LADM dance competition

The second dance competition of the season was LADM.  

 It's not our favorite and since half the studio got a stomach bug after being there, it is really last on our list.  Serafina got sick and passed it on to both me and Leo.  It was a rough week. 

Hollywood Connection Regionals 2024

The dance season kicked off this year with Hollywood Connection. We will be attending their nationals in San Diego this summer, but this weekend was the regional convention right here in Santa Clara.  Serafina performed three routines on Friday night: her senior large jazz, her senior small jazz and the Senior hip hop crew.  All the routines were fantastic to watch, but the large jazz placed third and the hip hop got first.  Exciting!  Here are a bunch of the dancers after awards on Friday night.  

Saturday morning we had to be up early for Serafina to attend convention classes and because the convention center is directly across the street from Levi's stadium where the 49ers were playing in a championship game, that meant she was stuck there all day.  Between taking Lyft and catching a ride with some friends attending the game, I was able to leave my car there but escape for a bit of normal life before returning for competition that night.  Next year, I'm booking a hotel room. Even though it's just 15 minutes away from our house. If the 49ers have a crap season, I'll cancel.  Otherwise, I'll save us both the misery of being trapped at the convention center. 

Despite taking classes all morning, supporting the junior team she's a T.A. for and being stuck at a convention center all day, Serafina still managed to be a good teammate all evening. Here she is helping apply some lashes, something she is very good at and I am not. 

She danced beautifully for the second night in a row and her senior contemporary routine won third and the large hip hop team won first. Here she is with Karin waiting for the awards to be announced. 

More happy dancers celebrating at the end of the awards.  

Sunday was the final day of classes.  I dropped her off and returned later in the afternoon for the closing show where they hand out scholarships and other awards.  Serafina has not yet be individually recognized at a dance convention.  It has been a hard pill to swallow since she is really a fantastic dancer and works so hard.  Going into this season, I was optimistic that she would finally get the kudos she deserves especially since she was added to a Masters class at the studio that works specifically on auditioning, which is how awards are granted.  But we were both very realistic about Hollywood Connection.  Not only was it the first convention of the season, this was her first year moving up a category for dancers 14 years old and up.  She would take classes with the oldest group and be up against them for any kind of award. And since she's just a little over 14, she would be one of the youngest in the room against literally hundreds of kids aged all the way up to 18.  I dragged Leo with me to the convention center so he could finish his homework, and then he sat with me as the award ceremony took place.  We were towards the back of the dark, crowded ballroom.  I warned him that Serafina probably wouldn't win because she's the youngest in her category and she might be grumpy because of it so be nice to her on the drive home.  Well imagine my utter and joyous surprise when they finally got around to announcing the Icon runners-up and I hear this...

Sure, terribly pronunciation, but it is still my Serafina being called on stage!  The other moms I was near congratulated me and said "this is a big one!".  I leapt up and got a picture of all the Icons and Icon runners up on stage.  

So what does this mean? Well, as a runner-up, she can compete to be an Icon at Nationals.  She'll participate in a special routine for all the Icon winners and she'll be allowed to compete a solo at Nationals.  A solo!!!  This is all her heart has desired for a long time.  Her studio only grants a dozen or so solos to dancers and a majority of them are for high school seniors. But this award means she'll get to have a solo this season.  

After the awards ceremony wrapped up, I rushed to the front to hug my girl and take the pictures I've been waiting to take for years. 

Kavni and Serafina

With Ananda 

Hugging Miss Tami, one of her teachers and who she is T.A.s for

With Linda 

Some of her besties.  

Hugging Miss Gabby

Serafina has asked Miss Gabby to choreograph her solo. She fully gets Serafina as a dancer and I can't wait to see what they create together. 

Bonus picture with her brother since he just happened to be there bored in the awards until it all turned so very exciting. 

Honestly, whatever happens the rest of this dance season, we will be riding high on this awesome win. I'm so proud of her, and I can't wait to see her go through the process of learning and performing the solo.  
 

Dancing with Karen Chuang

When we were at the Taylor Swift show, Serafina mentioned that one of the backup dancers, Karen Chuang, was also a dance teacher that she had taken class from during a convention.  This was a pretty cool fact.  Well, it got a whole lot cooler when her studio invited Karen to teach the weekly Master Class Serafina attends.  

Here's the contemporary dance combo they learned during class.  

 

Serafina's Birthday Weekend

It felt like Serafina spent almost her entire birthday weekend at the dance studio, but luckily, those are people she loves to be around.  There was a special hip hop choreographer visiting for the weekend to teach a Master Class Friday night, and then choreograph her Senior Hip Hop Crew routine and her large Hip Hop team routines Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  

Here's a post from the dance studio of all the kids with the choreographer.  

Saturday morning, her actual birthday, she had some time in the morning to have special birthday donuts and open a few gifts, including these cute pajama pants that look like Mousse. 

