Monday, July 9, 2018

Day 10: Home Sweet Home 

Sunday, after just 4 hours of sleep, we had to get up early once again to catch our flight home!  Had a fabulous trip but we are all so happy to be home!!  🏡 

Lots of luggage to unpack but can’t wait to sleep in my own bed tonight.  Life is good!! 😘

Peace out DMA Nationals 2018!  ✌️ Until next year....



Sunday, July 8, 2018

Day 9: Closing Night Banquet

Saturday was the final day of Nationals & the closing night banquet. Here’s some shots taken prior to the banquet of the Shely Pack Senior Company. 


And my two beautiful daughters. ❤️

All the contestants that competed in the solo title National Competition wear their crowns & sashes one final time.  

Loved Zoe’s dress!  It fit her like a glove. 🌺

Jordan with her buddy Sydney. 👯‍♀️

They did a slide show during dinner & their is Zoe from the Ghost duet she did with Jordan. 

And here’s one of Jordan & team from Flatline. 

Jordan & Sydney are checking out one of the performances. 

A picture with Ms. Shely. 

And one with all the girls with Chase Bowden who’s group just performed on World of Dance & made it to the 2nd Round of duels.  

The banquet theme was Old Hollywood. So here’s the red carpet entrance. 🎬


And the head banquet table with the DMA Officers. 



Saturday, July 7, 2018

Day 8: High Score Awards & Grand Nationals Championship

Friday started with the High Score Awards ceremony and announcements of which numbers made it into the Grand Nationals Championship that night.  Here’s the Shely Pack team on the stage waiting for awards to begin. 

First up they announced the scholarship winners from the audition classes in tap, ballet, jazz, modern & acrobatics.  Zoe did the ballet, jazz & modern audition classes & she won 1st Place in Ballet!  She was thrilled. 👏  There were 70 kids in the class all age 13 & over.  Nice job ZoZo!  💥

Next were the High Score awards for each Division followed by the Overall awards.  Zoe won 3rd in Division 5 Solos out of 82 solos.  Zoe also got 12th Place Overall for all Solos ages 13 & over which there were 220.  WOW!! 

Zoe & Jordan got 2nd Place in Division 4 Duo/Trios & 2nd Place Overall for all Duo/Trios ages 13 & over which there 56 numbers.  Sweet!! 

Other Shely Pack numbers that placed:

-Flatline: 1st Place Division 4 Small Lines & 6th Place Overall Small Lines ages 13 & over 

- Strings: 2nd Place Division 4 Small Lines

- California Dream’in: 1st Place Division 5 Groups; 2nd Place Overall Groups ages 13 & over

- Spine: 6th Place in Division 5 Groups & 7th Place Overall ages 13 & over Groups

There were 4 Shely Pack numbers that got into the Grand Nationals Championship. Grand Nationals is the Top 5 routines 12 & under as well as 13 & over in the following categories- Solos; Duo/Trios; Groups; Small line & Large line/Extended (which are designated by the number of kids in the routine) with Extended being a routine longer than 2 minutes, 50 seconds which is the length of every other routine that is not Extended. 

These are the Shely Pack numbers that got into Grand Nationals for ages 13 & over:

- Ghost: Duo/Trios

- Flatline: Small Line

- California Dream’in: Groups

- Ice: Extended

After the announcements were made, the team met with Miss Grace to review the routines on video taken of them competing the numbers this week. They took time going through each video while Miss Grace would pause it to give them notes & corrections on arm placement or spacing, etc. 

Then they went & rehearsed for about an hour. 

Although none of the numbers won 1st Place in Grand Nationals they did a fabulous job on all 4 numbers!  All the routines in Grand Nationals were amazing.  I have no idea how the judges can pick one winner in each category. The winners will perform in Saturday night’s closing banquet. 

After Grand Nationals the team all went to the hotel bar area to get something to eat/drink. And to celebrate the fabulous week everyone had.  🥂


A little dance mom bonding with "coffee" aka margaritas made by Denise placed very descretly in coffee cups. 

The girls were all goofing around and made a comedy dance video on their phone. Here they are showing Ms. Shely & Miss Grace. 

And here’s one of the whole gang out by the pool bar at the end of the night. 

Only one event left now for DMA 2018, and that is the closing night Banquet Saturday night. Then we will be flying home Sunday morning. ✈️ So looking forward to getting home.  Can’t wait!!  

Friday, July 6, 2018

Day 7: Lotsa Competing & Miss/Mr Dance of America Competition 

Today was a busy day of competing. The Senior team competed 5 group numbers starting at 7:45am.  Zoe sure is flexible for being so early in the morning!

The first number was a contemporary called Spine. Tegan learned the routine in one day when she was asked by Miss Grace to fill in for Callan who broke her foot and couldn’t come to Nationals.  Nice job by all 4 girls.  They got a Platinum! 💥

Here’s a picture Barry took of Zoe after they finished competing. Competing early mornings is fun?  More like, tiring! 😂

It was really special to have my nephew Andrew & his girlfriend Megan come to visit us to watch the girls compete.  Was so great to see them & have the opportunity to catch up during breakfast in between the girls numbers.  California Dream’in, which is the outfit Zoe & Jordan have on below, got a Platinum & a Special Award for Creative Visual Interpretation.  

After breakfast the girls competed their hip hop number called Flawless. It didn’t do so well at the last competition so they weren’t shooting for a Platinum on this one, just something better than a Silver.  They ended up with a High Gold. They were happy about that!  😁 Hip Hop is definitely not their specialty, but they had fun with it. 

Was able to sneak a quick picture of them on stage before competing their hip hop routine. 


After Flawless they competed the number that Brad calls the shampoo commercial because they all wear their hair down in it. When their hair is not in their face, it’s a pretty lyrical number. Despite the hair being distracting in the number, they got a Platinum with it! 💇🏻‍♀️


Last up for the day was a musical theater number called Take Off with Us.  They use 3 ladders on the stage for this number.  My nephew Noah & his girlfriend Stephanie kindly picked up an 8 foot ladder from Home Depot for us to use in the routine. Callan’s mom was going to bring the ladder with them because they were gonna drive in a large van.  But since Callan broke her foot and couldn’t come to Nationals, we had no way to transport the ladder from Nor Cal to the Anaheim. Really appreciated their assistance getting it here! ❤️

Zoe & Jordan stretching while waiting backstage.  

Love this group shot. ❤️🖤

Cute picture of the team all lined up in the competition ballroom to watch a number with all boys in it called, you guessed it, Boys! 🕺 We were all having boy envy since we don’t have any at our studio.  


This evening was the Miss/Mr Dance of America competition that Courtney competed in.  Although she didn’t place as a finalist she lite up the stage with her personality & style in her solo called Summertime.  ⭐️


One of Zoe’s friends from when she competed for Teen Miss Dance of America won Miss Dance. Here’s Zoe congratulating her & getting ready to give her a big hug. 🤗 Congratulations to Katie!  She was FABULOUS tonight in her jazz solo. 🔥


Tomorrow are the High Score & Division placement awards along with the announcements of which numbers will compete in the Grand National Finals tomorrow night. Hoping the girls might compete a few on their numbers in the finals.  🙏

Until tomorrow.....