Tessa's 13th Dance Recital

I was going to use this post to talk about all the events of this weekend, but I have so much to say about both events that it would just be better to separate them.
Friday and Saturday were long, exhausting, but exciting days. Friday was dance rehearsal, which always goes on forever, and Saturday was the recital. I didn't HAVE to go to the rehearsal, but I always go to help with the costumes and pictures and reminding Mom when Tessa's dance is up next so she can get the camcorder out. Also I like being able to see the dances twice. We didn't get home from rehearsal until 1:00 in the morning and our dancer had to be at the VBC at 9:00!
Despite the lack of sleep and such, Tessa did a wonderful job all day. She was in the opening number for the first time!

I don't have pictures from all of her dances because I just stole these from some other dance moms on facebook. Pictures never turn out well for us so we just left the camera at home this year and relied on other people. Tessa danced a total of 12 times on Saturday, 3 of which were opening number and 2 were her competition dance. She had 3 dances in the Matinee, and the one that wasn't a repeated dance was "World War Z." 

Yep, zombie Tessa. If you haven't heard the title before, the dance was based off of the zombie movie "World War Z" and used the theme music. This was her lyrical dance.

The other 6 dances were in the Evening show. I believe the only dances I couldn't find pictures of were her Ballet, Jazz, and her Tap dances (which is really disappointing because the Tap dance was excellent).

I loved her hip hop dance. I only found one picture from it:

She had two contemporary dances. The pictures from "Homeward Bound" aren't centered on her because the mom was focusing on her daughter and Tessa just happened to be behind her most of the time. But it's something! 

That dance was really super pretty. I found a LOT of pictures from her other contemporary dance. I was so excited for this one because it's to "Run To You" by Pentatonix which is such a beautiful song. Tessa kept a special part of this dance a secret from us.

She did solo turns!!!! Quite a few people in the house cheered for her (especially me). When mom and I saw it at rehearsal we were so surprised and excited. 

I just think this one is gorgeous. I don't know if this was post-solo turn or just another part of the dance but I love how graceful she looks.

This was her ending pose. So pretty. I'm really glad these dance moms got such great pictures of her, especially that one of her mid-spin. 

Like I said, I don't have any pictures of her tap dance, but it deserves a spot in this post.

When I danced, I was the tapper. I didn't enjoy anything but tap. I tested out ballet and jazz a couple times but they were too slow and quiet for me. Last year Tessa's tap dance was super cute, and this year it was absolutely fantastic. At rehearsal, I watched the whole thing with my hands covering my mouth which was wide open in amazement. It was so fast and upbeat and Tessa kept up with the speed with no problem. When the dance was over, I looked over at Mom and just as she shut off the camcorder she started crying. We were so so so impressed and blown away by Tessa's tap dancing. It didn't even occur to me until Mom mentioned that she was with "The Best," meaning the dance class was composed of a group of some of the company's best dancers. I had never even moved my eyes from Tessa. I'm so excited that she's decided to specialize in tap. Us tall people have difficulties getting up off the floor quickly, and I've never seen a tap dance that involves rolling around on the floor. Plus, you know, she's freaking awesome at tap. 

Between the Matinee and Evening show on recital day, we went outside and took some nice family pictures:

And some exhausted family pictures:

I got to see Claire dance too! My lil sister from another mister:

She did a fabulous job as well!

I managed to convince James to make an appearance at the Evening show. I think he liked it. He said he'd come back for the next one so that's a good sign!

Pardon my goofy face. I thought he was making a goofy face too but he tricked me and decided to be cute instead. 

So there you go! 13 recitals down, 1 more to go. Okay, I shouldn't have said that, now I'm trying not to cry. I'm so proud of Tessa and it makes me happy that she's so dedicated to dance. Every year she gets even better and even though I don't get to see her very often because of dance classes, seeing how much her hard work is paying off at recital makes that okay. It's not like I never see her, she did teach me how to ride a bike in April, but sometimes I see her so little that it feels like she's the one off at college! Anyway, the dance recital was wonderful and I can't wait to watch the DVD and watch some of the dances over and over again. 

Atlanta Adventures

Taken as we arrived in Atlanta, GA

Last night my family and I got back from the Hollywood Vibe dance convention in Atlanta. Tessa did an absolutely fabulous job in her competition dance and I can't wait to be able to share the incredible photo that was taken of her. Sadly, I have to wait until after their last competition to post it anywhere, but definitely watch out for that, because it is a truly amazing picture.

