/lyrical dances that are more "free form", where they could incorporate a girl in a wheelchair, or even feature her. So maybe one solution would be to have her be manager for the 1st semseter (football season, with the very traditional dances) and be on the team second semester (competition season, where they have freer choreography). But is that fair to the girls who won't make it just because they can't kick high enough?

 

[cabanafrau]

DD competes this weekend -- AND has to be at the studio all weekend because the choreographer is in to work out a major recital number she's in.

By Sunday night she'll be a puddle of nothing.

 

[undercovermom]

Tonight they have varsity drill team auditions. DD15 is feeling very confident.

The drill team manager every year has been a girl in a wheelchair. Every year she auditions for the team and doesn't make it, then she agrees to be manager. She's a junior and is back for auditions this year; she has told people that if she doesn't make the squad this year, she is going to be really angry.

This is a very competitive squad. There will be quite a few girls who don't make it because they don't have the skills. How can they turn down lots of girls and let the girl in the wheelchair in, when objectively she doesn't have any of the skills? My daughter says that on the kick, the only thing she does is the head movements. I feel bad for her, the judges and the team coach.

I have read articles and seen footage of people in wheelchairs being part of modern dance companies-dances are choreographed with their particular abilities in mind. But in a high school drill team, it's so much about uniformity.

What do y'all think? I know that for competition season, the team does do a few modern/lyrical dances that are more "free form", where they could incorporate a girl in a wheelchair, or even feature her. So maybe one solution would be to have her be manager for the 1st semseter (football season, with the very traditional dances) and be on the team second semester (competition season, where they have freer choreography). But is that fair to the girls who won't make it just because they can't kick high enough?

Hmm... a delicate situation indeed.

There's ayoung lady in our school with a birth defect that affects her legs, and she is dependent on crutches for mobility. When she was in the musicals they worked around the disabilty.

but for competitive dance...sorry, I can't see it. On the football field at school, perhaps, but not on a competition squad.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

missypie--That seems like a real delicate subject. My thoughts are, if she can't do the moves, and other girls get cut for not doing the moves, then she has no basis for being angry and making demands. I understand all about being accomodating to disabilities, and if precision weren't such an important part of competitive dance, I would be all in favor of having her on a team. The team is likely to lose her as a manager, which is a shame, but that's how it is. She's not being fair to the other members of the squad by demanding a spot.

There's a reason we don't have blind bus drivers and paraplegic firefighters.

 

[undercovermom]

OMG, this in unbelievable! The dance team coach posted on the team website...the team is going to be featured on a local news show in a couple fo weeks.

 

[missypie]

Friday night was varsity drill team auditions....77 tried out and they took 55 girls. The girl in the wheelchair did not make it. Of the 22 JV team members who auditioned, only 14 made it. So that means that there are 8 heartbroken JV girls and they all have to have drill team class together today. Four were sophomores, so they can't be on JV drill team again. I'm such a softie-all of this is always so upsetting to me.

 

[missypie]

Okay, time to brag-I feel like I'm entitled since it has not been a great season so far for DD's company. They competed at Showstoppers in Ft. Worth this weekend. They competed 5 dances and got 3 Platinums and 2 Double Platinums. One dance didn't place in the Overall, but the others placed 7th, 6th, 4th and FIRST overall! My daughter has never been in a dance that won first overall at a competiton before, so she was thrilled.

They ended up being the highest scoring teen dance of the weekend, so they will be on the website. Our junior company also had the highest scoring junior dance of the weekend, so they will be on the website, too. Lots of other great results. The owner of the studio said its the best our company has ever done at a competition.

Funny thing-the dance that did so well hasn't done much of anything the rest of the season-has never even placed in the overalls. Go figure. With the junior company, their tap has been getting 1st or 2nd overall all season-this time it came in 4th and their Jazz got 1st overall. Again, go figure.

I admit that the competition was not fierce this weekend. But I think it was fair. At some of the competitions we encounter the studios that rehearse more than twice as many hours as our girls do-it's hard for them to take when they don't do well against them, but I'd rather them do pretty well at the competitons and rehearse 8 hours a week than to win every competition and rehearse 15-20 hours a week. Different strokes.