Day 2: Ballet & Jazz Auditions for Jordan

Saturday afternoon Jordan had her last 2 auditions for Junior Miss Dance, one in Ballet & one in Jazz. Jordan was ready to go & happy to be on day #2. 

After stretching outside the ballroom, the contestants were all called back in to start the auditions. 

Jordan thought both auditions went really well. She said it felt good to feel like she did her best. Whew!  All the major competing for Junior Miss Dance is complete. Now she just has rehearsals for the opening number for the Tuesday night Junior Miss/Mr Dance competition which of course includes the solo portion of the competition.  

Jordan concluded the day with another 4 Hour rehearsal from 5pm to 9pm.  What a day!  Here are all the Junior contestant parents getting instructions for tomorrow night’s Gala celebration which marks the official beginning of PAC, the Performing Arts Competition for DMA. There is a parade of all the regional title holders at the start of the gala where they all wear their dresses, crowns & banners again and everyone participating in the competition is in attendance. It’s a fashion show of gowns, sequins, sparkle, colors, bling & poof. I love it!  💕

Tomorrow also begins preliminaries for any group numbers which have not previously qualified at a Dance Masters regional competition. Zoe, Jordan & the Shely Pack Dancers Senior & Junior Co. will compete 3 numbers tomorrow.  Should be an exciting day. 

Well it’s 11:30pm, I am pooped & the girls are both asleep. All in all, it was a great day but time to pack it in. 

Group competing here we come!!  👯‍♀️👯‍♀️👯‍♀️

Day 2: Zoe Wins the Ballet Intensive Scholarship!!

Today Zoe had her 2nd day of the ballet intensive. At the end of the day the teachers pick someone to win a full scholarship & someone to get a half scholarship for DMA next year.  Zoe won the full scholarship!  So proud of her. 👊❤️ She did more pointe in the past 2 days than she’s done in a long time. Tonight she is VERY sore!  Thank goodness for Tiger Balm. Our room smells like a keg of menthol exploded in here!  😵

Here she is doing a winners photo shoot with Densil Adams & the competition photographer.  

Here is the amazing Densil Adams who taught part of the intensive. Zoe took a summer intensive in Dallas, Texas when she was 13 years old & she met Densil for the first time.  She loved him as a teacher/choreographer.  Below is a picture of the 2 of them from 3 years ago at the intensive and one from today. So cool!  

Day 2: Interview with the Judges

On Saturday Jordan started her day with an interview with the judges.  Each contestant needed to submit a resume as part of the registration process.  For the interview they are called into a room one at a time & the panel of judges are sitting at a table.  In typical panel interview style each judge asks them a question. For a 12 year old, Jordan’s resume contains things on it like years of taking different types of dance, interest & hobbies, any special performances she has done, along with school activities.  

Here’s Jordan reviewing her resume on her phone & getting into "interview mood" prior to heading down for check-in. 

Feeling confident & looking interview ready. 

Wishing Courtney good luck prior to her interview. 

Once the contestants check-in they wait until their contestant number is called.  Again, no observers in the room, just the judges. 

Jasmine is contestant #24 for Teen Miss Dance so she had awhile to wait for her interview. But she was looking very sharp & per usual, in a good mood with lots of smiles. 

There’s Jordan is in the background of the picture up next to go in. Best picture I could get from a distance. 

     Jordan felt really good about how she did in her interview.  They asked her about choreographing for her school musical, what her contemporary solo called Fear is about, and what her favorite & least favorite parts of the competition are for her. Man, she had some really great answers for all their questions. So proud of her! ❤️

After her interview we had little time to kick back on our hotel patio & decompress prior to afternoon audition classes. 

We met up with Zoe to have lunch outside during her break from her ballet intensive. There is a big area out in front of the hotel where they have a bunch of glorious smelling food trucks and places to sit & eat in the shade. Just another beautiful day in So Cal with a light breeze & about 78 degrees. Had a very yummy Greek salad with gyro meat on it. Delicious! 😋 The girls split a gyro bowl & an açaí bowl. Extremely satisfying lunch had by all. 

