Masquerade Dance Competition 2012
12 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Dance Competition Reviews, Life as a Dancem0m
Grace trying on her favorite mask from Masquerade.
Last year, Grace danced at the Masquerade Dance competition. I loved it then, and I loved it again this year!
The Venue
In the past, the competition was held at the Burnsville Center for Performing Arts. I’ve blogged several times on how much I love that place. A few weeks before this year’s competition, we found out that it had gotten so large, they had to split it, and move half to another venue. I was so disappointed to find out we’d be at Hopkins Auditorium. I was even more disappointed when I found out that Grace’s 2nd cousin was dancing at the Burnsville venue.
When we got to the high school, we found our dressing area with the help of one of the dads. It’s always a bit overwhelming when you first walk in, and you don’t know where to go.
Once Grace had her costume on, I went to check out the auditorium where they’d be dancing. It was very nice! It was also huge! No complaints here! It was nice that even from up in the balcony, we could really hear the taps. I didn’t see any microphones (like we did at other competitions). I’m not sure what they did, but I appreciated that we were able to hear them without it being louder than the music they were dancing to.
Things were spaced just right between the dressing areas and the auditorium. The Masquerade “store” was in between. Grace loves the masks they have. I don’t know where it would go in her room, and I’m afraid it would get broken, so I have been hesitant on buying one. Program prices were very reasonable. I want to say they were $6, but I don’t remember for sure. They also had t-shirts with everyone’s name on them, listed by studio. Last year Grace didn’t want one (and regretted it later). This year, I just bought her one. She was very excited about it! 
Food was at the end, near the entrance. Since it was at a high school, food prices were VERY reasonable. I had brought some sandwiches, but the pizza and hot dogs sounded better. I got those two items, a fruit bowl, and a bottle of Coke for $8!! I don’t know that it would be that cheap at a store. Needless to say, I was very happy (and loved that there was fruit offered).
They also had pictures and videos for sale. At other competitions, I have seen pictures for $5 or more per photo. This one had them for $15 for all the pictures of an entire dance. I ordered 2, since we can’t take any photos of our own (and I am terrible at action shots even if I could). Unfortunately, my disc was blank when I got home. I emailed Dance Star Media, the company that was selling them, and they assured me they would send me another one. I am impatiently waiting!
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by this venue. I liked it.
The Energy
One thing I have to say about Masquerade, is that it is a high energy event. Besides the Spirit Award that goes to one studio (and makes everyone scream like crazy), there are fun breaks in the day. During some of the breaks in the dancing, people come out and throw out beads out at the audience. It’s worse than caffeine when it comes to energizing the crowd! It does make for a lot of fun though.
The Schedule
I love, love, love that this competition keeps the dances in order. If there is a costume change needed, they just wait the extra couple minutes in between. They not only go in the order the dances are printed, but they kept pretty much on schedule too. This was MUCH appreciated, especially since awards were at 10 p.m.
The Competition
Because of the way this competition was split up, the intermediate and recreational level dancers were all at the same venue. Many of the studios there were ones I had never heard of, but there were some really good dances there! Dance Express and South Metro Dance Academy were two of the studios that had some of the higher scores. A friend of ours we haven’t seen in 7 years or so had a daughter who danced for South Metro. We didn’t get a chance for the girls to see each other, but we did get to see her mom. Most of the groups were at pretty comparable levels.
The Judging
Whew – the judging was tough at this competition! They were definitely stingy with their platinum awards. Platinum, High Gold, and Gold scores are based strictly on their points scored. The judges must have been really deducting for every little thing. Our girls scored high gold in all 3 dances. They did really well in all 3, but had some minor issues that cost them some points. Some of the things that happen on stage that cost points include dropping flowers, losing hats, etc. I have also seen hairpieces fly off in the middle of turns, falls on different “tricks”, etc. Regardless of the score, the other parents and I were happy with how they did. 
Encore
Here’s what Grace was hoping for – the Encore Award (aka “the big purple trophy”). All year, Grace and the rest of her class, was hoping they would win the big trophy. In order to do that, they would have to have one of their dances chosen to come back for an encore performance at the end of the night. This was going to be tough, considering the judges had 115 dances to chose 4-5 that they thought were the most entertaining. Out of the 4-5 dances asked to come back for an encore, one would be chosen to win the Encore Award.
