The Dance Mom Thread

[Diamondintheruff]

I'm sitting here feeling badly about about why I RSVPed an unable to make it to your event to my SIL. I will miss one of her bridal showers (FYI I am not in the wedding party, it is NOT a family shower and I am throwing her another bridal shower myself) because of a previously schedueled dance competition for my son out of town. She demanded to know why I couldn't make it and then stormed out. I feel bad I upset her but my son needs me more than she does. The dance competition was set in motion before she even got engaged.

I figured if anyone understood it would be the posters on this thread. This is his final competition of the year and I am the one who goes with him to all of his competitions. Last year I missed one because I was the godparent at a christening. It didn't go well. I haven't missed another one since.

My SIL has never been to a competition or recital or even watched an entire video of one of his dances. She doesn't have kids and doesn't understand our commitment to dance. But as I said I never meant to hurt her and I feel badly.

 

[missypie]

I'm sitting here feeling badly about about why I RSVPed an unable to make it to your event to my SIL. I will miss one of her bridal showers (FYI I am not in the wedding party, it is NOT a family shower and I am throwing her another bridal shower myself) because of a previously schedueled dance competition for my son out of town. She demanded to know why I couldn't make it and then stormed out. I feel bad I upset her but my son needs me more than she does. The dance competition was set in motion before she even got engaged.

I figured if anyone understood it would be the posters on this thread. This is his final competition of the year and I am the one who goes with him to all of his competitions. Last year I missed one because I was the godparent at a christening. It didn't go well. I haven't missed another one since.

My SIL has never been to a competition or recital or even watched an entire video of one of his dances. She doesn't have kids and doesn't understand our commitment to dance. But as I said I never meant to hurt her and I feel badly.

So it is the actual bride getting in a huff that you can't make it, even though you are throwing her a shower yourself??? Don't let Bridezilla get you down. She REALLY needs to learn to be gracious.

It many be many years in the future, but I predict that someday she, too, will prioritize her kids over LOTS of other events. I have missed so many dinners, cocktail receptions, firm retreats, showers, parties, etc. due to kid events, I couldn't even begin to count. I regret not a one of them. Don't give this a second thought!

 

[jwsqrdplus2]

I'm sitting here feeling badly about about why I RSVPed an unable to make it to your event to my SIL. I will miss one of her bridal showers (FYI I am not in the wedding party, it is NOT a family shower and I am throwing her another bridal shower myself) because of a previously schedueled dance competition for my son out of town. She demanded to know why I couldn't make it and then stormed out. I feel bad I upset her but my son needs me more than she does. The dance competition was set in motion before she even got engaged.

I figured if anyone understood it would be the posters on this thread. This is his final competition of the year and I am the one who goes with him to all of his competitions. Last year I missed one because I was the godparent at a christening. It didn't go well. I haven't missed another one since.

My SIL has never been to a competition or recital or even watched an entire video of one of his dances. She doesn't have kids and doesn't understand our commitment to dance. But as I said I never meant to hurt her and I feel badly.

We have all been there. My parents 40th anniversary was this year, and my mom wanted to go on a cruise to celebrate. It would have been my mom and dad, my sister and her partner, and me, DH and the girls. Our studio only does Nationals every other year, and unfortunately 2008 ended up being a Nationals year! And our studio chose Celebrity Nationals at Sea on a cruise ship! You would think that all the planets aligned, right?? Not so much. When I mentioned it to my mom, she didn't like the idea. The Nationals cruise was going to be too short (5 days, 4 nights instead of 7 days, 6 nights), it would have too many kids on board (did I mention that both my mom and sister are teachers???) and she didn't like the itinerary (Baja Coast). She then basically asked me to choose between her and dad and my kids. It was no contest! There were lots of hurt feelings in my family over that issue.

 

[Sleepy]

People who know us know that we even make personal sacrifices for dance. Heck, every year we have to work Thanksgiving around the dance schedule. My kid comes first. It's that simple.

 

[AZMickeyfans]

I'm sitting here feeling badly about about why I RSVPed an unable to make it to your event to my SIL. I will miss one of her bridal showers (FYI I am not in the wedding party, it is NOT a family shower and I am throwing her another bridal shower myself) because of a previously schedueled dance competition for my son out of town. She demanded to know why I couldn't make it and then stormed out. I feel bad I upset her but my son needs me more than she does. The dance competition was set in motion before she even got engaged.

I figured if anyone understood it would be the posters on this thread. This is his final competition of the year and I am the one who goes with him to all of his competitions. Last year I missed one because I was the godparent at a christening. It didn't go well. I haven't missed another one since.

My SIL has never been to a competition or recital or even watched an entire video of one of his dances. She doesn't have kids and doesn't understand our commitment to dance. But as I said I never meant to hurt her and I feel badly.

Aww, I agree, we have all been there and can sympathize but someday in the future she will choose her childs activities over another's activity and she will understand. Dont let it get you down. Its the sacrifices we all make. I agree she should be gracious that you are throwing her another shower in her honor. Most girls would feel lucky to get more than 1.

 

[Diamondintheruff]

We have all been there.People who know us know that we even make personal sacrifices for dance. Heck, every year we have to work Thanksgiving around the dance schedule. My kid comes first. It's that simple.

Aww, I agree, we have all been there and can sympathize

Thanks for the support.

Got our times for the competition that's the weekend in question and his duet is right in the middle of the shower and 4 hours away.

Apparently many people have been unable to make it and I guess I was just the straw that broke the camels back. The men are now invited to increase the numbers. So my hubby (it's his sister) and our other children will be attending.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

I'm sitting here feeling badly about about why I RSVPed an unable to make it to your event to my SIL. I will miss one of her bridal showers (FYI I am not in the wedding party, it is NOT a family shower and I am throwing her another bridal shower myself) because of a previously schedueled dance competition for my son out of town. She demanded to know why I couldn't make it and then stormed out. I feel bad I upset her but my son needs me more than she does. The dance competition was set in motion before she even got engaged.

I figured if anyone understood it would be the posters on this thread. This is his final competition of the year and I am the one who goes with him to all of his competitions. Last year I missed one because I was the godparent at a christening. It didn't go well. I haven't missed another one since.

My SIL has never been to a competition or recital or even watched an entire video of one of his dances. She doesn't have kids and doesn't understand our commitment to dance. But as I said I never meant to hurt her and I feel badly.

I'm sorry that you feel badly, but if you don't mind my saying, your SIL sounds pretty selfish. Just to use a comparison, I have a sister, married but childless. She has been involved with drama--community theater mostly, for decades. She's always got a performance or two going on--she's in them, she directs children's plays, she does all sorts of musical things, etc. She adores my kids, but we're 200 miles apart right now. She comes to recitals when she can, bringing her DH and DMIL along. We go to her performances when possible--usually just me, sometimes DD13 goes with. Naturally, there are conflicts--we each do the best we can and support each other's families and activities. No hard feelings, no "drama" about who is more loyal or supportive.

I just wanted to let you know that there ARE families who can work through such things. Of course, it does require a level of maturity and mutual respect. Hopefully your SIL will one day see your point of view.

 

[missypie]

The captain of our high school drill team is trying out for the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders. She's made it to the part where they do individual solos. She'll find out in about a week whether she'll go to training camp. I can't imagine that she won't make it-she's a fabulous dancer and is cute as can be. The only thing will be if she has any belly fat that we normally don't see at school events!

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

I wish her luck, missypie! Have you ever seen the training camp TV show? It's brutal! Nobody would accuse those girls of being "just pretty faces"!

 

[missypie]

I wish her luck, missypie! Have you ever seen the training camp TV show? It's brutal! Nobody would accuse those girls of being "just pretty faces"!

Yeah, we watch the show on CMT. I've lived in Dallas since 1981 and have never paid a bit of attention to the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, until DD started watching the show. Now we look to see if there is anyone we "know."

One of DD's dance teachers has tried out 3 times and has made it to the solo auditions 3 times and has never made it to training camp. I personally think it's because she has a "ballerina's body" that would not fill out the top part of the uniform!

 

[dreamer17555]

Hey everyone! I hope everyone had a great dance filled weekend. We had recital this weekend. The good news is Cat did amazing. They added some stuff to her acro routine that I wasn't expecting and I was very impressed by.

The bad news- You might recall that I said our studio hires a backstage crew to help with costume changes? Well they do but had so many Rec. dancers that they figured the company girls would be fine on their own. To make matters worse they moved the mini and baby teams (Ages 7-4) to a room by themselves... and gave them food and drinks. Umm yeah. I sneak backstage (we moms aren't supposed to do that) and find 14 girls with lipstick all over (never give food to little girls in full makeup!) I round up a few moms and we spent all three shows running back doing costume changes and make up and all that jazz in between routines.

One little girl got very sick last night (threw up and was running a fever) and it took us twenty mintues to find her mom. Her mom made her dance anyway Little girl comes off stage and throws up again. I decided to let the director know and she was sent home. She is in company, her mom will see her dance again at Nationals. This is rectial and I think it was in bad taste to send a child that was so ill. I know next week we will be missing half the girls in class because they will catch it from her. I don't understand some people

Well that is all. Hope everyone is doing well!

-Becca-

 

[missypie]

Boy, I bet we could start another long thread on recital stories alone!!! Dance recitals are always good for stories-some infuriating, some funny.

My daughters and I LOVE to watch the tiny kids. There is always at least one tiny girl who just stands still on stage and cries. I always think that that's what her parents paid for a year of lessons, costumes and recital fees for-to watch their darling stand on stage and cry.

Then there was the tiny boy who spend the entire song sitting on the floor pulling the tape off the stage!

Then their are the classes (again, the ones barely out of diapers) where there are 7 kids on stage, each doing something entirely different....was there choreography?

When my yougest was in the tiny kid's class, she always knew the choreography and the other girls would follow her...but she wasn't immune to improvisation. In ballet, they did a full turn, and hers went so well that she just added another one.

I don't know about your studio, but ours does a great job of mixing up the age and skill levels-you might have the 4 year old class, followed by the senior company, followed by an older class, followed by a company girl's solo. Keeps it interesting.

 

[cabanafrau]

I haven't been keeping up much with the thread lately, but I had to share this here -- I can't think of many other places that could appreciate the incredible luck!

On Saturday our home dance studio was the site for a workshop/mini convention put together by an incredible area dancer/teacher extraordinaire. DD was lucky enough to dance in her own studio in classes taught by Travis Wall, Ivan Koumaev & Danny Tidwell, along with a host of other teachers who could absolutely blow your socks off! Yeah, she's danced in classes w/ Travis, Ivan & Danny before, but this was at home -- in a room w/ maybe 50 or so students??

She had a fantastic experience, although she's still "feeling the burn" today, which is very surprising to her as she doesn't get like that after the two-day conventions. She still says it was worth every ache & pain.

 

[jwsqrdplus2]

cabanafrau~that's pretty cool! We did NUVO earlier in the year which has Ivan and Travis on staff, but you are right in that it is different on home turf!

Well, our studio just dropped an interesting bombshell last night! We have known since the Nov timeframe that we were getting a new Artistic Director starting this fall. But the owners were going to stay the owners. Well last ngiht we got an e-mail saying that full ownership will be shifting to the new Artistic Director and her husband. I actually don't think anymore changes than we were already expecting will take place, but it is still an unknown. Other than, they have already declared they are going to change the name of the studio.

 

[missypie]

cabanafrau~that's pretty cool! We did NUVO earlier in the year which has Ivan and Travis on staff, but you are right in that it is different on home turf!

Well, our studio just dropped an interesting bombshell last night! We have known since the Nov timeframe that we were getting a new Artistic Director starting this fall. But the owners were going to stay the owners. Well last ngiht we got an e-mail saying that full ownership will be shifting to the new Artistic Director and her husband. I actually don't think anymore changes than we were already expecting will take place, but it is still an unknown. Other than, they have already declared they are going to change the name of the studio.

Yeah, tis the season for bombshells...teachers leaving, companies changing, etc.

 

[missypie]

Well, our high school drill team captain did not get invited to Dallas Cowboys cheerleader training camp. She made it to the round where they do solos and have personal interviews. She is a fantastic dancer (I don't know if she's ever gotten less than first place on a solo) and a beautiful girl (this year's prom queen). I guess we'll have to watch the CMT show to see why she didn't get picked. Maybe she was a bit light on the "filling out the top" department. Or maybe she looked young compared to the other girls. I'm just in shock that she didn't make it.

 

[missypie]

DD heard at school a bit of what happened to the drill team captain at DCC auditions. She arrived very ill with a kidney infection-the DCC people made her go to Care Now (doc in a box). She had a temp of 103. I don't how far she got into the weekend, so I don't know if she even got a chance to dance.

 

[juligrl]

Just wanted to share - my daughter just had her last dance class for this term. She's not doing the recital this year (I opted to hold her out of that until next year) so she's done with her tap and ballet classes until she starts up again this fall. The neat thing is that her tap class started with three in it and dwindled down to just one (DD of course) so basically for two months now she has been getting a private tap class and does it ever show. Like her teacher says, she'll be ahead of the rest of her class in the fall.

The studio does offer 6 weeks of summer classes and a bunch of workshops and camps throughout the summer. DD has been wanting to try out the acro/gym class so I got her registred for that tonight - something different.

Who else is wrapping up for the term?

 

[jwsqrdplus2]

Who else is wrapping up for the term?

We are in picture week *bleep* right now. Recital is next weekend, followed by Nationals 2 weeks later. Then summer classes start the week after Nationals (we are opting out of the first week of summer classes so the girls get some down time!).

WE may be wrapping up for the term, but dance never seems to end here!

 

[missypie]

Our recital isn't until June 15th, with Nationals the first week of July, so no winding down for us.

DD15 is trying to decide whether to stay in Company next year. She had decided to retire, because it was just too much with high school work, but now the company director is really giving her (and others) the hard sell to stay in.