After lunch Zoe gave Jordan a little pep talk in prep for her jazz & ballet auditions this afternoon. Tips on her posture for ballet, arm positioning & flow as well as lots of personality & confidence in jazz. All very valuable big sister who’s been there, done that pointers.  

Now back to the room for hair, make-up and outfit change for Jordan’s afternoon auditions. 

More later....

Day 1: Tap then Acrobatics Auditions

This afternoon, while Zoe is back in her ballet intensive, Jordan has 2 audition classes. One in tap, then one in acrobatics.  Each class is an hour long and is scored on a scale of 1 to 20 points. The format of the class is like the TV show "So You Think You Can Dance".  They are all taught a combination, they run through it a few times, then they call their number in groups of 4 & they perform it to be scored by the judges.  They throw out the score of the lowest scoring & highest scoring judge and take the 3 scores remaining. A perfect score for the class would be 60 points. 

Jordan felt pretty good about how she did overall in her auditions.  She said the tap combo went well. She just put a big smile on her face & went for it.  Unfortunately they also wanted to see each contestant go across the floor individually doing a short combination of a few different steps. Bummer for Jordan that one of the steps they were asked to do she’s never done before.  Not what you hope for, doing a step for the first time, in a audition & by yourself.  Definite character builder!  

The evening ended with Jordan having a 4 Hour rehearsal from 5pm to 9pm for the opening number that all the contestants perform at the start of the Junior Miss Dance Pageant which will be Tuesday night. The choreographer is the amazing Ashley Wells who was a Rockette & is a fabulous choreographer.  Here’s Jordan ready to go off to rehearsal. 

Day 1: Jordan’s Solo Preview

Last night all the title contestants got their official backpack, leotard for the opening number the night of the solo competition (which is Tuesday night for Jordan), and their tee shirt along with the official program for the competition. 

Jordan’s day started at a reasonable hour- 7am. YAY for that!  This morning each of the contestants performs their solo for the judges. It is not scored,  just an opportunity for the judges to see all the contestants individually prior to the competition beginning this afternoon.  There are also no spectators for this. Just the 5 judges & the contestant’s teacher. 

Here’s Jordan reviewing her solo on her phone to "get in the zone" prior to going to check in for her solo time. 

Oh!  She also got her official Junior Miss Dance Pacific Coast jacket last evening from the Chapter 1 President Mr. Jason Coosner. Nice job on the jackets Jason! 

Here she is rehearsing before being called in to perform her solo. 

And....heading in to perform. 

She was very nervous prior to going in to the room. But as the door opened for her to enter, she straightened up, held her head high, and strutted in looking like she had all the confidence in the world. Way to beat those nerves JoJo & just go for it!  

Miss Grace said it was the best she’s seen Jordan do her solo. Whew!  Next hurtle conquered.  

Now we’ll meet Zoe for some lunch then get ready to kill it in the afternoon session. Onward........

Day 1: Intensive for Zoe & Start of Competing for Jordan

And so the journey begins!  This is our schedule of events for the next 9 days.  Any item highlighted in yellow is when either Zoe or Jordan or both will be competing.  For all of our sanity and to keep us organized I created a Grisim specific schedule combining both their events together, making multiple copies for me & the girls, as well as posting it on our hotel wall.  I’ve obviously been doing project management, system implementations and dance mom-ing for quite some time. I got this! 👊

First up today is a ballet dance intensive that Zoe will be doing for the next 2 days from 9am to 5pm.  Here’s her schedule:

She also got a new, beautiful black leotard. Love it! Excited to have Tegan back with us from Oregon to compete once again with the Shely Pack Dancers! 👯‍♀️

Zoe was born on December 14th & her student number is 14. I think that’s a good sign!  Superstitious much?!

Just finished dropping Zoe off at her intensive. Now time to go get Jordan ready for her solo preview with the judges.  Oh boy!

Later....

Junior Miss Dance Contestants

After the contestants from the 4 age divisions- Petite (7 to 9), Junior (10 to 12), Teen (13 to 15), & Miss/Mr (16 to 18), met as a group in the main ballroom for orientation, they split into their age divisions to get further instructions from their title director. 