We had a feeling they might be asked to perform an encore for their Hungry Like a Wolf dance. The judges were laughing the entire dance… They WERE in fact, asked to come back for an encore!!
During the rest of the awards, one of the other dances who did an encore, Speaking French from Dance Express, was raking in the hardware. They scored platinum, first, judges awards… it was also a very fun dance. When they were on stage, I could really picture them on the streets of Paris for the first time. I thought for sure they were going to take home the Encore Award too. That’s why I was so surprised when they said, “and the winner is…” and started playing Hungry Like a Wolf!!! I think I screamed as loud as the girls did! It was a VERY exciting moment for everyone! They had accomplished their goal – and they deserved it!
The Competition That Almost Wasn’t
11 May 2012 Leave a Comment
Last weekend, we went to our 3rd dance competition of the season . I was almost afraid that Grace wasn’t going to make it to this one!
She said she didn’t feel good Friday night, but I thought it was just her allergies kicking her butt, so I sent her to dance class. This is always a bad time of year for her allergies. When she woke up Saturday morning at 5:30 in the morning crying that she had a sore throat, I knew it wasn’t just her allergies. I sent a message to her dance instructor, who told me to take her in. I’m glad I did! She ended up having strep throat.
Positive strep test the day of competition – what to do? Grace didn’t want to let her team down. This was the competition she’d been waiting for! It was her favorite from last year, and she really wanted to win “that big purple trophy.” I sent a text message to Miss Maria, saying that she did, indeed, have strep. We all agreed (me, Maria, and Grace) that “the show must go on.” While she certainly didn’t want to get anyone sick, she’d already exposed everyone in her class the night before at ballet. Ugh – it was a tough call to make.
Grace took her first dose of medicine right away, took a bath when we got home, and laid low until it was time to get ready to go. She took some Tylenol, and then, an hour before her first dance, she took ibuprofin. Every two hours, she alternated between the two; you’d have never known she was sick. I tried to keep her away from everyone except when she was dancing, but when you get a bunch of girls together, there’s no keeping them apart. I just made sure the parents and girls knew she had strep. The girls were saying things like “Who cares if she has strep” and “my best friend’s brother has strep all the time – no big deal.” It’s nice to see them really bonding more and more with each competition!
I made sure Grace ate just enough food to keep her energy up, without upsetting her stomach (which always gets sensitive with antibiotics). I also made sure she drank lots of water, and a Vitamin Water with electrolytes. I knew the hydration was going to be the key to keeping her feeling ok.
She danced like a star – big smiles, lots of energy. She slipped once, and looked a bit shaky on another dance, but overall, I couldn’t have been more proud of her. She really pulled herself together when it counted, and not just for selfish reasons, but she really didn’t want to let everyone else down.
All results aside, it was a very successful day for Grace and her group!
To find out what the results were, you will have to read my next post where I also review the competition as a whole.
Hall of Fame Dance Competition 2012
24 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
This past weekend, the Lake Area dancers attended their 2nd dance competition of the season. This time, we attended the Hall of Fame Dance Championship in St. Paul, MN. Last year, Grace and I attended Hall of Fame with Eau Claire School of Dance; you can read my last year’s post about it here.
This year’s competition started on Wednesday, and ran all the way until late Sunday. It was HUGE! Thursday evening, I decided I was going to watch some of the large group dances online. I LOVED that they were live-streaming both stages! I planned on watching the few dances from Lake Area Dance, Eau Claire School of Dance, and Woodbury Dance Center (one of the girls in Grace’s class has a big sister that dances there). All the high school dancers were awesome!! I ended up getting sucked in, and watched almost the whole night! There was a group I had never heard of; Northern Force Dance Company – their dances were nothing short of amazing. It was fun watching, tweeting about, and talking about on facebook, all the dances! I got to watch many of the dancers we know rock the stage from the comfort of home, without keeping my kids up. It was kind of the best of both worlds!
Friday night, the girls from Eau Claire that Grace danced with last year were competing. I picked her up from school a little bit early, and we headed to St. Paul to watch them. We got there in plenty of time to catch all 4 of their dances. Grace was a bit nervous to see them all, and was disappointed that they weren’t jumping out of their skin as soon as they saw her. I reminded her that they were just about to go on stage, and were probably nervous. Once they danced, they had time to say hello, and Grace spent most of the rest of the evening with them! It was almost as if it hadn’t been a whole year since she’d seen them! 
I spent most of the time sitting with, and talking to, many of the Eau Claire parents. It was great catching up.
Like last year, the schedule bounced all over the place. Some dances were an hour ahead, some were dancing WAY late. This was frustrating, since we were trying to watch specific dances on two different stages. Grace REALLY wanted to watch her “big sister”, Madelyn, do her solo. Since she was scheduled to dance at a decent time, and we could sleep in the next day, I agreed. After watching some of Grace’s teammates do their solos on Stage 2, we went to stage 1 to watch some of the groups. I was checking the other stage on occasion, and decided we would have plenty of time to watch two Eau Claire duets on stage 1, and then head to stage 2 to watch Madelyn’s solo. We ran over to stage 2, only to find out that Madelyn had JUST gotten off the stage. I was so disappointed! It was still over an hour before her “scheduled time.” I had been looking forward to seeing her dance as much as Grace was. Several dances that were supposed to be before her ended up dancing after her. To make up for missing watching the dance, Grace asked if we could stick around for awards. I was so glad we did. Besides watching some great solos, Grace got to hang out with one of her teammates for the rest of the evening, while I sat with Miss Maria, owner/instructor at Lake Area Dance. I had a lot of fun hangin’ with Maria, and enjoyed getting to know her a bit better. We had lots of laughs!
Saturday, we slept in, watched a few of the dances from both of our dance families online, and relaxed.
Grace danced on Sunday morning. We didn’t have to be there quite as early as last year, but we did have to be there before 7. Living only a half hour away was so nice! We got up, started doing hair and makeup at about 5:30 a.m., ate a little breakfast, and headed out.
Grace’s first dance was her lyrical. The girls looked beautiful! They really rocked their jazz dance, which was second! They ended up with a Judges’ Choice award for Precision. Finally, they danced their tap dance. I sat up in the balcony of the River Center, and was able to see parts of the dance I hadn’t even noticed before. It really is quite funny!
The Awards Ceremony
They called some dads on stage for a Dad’s Dance Off. It was pretty funny! The unfortunate thing with the awards ceremonies I have been to this year, is that the background music tends to be so loud, it over-powers the emcee. Once the person with the microphone starts talking, the music should be turned WAY down, or off. The award ceremonies were very fast compared to Legacy. I appreciated this, even though it would have been nice to hear from the judges a little bit (or at least have them introduced).
The Angels ended up with a High Gold for lyrical, and Platinum for both their tap and jazz dances. They tied for 7th overall for their jazz dance, and ranked 6th overall for tap.
We left after the awards ceremony. We intended on catching some more of our friends’ dances online after we got home, but we didn’t end up doing so.
Other Notes:
Some things I saw at this competition that I thought were unique: a dance with taps on slippers, dances with costume and shoe changes in the middle of them, a dance with one pointe shoe and one barefoot, a step team – complete with a drum line to back them up. The step team was VERY COOL!!
Grace’s old dance teacher, Miki, from Eau Claire, was backstage before she went on stage for her first dance to wish her luck. When she got off the stage after her last dance, Miki was backstage to give her a hug, and tell her what a good job she did. That meant a lot to Grace! I was very impressed too, though it also confirmed everything I know about Miki.
While the dance world IS competitive, I am seeing more and more positive sportsmanship at each competition. I have seen many people cheering on multiple studios. A dancer from another studio even filled in at the last minute when one of our high school girls was sick. The dancers and parents have been setting some great examples over the past several weekends. Way to go, everyone!
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Legacy Dance Championships 2012
05 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Dance Competition Reviews, Life as a Dancem0m
The Legacy Dance Championship was our first competition of the year. This is our first year with Grace dancing competition with Lake Area Dance Center (LADC). Being that she is one of the younger dancers in her class, this means she also moved up to the Juniors division.
