I have been compelled…..

Yes, it’s been a few days since I blogged.  I won’t lie; it’s been nice.  I have been too busy to stop and think about what I want to write.  But after this weekend of fierce competition with out little dancers, I’m going to give some insight as to what a competition is actually like!

I was asked if it isn’t the relaxing part of the season.  Sitting back, watching your kids dance and taking in the moment.  Well…the answer is Yes and NOOOO……  And I’m going to explain why;

First, in getting prepared for the competition it involves costumes.  On picture day, I had about half the teams available for their team pictures, simply because most of the costumes weren’t in.  That was weeks before competition.  And even if your costume is delivered, it doesn’t mean it’s ready.  The list is endless as to what can go into these things; let’s start with blinging!!!  To send a dancer on stage with no bling is to bring down their routine a notch.  The costume is the first bit of non-verbal communication that the judges get.  They have seen a million costumes.  So the goal is to create impact by making your costume stand out just a bit from the others.  (Hip Hop clearly doesn’t need bling, so it’s all relative here!)

You can start blinging IF your child’s costume actually fits.  If it doesn’t then you need to make an appointment with the seamstress (which we had to do for TWO of Aspen’s costumes).

Once your costume is done, and the competition day arrives, it’s time to pack up.  You are lugging everything to a hotel, you’d better hope to GOD your children didnt’ forget anything!  You do NOT want to be the one on the team that has forgotten a key part of their costume.  Many a mom have made long trips home to grab one single item…….  Not pretty!

On competition day, you lug half of your hotel room to whatever squished quarters the venue has available to you.  And when I say squished, I’m talking between 1 and 2 square feet of space for all your accoutrement AND your body!!!

You first have to know which of your teams goes on first.  After that, you can do your hair and makeup.   Call time is one hour before the number, just in case they move things around and call you in earlier (which happens a lot!).  After hair and makeup are applied, stretching is necessary.  Parents are usually present for most of this.  As it was for me, I was doing makeup on multiple children, while simultaneously sewing the last bits on a costume.

Now, I don’t know how it is for other parents, but I have two girls and in my opinion they are small children.  At any one time, I only have one with me, so I’m usually clueless as to where the other might have wandered.  As we are in a foreign area, I have no idea what the possibilities could be for my child, yet I’m sure she has discovered them all on her own…..a bit of a stress I might say!

After the first costume is on and the warm up is complete, the kids file in to wait.  At this time, the parents can then run to find a seat and with any luck (in the dark) find some friends to hang with.  These things are more fun in groups, I assure you!!!

For a moment, your child comes on with her team.  You sit….and you hold your breath……  I swear these times are more stressful for the parents than the children!!!

As a parent, you sit and watch ever move and every facial expression with hope that it all goes smoothly.  Thankfully, this weekend we had no major guffaws, but plenty of tears!!  The kids handled every hiccup as professionals.  And in most cases, I would say they performed their dances with great execution!

I sat with many a parent who had to dry their eyes of pride before seeing their children (because to kids, tears are bad, unless you are my kid in which you know tears are constant, but that’s another blog for another day!)

After the performance the parents run out to help their kids with the next number.

I know for Aspen, she went from a lyrical dance to a full horror- makeup dance and had little time to catch up.  By the time I got into the squishy room, there were two of her teammates pulling pins out of her hair, while another assembled her costume for her!  There is no down time at these events!!  As she was taken care of I turned to see two parents working on various kids to get them ready for their next dance.  One was standing helpless, so I jumped in.  If you are there and you have hands, you’d better get on it or get out!!!

During break, I had to hunt down both kids to corral them for lunch.  It was a short break before we got onto awards.  And after awards was the next section of dances.

After the first day of competition, we were spent!!  Thankfully, day two was going to be less stressful as we had mostly solos, duos and trios.  Most of the kids had one or two dances.  I figured I would take the morning and relax with some of the gals.  We ended up having coffee in my hotel bathroom!!  It was the quietest place to make the coffee and let the kids sleep.  One sat on the toilet (lid closed), one sat on the tub, and I sat on the floor.  I swear it was the nicest time as it was very mellow!!!

After the kids woke up, they started playing and the moms moved to the main room.  We chatted for a while and as Aspen didn’t have a dance call time until 3, I made a late checkout call and hunkered down.

Big mistake.

I had someone elses kid for the night and was not aware that she had an earlier call time than Aspen.  So within minutes of my hunkering down, we had to clear the hotel room within the hour and deliver the child (fed with lunch) and no time to spare.  We came skidding into the parking lot right at her call time and off she went!!  Let the fun begin for day two!!!

Thankfully, day two wasn’t as grueling, but as awards weren’t until 8pm that night (a Sunday…..) it made for a long day!

By the time we drove home for the hour car ride, I was wiped and darned near falling asleep behind the wheel.

Talk about 48 hours on high alert……

So, no….dancing is not like football, or soccer where you sit back and enjoy the show.  It’s more like full-out, no rest, mental drain, high anxiety, calm your child, pump up your child, get the kleenex, God help me I need a vacation!!!

So glad I got to take yesterday off to recover!!!

Happy Tuesday!