National Dance Competiton

This past week Emma competed in her final competition for the 2009-2010 dance competition season. She has been working on the two dances she is in since last August, and this time she

danced for all the marbles. It was a National Competition in St. Charles (just outside of Chicago) Ill.

Her production number, "Greatest Generation." Got third place in Jr. Production Numbers. It is a fantastic dance- and we naturally felt we got robbed with our third place finish.

The big news from the competition was her Small Group Petite Ballet, "Sunday Clothes." The top 5 in each category (Petite Sm Groups) re-compete for the top spot. Emma's group qualified to re-compete- which no one expected.

The group didn't place in the top three- but they were the only ballet to qualify (which is huge) and the only National League team to compete. The leagues are based on number of hours each group spends in technique classes. The other four numbers have 20 to 30 hours of technique class (without rehearsal of performance numbers) every week. Emma's group has 3 hours of technique class every week. That fact that our group was even picked to re-compete was a huge win.

Of course, when our kids found out they were re-competing they were over the moon. I have to say the two times they danced in St. Charles were the best two performances of "Sunday Clothes" I've seen. When they came off the stage without having placed in the top three there was a lot of disappointment and many tears. We explained the league thing and suddenly our kiddos realized that it was a really big deal that they got to re-compete at all.

They also still got a plaque saying that they were National "World Series" runner up. Naturally, we feel they got robbed again. The two dances that were really technically harder didn't get in the top three. Also, the two dances that didn't win were the most appropriate for the age group. The others were what we refer to as "booty shaker" dances. Yuck.

No matter what the judges say, Emma and her friends did an amazing job at the national competition and we are all very proud of the way these kiddos danced their hearts out. They made an excellent effort and they did have a great experience.

The pictures I have included here are competition pictures. Emma on her way to dance "Sunday Clothes" the first time is on the top of the blog. These other two are the group with their teacher and choreographer, Betsey, and Emma with Betsey. By the time we took the picture the tears had dried and the kiddos were pleased with their performance as well.