Grace didn’t dance until Sunday. We went on Saturday to cheer on the dance studio. We watched the Sugarplums (5-6 year olds) and Sparkles (7-8 year olds). We watched large groups, solos, trios and duets. We watched the awards ceremonies where several Lake Area dancers placed in the top 3 positions in their solos and trios. The Sparkles swept their division with a first in tap, 2nd in jazz, and 3rd in ballet. The Sugarplums also placed in the top 7. It was fun just being in the audience, enjoying the dancing, without the pressure of getting a dancer ready, running back and forth, etc.
The Venue
Legacy was held at the Burnsville Performing Arts Center. We were there last year for Masquerade. We love this site! Grace was excited they were back in the amazing dressing rooms behind the stage again. She loves the mirrors with lights all around them.
The auditorium is huge, which makes it a great place to be a spectator. This year, I took an opportunity to check out the upper balcony. I couldn’t believe how packed it was – even up there! The inside and outside of this location was beautiful with plenty of space for people to hang out, groups to practice their dances, etc. It was also close to many hotels, food, etc. There was a parking ramp, but parking was free. Overall, we love this venue, and look forward to coming back next month!
The one downside to this venue? The food was quite expensive! I thought $3 per bottle of pop was an over-the top price. For lunch, they had Subway bag lunches you could purchase for $6.50. Not too bad a price for a 6″ sub, chips, and cookie. The subs were pretty soggy though due to a tomato and lettuce already on the sandwiches. Due to the pre-assembly of the sandwiches, Grace would not eat hers, and sat whining about how hungry she was. Ugh! Maybe next time, they can bag the lettuce and tomato separately? On a side note, Grace is also allergic to tomatoes, so I didn’t make her eat the sandwich.
The event
This event was great! The dancers danced pretty close to the times they were scheduled to dance. While they got ahead of schedule on occasion, they also got back on track pretty quickly. The judges and Emcee were awesome! They had good energy, and fun “judges awards.” We had a lot of fun both days we were there!
The Competition
Once again, this year, there was some GREAT competition!! Some of the other studios we saw with placement awards included, Dancin’ on Broadway, 4th Street Dance Centre, Jam Hops, Jan’s School of Dance, Metro Dance Center, and Arabesque School of Dance to name a few. The main categories were “Novice”, “Intermediate”, and “Advance”. There was also a “Competitive” level, but I’m not sure what the difference was between that, and “Advanced”.
The Judging
The judges seemed to be fair, though I didn’t agree with all of the scoring. There were a few dances that scored Elite Gold that I thought should have been Platinum, and vice versa. Some of the rankings were not quite how I thought they should be; then again, I am not a professional, and there were likely things I didn’t see that they did. I also think there were maybe a few dances that were not in the best category for their dance – I wonder if that may have affected scores some too.
Grace’s face when she heard they got a “Platinum” score was priceless!
I thought all of our dancers did a great job! It was the best I had seen them dance all 3 dances so far. I’m really looking forward to them getting another performance under their belts, as I’m sure they will just keep getting better each time.
We are finally getting used to how the scoring and awards at competition goes: every class was given a ranking based on their total score. The rankings were: Silver, High Silver, Gold, Elite Gold, or Platinum. Each of the girls was given a ribbon with their ranking, and a trophy was given to the group. I think Grace was bummed that this competition didn’t give out pins, like the ones from last year did. The LADC Angels scored Elite Gold for their “God Bless America” lyrical dance, Platinum for their “Body Language” jazz dance, and Platinum for their “Hungry Like a Wolf” tap dance.
The judges each gave out 3 of their own “special awards”. The Angels didn’t win any of those, but several other LADC groups did.
There were also placement awards (of course). Plaques were given to each group dependent on their placement. Grace’s group took 7th place overall for lyrical, 5th overall for jazz, and 3rd overall for tap. Maria, their instructor, and owner of LADC was given the “Best Choreography Award for Ages 12 and Under” for her choreography on “Hungry Like a Wolf.” That’s #1 out of 299 dances! Pretty awesome! 
Other Notes
During the Awards Ceremony, the Emcee accidentally skipped 5th place. The girls knew they had gotten a higher score on their jazz dance than they did with their lyrical, which had already placed. As they got to number one, several of the girls thought it was going to them. When they called a different group, the girls were confused. They finished out the section, and went on to the next. Even when Maria went down to the judges’ table to get it figured out that it was our girls who got the 5th place that had been skipped, they didn’t publicly correct the mistake. I understand that’s what it was – an honest mistake. As hard as the girls, and Miss Maria worked to earn that, they should have been publicly recognized. It was a bit frustrating.
