DEA Results – Part 1, Beth and Carissa

The studio as a whole did well. Our girls did well. All we wanted was for them to have fun and do their best, and they did. It was a pretty good weekend.

 
Beth and Carissa’s tap duet, True Friends, was up first of our four dances. Evidently the competition started a bit late, as the roads were absolutely nasty with snow and ice and people were having trouble getting there. There was also a morning awards ceremony and then a lunch break that wasn’t on the schedule we were given. All that added up to an almost 2 hour delay from the time we thought they would dance. They were ready before the time we had, so they had to wait…. and wait… and wait some more. I think it got them just a bit flustered with too much time to think about it and become anxious. Once they finally got on stage, they were standing the wrong way and when the music started they didn’t quite know what to do as they would have had to mirror-image the whole dance. I don’t think that would have gone well at all. Beth actually stopped dancing, hopped down off the stage and asked the judges if they could start again. They said yes, so she got back up there, they righted their direction and off they went. Once they got that initial flub behind them, they did very well. They ended up with a silver medal for the dance; we thought they had danced well enough to earn a gold. Maybe the mixup at the beginning docked them a few crucial points? we won’t know until they see their score sheet. I think they should be proud of themselves for their first time dancing by themselves- I am! Here are a few photos.

We had about 40 minutes to get them changed for their Youth Tap dance next. While not a real long time between dances, there was plenty of time to do the costume and hair changes that we needed. I even got Carissa’s hair all curled, thanks to another mom leaving her curling iron hot and ready to use for me. We had chosen makeup colors that worked for both of their dances, so we didn’t have to try and change that too. They dance to the song “You’ll Always Find Your Way Back Home” by Hannah Montana. A key line throughout the song is “you can change your hair and you can change your clothes…”, so the kids all change at least one piece of their outfit on stage during the song. Here’s a rundown of them all:

Wake up! It’s raining and it’s Monday…. Bailey is asleep in the chair, she has curlers and a nightgown on, so Beth, Carissa and Kathleen get her up and moving. She ditches the wig with curlers and nightgown in the chair. Beth and Kathleen have the next changes. Beth takes off her leopard print jacket, and Kathleen takes off her hat leaving her hair in a ponytail.
Taryn sheds the pink dress next, and is now in a silver outfit.
Taryn takes out her ponytail, and Kathleen starts her second phase change taking off her denim skirt and western shirt.
It is finally Carissa’s turn and she takes off her plaid skirt and tosses it to Kathleen who catches it and deposits it on the chair with all of the other pieces of discarded clothing. Derek has also started changing finally, taking off his green pants.

Beth gets to do her second change now and she removes the hair clip that has been holding her hair up. She gives it to Derek as she goes by. Bailey also takes off her black skirt and gives it to Carissa, who then promptly passes it off to Derek.

Derek takes the two items over to the chair while Kathleen does a tumbling run across the stage for us (in tap shoes!) and while he is there he changes his shirt and finds the hat from the bottom of the pile and puts it on.
 
(I’m disappointed this last photo is out of focus :( hopefully I can get a better one at Legacy next month.)

They earned a gold medal for this dance! They also earned the overall second-highest score for their age and group level. Great job ladies and gent! Here’s a picture of Beth and Carissa with their friend and teammate, Derek, who is holding the group trophy with two of the gold medals wrapped around it.