Pre-awards glow stick party. 

I watched a lot of dances on Saturday evening and the scholarship auditions on Sunday afternoon. I was really happy with the kinds of dances that were brought to this competition, because the dances I saw at a different competition last year had a tendency to be pretty inappropriate. The dances here were clean and age-appropriate. My mom and I had a couple of favorites from studios other than our own, especially a duet to a song called "Sisters." We were excited to find out that the dancers are actually sisters.
When I wasn't watching dances or the awards, I was mostly crocheting. I actually started my Hufflepuff house scarf! I've been taking some pictures of my progress and I'm really excited about it. The last time I tried to crochet, the edges were uneven and I kept messing up the number of stitches. Somehow this scarf is going really well for me! I've had the right number of stitches the whole time (I count them almost every row...) and the edges are straight! I have no clue how it's going so much better this time, but I'm very happy that it is. I'm having so much fun with it that I might even make more for other Harry Potter enthusiasts I know.

"This is the most fun I've had all weekend!"
Mom put her feet in the hot tub on Sunday while Tessa was in classes.

Returning to my recap of Atlanta. After we got to the hotel on Friday, my mom and sister went to the Hard Rock Cafe that was a short walk from where we were staying with Tessa's friend and her mom. The last and only time I had been to a Hard Rock Cafe was in 7th grade in Washington, D.C. on a school trip. I absolutely hated it. I've had such a negative point of view on Hard Rock Cafes ever since then. Honestly, I think the only reason I didn't like it was because I was probably very stressed out and frustrated from being around so many people for so long.
This weekend I decided I would try it again, and I'm very glad that I did. My dad and I went for lunch on Saturday. Before we went I wondered what bands I would recognize other than The Beatles. My first thought was Imagine Dragons, but I tried to dismiss that because I realized they were probably too new to have any memorabilia in a Hard Rock Cafe. Although there weren't any guitars or jackets or autographs of theirs on the walls, I did find a T-Shirt in the gift shop...

It turns out that Imagine Dragons partnered up with Hard Rock Cafe and the Tyler Robinson Foundation to make this shirt and 15% of the sales go to TRF to help families "battle the unseen costs of childhood cancer." So obviously I had to get it. 

Other awesome things in Hard Rock:

Where they have live music.

Joe Perry's guitar used to record "Dude Looks Like a Lady." It also appears in the music video.

Steven Tyler's "Walk This Way" outfit. Not sure why I didn't realize there would be Aerosmith stuff there.

ADAM LEVINE'S GUITAR!! I gasped, took three pictures, and sent them to Katie. Used to play "She Will Be Loved."

Lynyrd Skynyrd's guitar.

"Fly on proud bird, you're free at last." Johnny Van Zandt's shirt which was worn during performances of "Freebird" in honor of his brother Ronnie.

Elvis Freaking Presley's motorcycle and jacket. This was super awesome.

I am glad to say that I no longer have any dislike for Hard Rock Cafes. 

On Sunday during the scholarship awards, I got tired of standing so I went and sat with my dad in the hallway and waited for it to end. I sat up on a really big ledge and took this picture of the view from that window:

Buildings are just cool to me. So that was the last picture I took in Atlanta before we got on the road to go back home. The ride home was pretty stressful, but we got home safe which is all that matters. Belle was VERY happy to see us. You know that sound dogs make if you step on their foot? That's basically the sound she was making for 10 minutes after we arrived. She was screaming at us and we were only gone for 3 days! 

I don't know all of the awards that our dance studio got, but here are the scores that I remember (not including solos):

3 dances won Platinum.

6 dances won High Gold.

1 dance won Gold.

Tessa's group won a High Gold and 1st place overall teen open production! I also remember that one of our dances won a "Best Concept" award. They all did a wonderful job. 

Their next competition is in South Carolina, but I won't be going to that one because I'm going to see my favorite comedian with Katie! I'm sure they'll do fabulously as usual and hopefully Tessa's group will get their Platinum!! 

Side note: I was going to write a blog post about the photoshoot with Kaylie for Lost Cause Revival, but she made one before I could so here's the link to her blog post!