The only other thing I didn’t love, was that each of the studios was represented in the programs by a code number. Nowhere in the book, did it tell us which studios were what code. We had to try to figure it out during the awards ceremony. It would have been nice for them to name all the studios being represented.
While the girls had some really quick costume changes to contend with, they handled the stress pretty well. They all danced great. We had a lot of fun at this competition!
Packing for Dance Competitions
29 Mar 2012 1 Comment
This weekend is dance competition #1 for the season. The dancers and choreographers at Lake Area Dance Center have been working hard in preparation for this weekend. Packing for a dance competition is a little like packing for vacation. There are many things you need to bring, and you need to be prepared for anything.
I recently asked my friends on facebook and twitter what the top 3 things they can’t go to a dance competition or recital without (besides the obvious of costumes, makeup, shoes, etc). Some of the answers I got were:
* “Water, safety pins, glue” (from a Dance Mom)
* “Camera, safety pins, bobbi pins” (from a Dance Mom)
* “Cheerios, bobby pins, and a giant water bottle! 
” (from a Dancer)
* “Extra tights, headphones, and hairspray” (from a Dancer)
* “My DeWalt drill, Mountain Dew, and sunglasses” (from an Instructor)
* “Underwear (to change into clothes), string cheese, security blanket from birth” (from a Dance Mom)
* “Snacks, mirror, and a dark sense of humor” (from a Dancer and Assistant Instructor)
My twitter responses seem to have disappeared, but I know there were a couple of Dance Dads that had responses in the line of: “Advil, a flask, and Mountain Dew.”
I’m getting everything I can think of that we might need in Grace’s Dream Duffel. Here are some of the must-haves I have come up with:
* A blanket to sit on or hold up while she changes into her next costume
* Flip flops they made at their dance sleep over (for wearing between dances, and after she’s done dancing)
* Makeup in case she needs a touch up before going back on-stage (including extra eyelash glue and an extra set of lashes)
* Hair spray, bobby pins, brush (in case of a hair emergency. We’re lucky, no hair changes)
* Clear beverages
* Snacks – looks like string cheese is a winner, though, we will likely have other non-messy/staining snacks as well.
* All accessories (shoes, hat, hair pins, earrings, tights – with an extra pair of each, undergarments, body tape, safety pins)
* E-6000 and extra rhinestones
* Dance jacket and change of clothes for after she’s done dancing
* Kindle/ MP3 player, i-pod touch, coloring books, etc. to occupy kids during long waiting periods
* Costumes
* Camera with a charged spare battery
I’d love to hear of other things you may think of that are not on any of the above lists. Please feel free to comment!
Additions made 4/6/12:
After our first competition, there were a few things we didn’t have, that we wished we had:
* Qtips (for make-up and lipstick mishaps)
* Kleenex
* Travel Toothbrush (lipstick on the teeth, or rushed mornings where that step was missed make this a must)
* Make-up remover wipes (we always had them last year, but ran out. I guess I forgot to replenish our stock)
* Baby wipes for after lunch and/or snack clean up.
* Hair glue (Grace has fine hair, and gets those little wisps after not much time – no matter how much hairspray we use)
I will continue to update this list as I come up with other ideas. I’d still love to hear yours. Feel free to post a comment!
What to Expect at Dance Competitions
27 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
It is less than one week away from the first dance competition of the season. All the dancers are working hard to perfect every step of their dances in hopes of achieving a Platinum ranking. They are working on their “dance faces”, keeping their arms straight, and making sure their feet make all the sounds they are supposed to. For some, this will be the first competition they have ever danced in, others have been dancing in competitions as long as they have been in school.
Thinking back to last year, I remember going in to competition season a bit clueless. After the season was over, I wrote a post about some of the things I learned. Here are a few things to keep in mind as competition season is underway:
*DO NOT take pictures while your dancers are dancing on stage. I can’t stress this enough! Most of the competitions have photographers taking action pictures. You can order these later. Having your own pictures on your own camera is not worth having your dancer disqualified! You can take pictures back stage, and during the awards ceremony, but NOT while they are dancing.
