And That Is That

Beach Week with Occasional Breaks for a Dance Thing came to an end and turned out to be the best one yet. I mean, thanks to the pandemic, we've only had two of them and one of them was in Full Pandemic Mode (as opposed to this thing where we pretend there isn't still a pandemic), so of course it was the best one, but WHATEVER.

It was a good week.

There was much beaching and much dancing. For the sake of not forgetting how all that dancing turned out, here's Alexis' results:

• Solo - 4th
• