This past week I was WAY too busy to watch Dance Moms, so I have decided to write this blog post about the past year being my own Dance Mom to 11 wonderful dancers :)
I have been dancing since I was three years old and have never wanted to stop. It was great that when I came to Bradley freshman year there were so many options of dance teams to join. A friend of mine from home was a Senior Orchesis member at the time and told me about Orchesis, so I took the plunge and auditioned & four years later - here we are!
This past week my team held our annual recital and I could not be happier with how everything turned out. I was elected as President of the team this year and I really wanted to push myself and the rest of the girls to learn as many routines as possible for our show. It really was an honor to preside over the girls this year and I am so proud that we accomplished all of our goals and put on the best show that I have been apart of as a member of BU Orchesis. It is such a great feeling to hear my friends and family that had come to our recitals over the years express how impressed they were with our performance. Dancing with such a talented group of girls really made for a perfect ending to my dancing career. I will miss each and every one of them so much! It's so refreshing to bring together 12 COMPLETELY different girls, yet have us get along just because we all love to dance.
Now here I am on a Monday night writing this blog when at this time the past four years I have been at dance practice! Not sure how I am going to move on from something that has been apart of my life for the past 19 years but I am really hoping I will find a way to continue to dance through life :)
Monday, April 28, 2014
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
The New Team Has Arrived
This week's episode of Dance Moms was everything we had been waiting for all season - the "new" team. As I mentioned in previous posts, Abby had been traveling all over the country searching for talent for her new team. This team will now compete against her already prestigious competition team comprised of our favorite little gals - Maddie, Mackenzie, Chloe, Nia, Kendall, and Kalani.
This page does a great job introducing each new girl and provides you with a video of each dancer as well as some photos! But there is a twist... Abby has decided to put Maddie on the new team. ruh roh....
After Abby introduced the new team, she started teaching choreography and theses were the routines she assigned: Kalani and Kendall were to perform a jazz/hip-hop duet against Ava and Sarah R. who were to perform a lyrical duet. It is a known fact that lyrical numbers score better at competitions, and this instance was no different. The new girls beat Kalani and Kendall by only a few points, even though I believe the K's had a way better performance.
For the group routines - the old team performed yet another hip-hop/jazz routine against the new team's lyrical piece. With Maddie on their side, the new team had yet another victory under their belts. Once again, I do NOT think the new team outperformed the old team, but lyrical routines are taken much more seriously at competitions.
Finally, Abby assigned a solo to Chloe and one of the new girls, Kamryn. Abby made Kamryn appear to bounds better than Chloe, but when it came down to their performance Chloe came out on top! Chloe is my favorite dancer on the show so this was very exciting to watch :) I am not liking this "new" team aspect all too much and I hope it doesn't last long!
The New Team from left to right:
Sarah H., Kamryn, Ava, Jade, Sarah R., & Tea
After Abby introduced the new team, she started teaching choreography and theses were the routines she assigned: Kalani and Kendall were to perform a jazz/hip-hop duet against Ava and Sarah R. who were to perform a lyrical duet. It is a known fact that lyrical numbers score better at competitions, and this instance was no different. The new girls beat Kalani and Kendall by only a few points, even though I believe the K's had a way better performance.
For the group routines - the old team performed yet another hip-hop/jazz routine against the new team's lyrical piece. With Maddie on their side, the new team had yet another victory under their belts. Once again, I do NOT think the new team outperformed the old team, but lyrical routines are taken much more seriously at competitions.
Finally, Abby assigned a solo to Chloe and one of the new girls, Kamryn. Abby made Kamryn appear to bounds better than Chloe, but when it came down to their performance Chloe came out on top! Chloe is my favorite dancer on the show so this was very exciting to watch :) I am not liking this "new" team aspect all too much and I hope it doesn't last long!
Friday, April 11, 2014
Abby has a heart!
This blog post is dedicated to Miss Abby's late mother Maryen Lorrain Miller. This past week's episode of Dance Moms focused on the fact that Abby's mother was dying and was not going to get better. Abby did not travel to the competition this week because she was so emotionally distraught, and the audience saw a side of her that had not been seen ever before.
The girls reminisced on memories they had with Mrs. Miller and Abby choreographed this week's routines in honor of her mom. Maddie and Chloe both performed solos at the competition that were musical theater style. Chloe placed 5th and of course yet again, Maddie placed 1st. Finally, the group of girls performed a lyrical routine to Amazing Grace in honor of Mrs. Miller. This piece was beautiful and at any other competition would have won by a landslide. But unfortunately that was not the case. Another studio called "Studio Larkin" which has a very good reputation and a strong group of dancers placed first in the group routines. When the girls called Abby to break the bad news to her, she responded unlike anything I could have predicted! She said "Girls, this week it was not about the competition. It was about my mother and honoring her in your performances and you did that." This was the most compassionate and human-like I have ever seen Abby behave and it was quite refreshing to see that!
One more episode before the mid-season finale!
Also - I found this super hilarious dance parody video to "Don't Drop That Thun Thun"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWaL2q38xdE
The girls reminisced on memories they had with Mrs. Miller and Abby choreographed this week's routines in honor of her mom. Maddie and Chloe both performed solos at the competition that were musical theater style. Chloe placed 5th and of course yet again, Maddie placed 1st. Finally, the group of girls performed a lyrical routine to Amazing Grace in honor of Mrs. Miller. This piece was beautiful and at any other competition would have won by a landslide. But unfortunately that was not the case. Another studio called "Studio Larkin" which has a very good reputation and a strong group of dancers placed first in the group routines. When the girls called Abby to break the bad news to her, she responded unlike anything I could have predicted! She said "Girls, this week it was not about the competition. It was about my mother and honoring her in your performances and you did that." This was the most compassionate and human-like I have ever seen Abby behave and it was quite refreshing to see that!
One more episode before the mid-season finale!
Also - I found this super hilarious dance parody video to "Don't Drop That Thun Thun"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWaL2q38xdE
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Underdog
This week on the Dedicated to Dance Moms blog, I would like to focus on a member of the group that usually goes unnoticed, Nia! Veteran member Nia usually flies under the radar, but this week she was given a solo by Miss Abby! Up until this point in the season Nia has only had two solos, neither of which have placed in the top ten. That is unheard of for the ALDC members who usually win first place in their age divisions.
Nia's solo was called "Damsel in Distress" which was a very animated, musical theater style piece. She executed the piece very well and the moms and girls were very impressed with their performance!
Nia's solo was called "Damsel in Distress" which was a very animated, musical theater style piece. She executed the piece very well and the moms and girls were very impressed with their performance!
Below is a video of Nia's performance:
All of Nia's hard work paid off - she placed 3rd in the competition! I was very happy to watch Nia excel since she usually is not noticed in a positive way. Way to go Nia!
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