*Make sure you have plenty of rest time built into competition weekends (easier said than done, I know). Sometimes, competitions may run ahead of, or behind schedule. Make sure your dancer is there and ready at the time the studio recommends. Often, this will be 1 1/2-2 hours earlier than their scheduled dance time. This may mean very early mornings. Do not plan late nights at hotels – last year, we experienced more than one meltdown due to the extremely early mornings (and not just from my dancer).
*Make sure your dancer has enough to eat and drink. Breakfast is important. Your child will need the energy to dance, smile, and thoroughly enjoy the day. You will also want to have snacks and water available. A hungry or thirsty dancer will not be at his/her best.
*Though this may seem obvious – make sure your child uses the rest room before going on stage. When someone REALLY has to go to the bathroom, it is hard to concentrate on dancing their best.
*Be prepared for long days, long waiting times, and sometimes, hurried schedules. Our girls are scheduled to dance three times in less than an hour. If you consider the waiting back stage, dancing, getting back and forth to/from the dressing area, and costume changes, this makes for a rushed and stressful schedule. Try to keep calm, and just be helpful. Have a plan for those waiting times. Are you going to leave to grab a bite to eat before coming back for awards, are you going to stay and watch other dancers?
*Try not to push your dancer too hard. You want the dancers to have fun and to do their best. You don’t want them to be so stressed out that it isn’t fun any more. We all want to see our dancers get high scores, we want to see them earn pins, plaques, and trophies. We want them to best represent their studios. Most of all, we want our dancers to have fun! If they aren’t enjoying themselves, then what’s the point of having them there?
*Be prepared to hear Justin Bieber (or other “bubble gum pop” music) during awards ceremonies. During the competitions, you will hear all sorts of music you love, and music you hate. Embrace it. Enjoy the dances, and the artistry it takes to both perform and choreograph them.
*When my husband came to his first competition last year, he was overwhelmed by the amount of sparkles, glitter, and rhinestones. He was also surprised by the amounts of makeup, and fake eyelashes that even the youngest girls had on. This is just part of the competition world. The dancers want to wow the judges. Stage lighting is less than flattering for most skin tones, makeup helps their smiles really beam; sparkles help the costumes pop!
*Even at the largest venue, space feels limited. You are sure to find groups practicing their dances in any open space they can find. Be patient and understanding, they just want to make sure they are 110% ready!
*Have fun. Your dancer will feel all sorts of emotions: scared, excited, happy, sad, silly… enjoy the day; ignore the mood swings! Your sanity will thank you! Competitions are to be enjoyed. SMILE, and your dancers will smile too!
Meme 15 – Balancing facebook Friends
15 Mar 2012 3 Comments
Once again, my husband, Jason Strate (@StrateSQL), is heading up a new Meme 15. This time, the topic is facebook. How do we balance it with all the possible people we could be friends with on there?
I have a lot of past high school classmates, friends, family, and co-workers (mostly past ones). My rule was always, “If I don’t know them in real life, I’m not going to be friends with them on facebook.” I have pictures of my kids, and details of my life that I don’t think the general public needs to see.
My struggle has been in answering the question, “What about the SQL Community?” They are an awesomely fun group of people I get to see a couple of times a year. Most people in that community seem to use twitter the most (and/or have their twitter feeds pushed to facebook). I have been told by people that I “should” be friends with some of the key people in the SQL Community on facebook. At the same time, I feel like not everyone really needs to see my whole life (especially if I barely know them). There are plenty of people I am friends with in real life, or talk to often enough on twitter, that it feels like I know them. Some of them I feel know me well enough that I don’t care if they see my facebook.
The problem is that I have gotten friend requests from people who I have had minimal twitter interaction with, and don’t really know. That’s where I struggle. I don’t want to be rude, so I go ahead and accept the friend requests. I go back and forth on whether or not to go back and “de-friend” some people that I barely know or talk to. That feels even more rude than had I just ignored their request in the first place.
What I do like about having so many SQL people on my list of fb friends is that I can tag them in photos from PASS events, and they can tag me. It also seems to help build relationships with people that I only see a few times a year. I enjoy that benefit. That also holds true for some of my husband’s co-workers that I am facebook friends with.
