Competition

This weekend coming up is competition pictures at my dance studio and it sends everyone in to a panic in preparation.

See this is where I am smart. I purposefully schedule these pictures in time for everyone to order their missing shoes, tights and leotards to arrive in time for competition, which is conveniently 25 days away. I already had one dancer scrambling home last night to order her acro shoes which should have been ordered ooooh 2 months ago. :)

I've spent the last 2 days and will spend the rest of the week covered in paint, rhinestones, glitter and hot glue strands. I've been piecing together hairpieces and fixing up costumes like my life depends on it. It's one of my favorite parts of my job. I love costuming. I can't sew very well, basic alterations are about where my talent maxes out, but I can rhinestone ANYTHING. haha Last night, I repaired a costume that was muuuuch too low cut for one of my dancers with some old tights, dental floss, a needle and some sequins. My dancers couldn't figure out what I was doing but they were impressed. It's kind of my super hero power. ;)

My competitive team this year has almost 30 dancers on it, which is a good number. Our biggest year was over 50 and last year was our smallest, only having 15. It varies each year with the economy, of course. Competitive dancing is expensive. There's extra costumes, makeup, supplies. There's entrance fees per dance per comp. There's travel expenses and eating out and hotel rooms and souveneirs and all the little things along the way. Luckily, my mom is head of fundraising at the studio and she is GREAT AT IT. We did enough fundraisers in the fall where ALL the dancers had their new warm ups paid for and most had enough left over to pay about 75% of their entrance fees. That's pretty great. It saved all the parents around 300-400 dollars.

I am so excited for competition this year. Last year was a tough year at competition for us. We usually go to the same competition in Niagara Falls each spring, but last year it was not enjoyable. My girls were scored fairly, I'm sure...hmmmm. Let's just say it left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. I am not one to get upset about scores, I understand that dance competitions are entirely subjective. It's not like basketball with baskets or soccer with goals, it's a rubric and subjective. But last year was just yucky.

This year will be better. I can feel it. I'll post pictures from Picture Day this weekend and you better believe the results will be posted here in a few weeks. :)