Sugar and Glue and Gold Medals Too

Okay, this will be my last dance mom post. For a while. It just happened that two of our competitions got cancelled and the only time we could reschedule meant us having competitions back to back. I'm too old for this, y'all. I am wore.slap.out. But that's ok. My motto right now is: Make it through May. Make it through May. Say it with me everybody! Tonight we finished 3 of the 4 dances I'm responsible for for the recital and I may have danced around the room tonight singing, "Wasup wasup!"  When Sarah reaches the age of 11 I am pretty sure she will relocate to another state. Anyway, the only dance I haven't finished is my tiny tots dance. I think if I could expand their attention span from 3 minutes to 5 that we could've finished tonight, but some goals are just too lofty for me, especially on weeks like this where I'm feeling two weeks behind on everything.

I just thought I would hit on some highlights from last weekend before I forget them.

* We took a chartered bus and I am praising God I survived. First, the driver announced that we would be driving for 2 hours before we would be stopping. Say wha? You don't understand. I can literally drink 3 oz. of water and have to look for a rest area. Then, this bus driver was super nice, but his driving scared the mess out of me. I promise, everytime I would look up we would be about to hit somebody or run off the road. I would give one of the other mom's a look and say, "Just don't look." So, I read a lot. 

* The night we got there we ate at Dreamland Bar-B-Que and even though I was exhausted and experiencing PTSD from the bus ride, it was so much fun. The owner made us sing and dance to our table. He entertained the whole restaurant and when our girls would get up and walk around the restaurant we would look up and he would be dragging them by their hair asking where their Mama's were. This is some of our girls in an impromptu performance. :)

* Our girls asked to rehearse that night so I took them to a ballroom where Barbie was rehearsing one of the older girls. They did their dance and rocked it. 

* Sat. morning the tap trio and moms ate breakfast together at the hotel and then went to work on make-up. They had a later performance time than last week and we made sure hair was done before breakfast. I thought we were all over it. I mean, we actually got to sit down and eat real food. I learned that however long it normally takes to get ready you should add on 25 minutes per fake eyelash you have to put on. My word, I am definitely not a make-up artist. You know it's getting crazy the 8th time you say, "Please do not spin in that chair while I am gluing your eyelashes!!"

* Our girls rocked their dance and then we stood on the side and watched one of our other trios. After it was over they ran backstage smiling ear to ear and hugging. That's the moment you live for. At that point it totally doesn't matter what the judges thought. When you know you've done your best and you feel that good about it, that's all that matters! I was so impressed with how improved our girls were just a week later. They took it seriously!

* Sarah's trio got gold! From silver to gold in a week, not bad! They also won the judge's award for "Classy Tappers". I just love that. Classy is my favorite adjective. :)

* Unfortunately there were some not classy performances. I try really hard to appreciate and encourage everyone who dances, not just our girls, but there was a dance that made my skin crawl. I would've taken Sarah out, but I couldn't get my jaw off the ground fast enough.Teenage girls dancing in lingerie to a song that I won't even put the words to. I don't get it. Why do people think that's ok? Even if I were not a Christian or a preacher's wife, that kind of stuff just offends me as a woman and a dancer. I know how hard dancers work and it is so offensive to basically do a striptease and perpetuate that idea that people have of dancing. Not classy!

*Okay, I will get off of that soapbox. In kind of related news, I was sitting behind a dad (you always hope it is a dad and not just some random guy) who was snoozing through the competition. He woke up when a clogging number came on. They danced to "Pour Some Sugar on Me". He really jammed out then. It made me think of my Dad and how he would have appreciated a song like that in the middle of all the broadway tunes. :)  You may wonder how I can be okay with this song and not the other. I was contemplating that and came to 2 conclusions. 

1. I was like 8 when that song came out and in my mind I still have innocent thoughts about it. I imagine kids with bags of sugar pouring it on each other. Like an 8 year old's dream of Candyland or something. 

2. You cannot be sexy clogging. I'm sorry. It's just not possible. I bet if you go back and study the history of dance and courtship, you will find nothing about clogging. Just sayin'.  

* Our girls performed all throughout the day and we sat through 3 awards ceremonies. I'm a big believer that they all need to be there to support each other. So, we were. And every.single.time. they would play the Macerana. It was fun the first time. It was annoying the second time. By the third time at 9:00 at night I was singing and dancing and delusional. 

*We finally ate supper at 9:30. This pic says it all....

* We headed out Sunday morning and halfway through our trip the A/C went out in the bus. Fun times. I suddenly felt inspired to choreograph a clogging number in the style of Flashdance called "Pour Some Water on Me."  Needless to say, I was thrilled to get home and sleep in my own bed. Sarah was thrilled when she finally got the last of the glue out of her eyelashes.