I am very interested to see what other people have to say on the topic. I may be changing the way I use facebook some after reading the roundup (or not, we’ll see)…
Sleepover Fun?
13 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
in Children (teaching or parenting), Love and Life
My daughter is turning 11 years old. She wanted to have a sleepover birthday party. Her original list included 5 girls. I said OK. Then, she suddenly had 6 on her list. By the time she made out her invitations, the list had grown to 8. One girl couldn’t sleep over, so she asked if she could invite someone else instead. I said no, 7 girls was enough (besides, the other girl was still coming and wasn’t leaving until 10).
Why I didn’t consult with my mom before the craziness of this event, I don’t know. Not two hours in to the party, one girl was crying, because after trying to take charge for a couple hours, another girl told her off. After that, they all gathered around the crying girl, said sorry, and carried on. Things were fine after that. They did makeovers, put on fake nails, somehow roped me into painted said nails… 
My 6 year old couldn’t leave the girls alone. One of them kept yelling at him to leave them alone, while 2 of the girls thought he was cute (in that little kid sort of way), and kept wanting him to play with them. A couple of the girls played in a different room, while most of the girls were wrapped up in their nails. There were 3 obvious different groups here, and it was interesting how different they all were.
The volume 8 girls can create rivaled that of a football stadium. They were giggling, squealing, shrieking, and occasionally, all out screaming. There were spats (especially between 2 of the girls). There were tears. Mostly, there was lots of laughing, singing, and trying to talk over each other. I have no idea how my husband survived! I know my ears were ringing, and my patience for the drama ran thin by the end of the night.
As it approached 10:00, I had them start a movie in attempts to wind down. They had wanted to watch the Big Time Rush movie which I had DVR’d for them. This only seemed to rev them up more. At some point, they started calming down. Probably around 10:30, when we made the two teenage boys (who sleep downstairs where all the girls were) go to bed. At 11:30, I went down to check on them, they were pretty calm. I reminded them that they should start trying to fall asleep. I went down again at 12, 2 girls were up, a couple were right on the edge of sleep and awake, but I figured they’d be out in no time. At 12:30, I went to check on them, 3 girls were up and chatting. One of them was my daughter – the one who barely made it for New Year’s Eve. By 1:00, I had to get a little more stern. I told them to finish up their episode of Dance Moms, and turn off the TV. I needed to get some sleep too. By this time 4 girls were awake. They were, apparently, trying to keep each other all up. At 1:30, I gave up and went to bed.
The next day, there were 7 tired and mildly crabby girls up by 8:00 a.m. (that WAS taking into account the spring ahead time change). I felt half-dead. All the coffee I drank didn’t even kind of help. As soon as the last girl left, I went straight down for a nap. Shortly after, so did my 2 kids. Grace woke up from her nap still crabby, but dance class helped that some. Yep, I’m a mean mom, I made her go to dance after a sleep over.
When we talked about it later, Grace said to me, “Mom, I don’t think I’ll ever have that many girls over for a sleep over again!” Even she was overwhelmed by the noise and the drama between 2 of the girls. She had a lot of fun, but it was a bit much for her. I’m glad she learned her lesson. In case I ever think I will let her have a large sleep over again, point me back to this post.
Dream Duffel – Raising the Bar on Customer Service
12 Mar 2012 1 Comment
Great customer service is hard to come by these days. When it happens, it’s worth letting everyone know about!
Last year, I saw many parents wheeling a Dream Duffel at dance competitions. I thought they looked really useful, but didn’t get one.
This year, Grace has 3 costume changes, accessories, etc. She is also dancing in 4 competitions, 2 recitals, and hopefully, Nationals in the summer. I decided the Dream Duffel would be the most useful thing to get to haul it all around. I had heard that January was “the” time to order one, as they usually went on sale then. The bummer thing, is that the website was all out of them every time I checked. Last week, I called to see if by any chance, I could order one over the phone. The woman told me I couldn’t order one if they were out of stock online. She did tell me that they were going to be putting a limited number on the website for order on Monday at 9:00 a.m. I put it on the calendar to go online and attempt an order then.