Here are all the Junior Miss Dance contestants that Jordan will compete against who won their regional competitions from the various Dance Masters Chapters around the US and Canada. Jordan is contestant #9. Yay #9!!

Here she is looking very focused and serious. Part of what they do during the orientation is check that the girl’s awards dress, which they will wear for awards the night of their solo competition, adheres to the competition rules. For Junior Miss contestants their dress must be tea length and cannot be strapless.  Do you know how hard it is to find a tea length dress?!!  We needed to buy a full length one & have it shortened. First hurtle cleated! 

Tomorrow morning starts with the solo preview with the judges.  This part of the competition is not scored but allows the judges to see each of the contestants perform the solo they will compete the night of their title competition. Although not scored, the judges are allowed to take notes. With the large number of contestants competing this allows the judges to get a look at each contestant individually before the scored competing begins.  No spectators other than the contestant’s teacher are allowed during this portion of the competition.  

In the afternoon Jordan will have judges evaluations in tap & acrobatics, both of which are areas Jordan doesn’t feel super strong in.  Saturday she will have an interview with the judges in the morning, then ballet and jazz evaluations in the afternoon. Hopefully she should do great in all of those on Saturday!  

Tomorrow and Saturday Zoe is doing an all-day, 9am to 5pm, ballet intensive. Here’s hoping it’s fun for her. Zoe does not start competing until Sunday. 

Ok, enough for tonight. Both Zoe & Jordan are sound asleep.  Time for me to do the same.  Tomorrow will be a busy day for all!  

Peace out. ✌️ 

Opening Night Solo Title Orientation

Here we are in Anaheim!  First up, opening night orientation for the solo title competition. Jordan is competing for Junior Miss Dance of America representing Dance Masters of the Pacific Coast, Chapter 1.  Jasmine is competing for Teen Miss Dance & Courtney is competing for Miss Dance of America both also representing Chapter 1. 

Ok, gotta go but blog again later after orientation. 

Traveling to DMA in Anaheim

Made it to the airport & checked in our 4 outrageously heavy bags. But... successful packing!  They were all under 50 pounds, just barely. One weighed 49.5lbs. Nice. 

Zoe & Jordan are in great spirits & ready to proudly represent the Shely Pack Dancers. Let’s do this thing!  

😘 

‘Twas the Night Before Nationals

And all through the house, the bags are all packed and their snug in their beds, while visions of dancing dance in their heads.  Ok, so I skipped a few lines. It’s been a long day!  

But we are ready to go, 6 suitcases packed full, 4 to check in & 2 to carry on. Sure hope we can get an Uber that can take all of us, and our 6 overstuffed bags, from the airport to the hotel tomorrow!  🙏

My phone alarm is set for 5am so time to get some much needed shut eye before the games begin tomorrow.  Here’s to the adventure ahead!  

Cheers! 🥂

Day Before Nationals 2018

6am Wednesday morning & I missed my final gym workout with my BABS before leaving for So. Cal. tomorrow morning.  Was up late last night packing & getting up at 4:45am just didn’t happen.  Ah well.....instead I thought I would dust off and fire up the ol blog to see if I’m good to go with it on my phone.  It’s been awhile and I’m outta practice. Had to download a new version, figure out my password, and try to access it.  3 days later....here I am!  

Above picture is Jordan with make-up and false eyelashes that Zoe did for her last night.  Zoe was practicing putting them on Jordan cuz after all these years of being a dance mom that’s one area that I have failed at miserably!  I can’t put the darn lashes on! 😖  So knowing that tracking down another dance mom to put them on every day at Nationals just wasn’t gonna work, Zoe learned to do them for Jordan. Woo hoo!!! Now they both can not only put make-up on themselves better than I can do for myself, they can do false eyelashes too!! 👀

Ok, looks like I got the blog off and running. Gotta get my butt in the shower for my last day of work before 10 glorious days at Nationals in lovely Anaheim, California where I grew up. Here’s to the Dance Masters of America 2018 adventure ahead!!  Fasten your seat belts, it’s gonna be a crazy one. 

Love to all! 💕                                                             Lisa