Staley just finished up her first season as a member of the EMS Dance Team. It was a LONG season with lots of opportunities to learn how things work in the world of competitive dance, but Staley really enjoyed it. I was unsure of how it would work in relation to all her other activities, but thankfully her dance coach was very flexible and somehow Staley made it all work.
The team consisted of 9 girls, with 4 8th graders and 5 7th graders. They tried out in March of last year, practiced all summer long, danced for all the home middle school boy's basketball games, and competed in 3 competitions that culminated in their advancement and competition in the IDTA state competition.
They had 6 different basketball dance routines that they had learned (mostly over the summer) and performed during the basketball games. Most of them could be performed with 2 different songs so they had a different routine or song for every game throughout the season.
They also had both a jazz competition routine and a lyrical competition routine. Throughout their competition season, they qualified both routines for state as well as placed 2nd for their jazz routine at 2 competitions and 1st for the lyrical routine at 1 competition.
Staley liked her coaches. Although none of her closest friends were on the dance team, Staley enjoyed the girls on the team, especially Elsie, Delilah, and Emily.
Without having a dance background other than theater, Staley did very well throughout the season and improved with her dance technique. Her lyrical routine was her favorite of the season.
I learned a lot about being a dance mom throughout the season, including the fact that the state tournament starts at 7 in the morning and doesn't end until after 11 at night.
This was a picture of ALL the dancers at state on the floor waiting for awards to start...at 10:00 at night. Grammie and I had a lot of suggestions on how to make things go more quickly and run more efficiently. No one asked.
The girls ended up getting 5th place at state for their lyrical routine and 7th place for their jazz routine.
Staley really enjoyed dance. Although it was sometimes a lot and sometimes interfered with her other activities, she found a way to balance it all. She has already said that she wants to do it again next year. Until then, here's to another successful activity in Staley's never-ending calendar of things that keep her busy.
