National Champions!

We just got back from National Finals, and let me just say...WOW!! We are the proud parents of a National Champion!! We have had quite a year with Company this year... I figure most of you haven't been to a competition before (my mom came to one, but other than that, I don't figure anyone else has...) so I'll try to explain how it all happens. Talk about HIGH energy! It is awesome. :) And this is so much bigger than a regular competition....

Our kids danced to Boogie Shoes on Thursday night--and did AWESOME. Then on Friday morning, they danced to Walk the Dinosaur. We stayed around a little bit to watch others, and to wait for the dance-off announcement.

Ok, if you guys are not familiar with dance competitions, a dance off is HUGE (actually, it is only done at national finals). The judges take the top 5 or 6 scoring out of all types of dances out of their age category. So, for ours it was ages 8 and under small groups (which is a little confusing because later I'll talk about 6 and under...). We did not expect our little ones to be called because you can only have one dance per studio in each dance off and our 7-8 hip hop rocks. Well, when it was time for the announcement, they actually called Boogie Shoes!! Our babies were IN! They were the only 5-6 aged dance in the dance off (so at that point, we KNEW that we had won the 5-6 category over all). Even Ms. Karen (their tap teacher) was shocked. She said that she knew that they had done a good job, but she didn't know it was THAT good. :)

Since the dance off was later that evening, we went to Branson Landing for lunch and shopping. We then went back to the condo to rest, and in a few hours started all over again with make up and curling her hair. We showed up in time to have them run the dance a few times. Ms. Karen kept telling them to 'do it big'. So my child keeps yelling "Whoo!" and "Go girls" all through the middle. I asked if it was ok that she did that and Karen just laughed saying, if it moves her...go for it!

The purpose of a dance-off is to determine the TOP winner of it all. We knew other dances in it were VERY good, and just were excited to have made it that far (other kids in our studio have never made a dance-off...and they have been doing this for years). Our kids did awesome in the dance off, but we knew that they really were not the top competitors.

Then after the dance-off, we had awards. First was the judges' awards. These are just cute, fun awards the judges make on things that strike them. For instance, Dinosaur got 'most adorable boys', and Boogie Shoes got 'best use of shoes on hands'... But still, we've never before gotten a judges award for BOTH of our dances. :) Then came the Category Cup awards. Boogie Shoes got top tapping OVER ALL the others!! Then they gave out adjudicated trophies (how each dance scored...not against each other, but against a rubric based on age). Boogie Shoes got an Elite Top First (the highest you can get), and Dinosaur got a Top First (basically, a second place). Then after those awards, they called out the TOP Ten by age divisions (TOP stands for Talent On Parade--the name of the competition). For the 6 and under age division, they started calling names...and again, we were fairly sure we had won this, but since it hadn't been announced, we didn't want to assume... So, when Dinosaur got SECOND, we knew we had it. Then, Boogie Shoes was called first and everyone went crazy. :) They got a trophy bigger than they are and $400! We still can't believe our kids placed first AND second out of the top 10!!!




Ms. Karen had told them if they won the money, she'd take them on a Chuck E Cheese party. So, I guess, we are going to Chuck E Cheese!!

We all had SO much fun this weekend... I can't believe how much team spirit I had. If any of our groups were performing, I wanted to be there. I can't wait till next year!!

And oh yeah, we get one week off until they start learning dances to try out for next year. One week! Next Monday night, we'll be at the studio for 2 hours a night... Not much of a break, huh? LOL!

Here I am with our champion...sporting my DanceMom shirt. Ignore the bags under my eyes...it was VERY late when we were finally done with awards. :)



And yes, Olivia is missing her FOURTH tooth. Most of our dancers had big holes in their mouths from missing teeth... Guess it is that time, huh?