That night, after back-to-back choreography sessions, her friend Karin came out to dinner with us.  Here they are post-dance at the restaurant.  They were initially sitting on their own, but decided they could tolerate sitting with the rest of us instead. 

After dinner, we had Crumbl cookies because those are her favorite and they opened one closer to our house. 

After cookies, she opened a few more presents, including this Squishmallow from Leo.  The name was in inside joke and it cracked them both up immensely.  

Sunday? Yep, you guessed it. More dance. 

But Sunday night we got to celebrate with Nana.  I offered to make her a cake but she politely declined.  

On Monday, she had the day off from school because of Labor Day and finally the day off from dance.  She spent time with her sweet dance friends.  

 I think overall she had a pretty good birthday, but it definitely didn't feel as celebratory as we would have liked because of her dance commitments.  I told her we would make it up to her with a Sweet Sixteen party.  

Dance Recital 2023

Another recital in the books!  It was an exhausting, inspirational, fun time.  Each year, I get to know the kids and teachers more and more so the recital becomes more meaningful.  It's such a wonderful way to celebrate the end of the dance season, especially on a year when we aren't headed to the national competition just a few weeks later.  The recital was the actual finale to this dance season, complete with an emotional sendoff for this year's graduating seniors. 

Serafina performed all of her competition routines, with the ballroom routine performing in two shows. Because she was a teaching assistant this year for a pre-jazz class, she was also in the opening number.  Her large hip hop routine closed every show. It is one of the most high energy, fun routines and is delightful to watch. 

In addition to her competition routines, she performed with her four technique classes as well.  Here's a few shots from hip hop.  My phone acted up and I couldn't record it. 

Here's her technique class contemporary routine.  I took this video during dress rehearsal so there is a lot of talking in the background. 

Here's a video of the opening number featuring the teachers, TAs and seniors.  This is also from rehearsal so they are all in various costume pieces.  For the actual show, they looked more uniform with matching shirts and bottoms. 

I helped back stage for the two morning shows.  I got this cute picture in the wings before the girls went on for Show Jazz. 

Serafina's school friend Bella came to the first show.  It was really sweet of her to support Serafina. 

Tom, Leo and I got to watch the afternoon show on Saturday. 

Sunday morning I worked backstage again.  I got a few pictures of Serafina's ballet dance from the wings.  She wasn't that please with me about it. 

Her bestie Sunny, along with Sunny's aunt, and Serafina's former teacher Mrs. Ghelfi, came to watch with her daughter Sadie.  Sadie loved the recital and had lots of questions about it.  She had her mom sign her up for a class as soon as they got home.  

They hung out with us during the break between shows. We walked around to the front of the theater and I got this shot. 

Ah these two. 

The final show was Sunday night.  Tom, Leo, Nana and I were in the audience.  The little jazz dancers that Serafina was a TA for performed during that show and I told her I needed a picture of her with "her little friends" (that's what I called them all season when she went to assist in their class).  Serafina was dressed for her Senior Hip Hop Crew dance that went on immediately after their routine. 

After the show we were able to give her lots of flowers and praise.  

That night we celebrated my birthday and Father's Day with one delicious cake. 

I don't really mind spending my birthday at recital.  Next year, Serafina will be old enough to sign up to participate in the "Dancing Dads" routine.  Tom isn't so sure about it all, but it is a crowd favorite and Serafina assured him he'll be towards the back.  
 

Last two dance competitions of the season

 Last weekend Serafina's team participated in the Showbiz dance competition.  We haven't done that one before and I doubt we'll do it again.  It was held in the dark, back corner of the convention center and it felt very low budget. In fact, they didn't even have a tap judge so none of the tap routines were awarded prizes.  That's not great. Serafina's teams did do some winning. Here she is accepting one of the awards. 

Here she is looking gorgeous and sassy in Show Jazz. 

Going hard in Senior Hip Hop crew.  This costume is a bit wacky, but this is one of my favorites to watch them perform. 

Their teacher posted some pictures of them celebrating in class. 

This weekend was Heat convention and competition.  It was a much better experience, but still exhausting. 

Show Jazz competed on Friday night and won very big. 

 

Saturday was a long day in the hotel with classes all morning and competition all evening.  I did a lot of running around to fetch dinner and round up dancers for routines.  I love seeing her with her teammates though.  Such sweet bonds between these kids. 

Ballroom was her last routine of the night so I had her take a picture before changing out of her costume. 

It was a bit of a bittersweet night though.  They will perform these routines one last time at recital, but that is definitely different than competition.  It's also Stella's last season (for now) on the competition team.  She'll still be at the studio for technique classes.  Serafina and Stella have been on teams together the last three seasons and Stella was Serafina's first real friend on the competitive team. She is pure joy and light.  I adore her.  It won't be quite the same next year without her in the dressing room.