As soon as my kids left for the bus today, I went to the Dream Duffel website again. This time, there were medium Dream Duffels available, but none in the kit with accessories. Because I have had such a hard time getting one, I went ahead and paid the extra $10 to order the duffel and accessories separately. My Mom asked me to order Grace the personalized patch with her name on it, so I put that on too. I chose to pick it up myself (since they are located less than an hour away). It also saved $25 in shipping to do it that way.
A couple hours later, I called the company to see when I could pick up my order. The woman on the phone told me the times I could pick it up. I told her I had ordered a personalized patch, and asked how long it usually takes for those to be done. She said tomorrow or Wednesday, it should be ready. I asked if I could call tomorrow to see if it’s ready. I told her Grace’s birthday was tomorrow, so it would be awesome if it was ready then. She told me she would make sure it was. Then she said, “In fact, I will make sure it’s done today if you’d like to come today. I’ll go back there and make sure he does it in the next 10 minutes.” I thanked her and hung up. WOW!!
Talk about some great customer service! First, she told me when I could order them, then she helped make sure I could get it on time for my daughter’s birthday tomorrow! I’m quite impressed!
Another example of great customer service I heard about in regards to the Dream Duffel, came from another dance mom/instructor at our studio. The clothes rack on her duffel broke, she called for a replacement, and it arrived the next day! These guys are amazing!
FYI – the woman who told me when the limited supply would be available also told me that beginning at the end of March, preorders would be available. At this point in time, they are only able to take orders for items in stock. At the end of the month, this will change. If you haven’t got a Dream Duffel yet, and want to order one, check their site at the end of the month (or call and ask when you might be able to order one). You may not have it on time for your first competition, but from what I hear, the wait is worth it!
Rhinestone Stars – A Step by Step Process.
10 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
When I first saw that we had to make stars out of rhinestones for my daughter’s lyrical costume, I was intimidated. I can often visualize things really well, but the execution of creating things like that never usually turns out very well. Luckily, the dance studio gave us everything we needed to successfully recreate the stars from the sample.
Before I even began the project at hand, I took pictures of the sample at the studio. I took a front view, and a back view. Unfortunately, the back view didn’t clearly show me that the star needed to be on the shoulder, rather than in the middle. Luckily, I happened to be talking to some of the other moms who were rhinestoning the same costume up at the studio, who pointed out the correct placement of the star. Good thing I hadn’t done Grace’s yet!
First step to this project, was to gather all my materials. I also washed the table I was going to be working on. The dance studio gave us a printed pattern, which I taped on the table. I then taped a piece of wax paper over it, and a piece of blue tulle over that. Then, I was ready to begin.
Step 2: Outline the first star with E-6000, and fill it in. Next, start applying rhinestones all over star shape. Being a First-born aka perfectionist of sorts, meant I spent a bit of time and effort making sure all the rhinestones were touching, and created a star shape as best as I could. This task made a bit of a mess, but the end result was worth it.
Step 3: After realizing how fast the glue dried (I had to reapply glue by the time I got to the end of the large star), I realized I should only put the glue on one point at a time, then fill in the middle. I used this technique on the second star, only to realize the middle was a pain to do with all the points done first. By the third star, I had a system down of starting with one point, then doing the middle, then doing each of the other points around it. This made the last 3 go much faster.
Step 4: Once all the stars were done, I had to peel them off the wax paper (a brilliant idea they had here), and flip the piece of tulle with the stars on it upside down.
Step 5: After letting it dry overnight, it was time to cut the tulle down around the stars, and affix them to her costume. She had to be wearing the costume while I glued the stars on, so that the material would be properly stretched. If we didn’t do it this way, when she put it on, it could have pulled the stars apart, or ripped the dress. Grace was very excited to wear her beautiful lyrical costume. She was not so excited once I started gluing the stars on, at how cold it felt through the fabric! I was glad I had taken the picture of the sample on my phone, so I could zoom in and out to figure out exactly where to place which stars. Once all the stars were in place, Grace had to keep it on for a half an hour to let them dry. I think an hour would have been better, as the star on the back kept wanting to pop off. I just kept holding it on (pushing a bit) after she took it off. No re-gluing required!
God Bless America
I think it has all rubbed off now that it’s completely dry.
The costume was complete, and ready on time for pictures the following weekend!
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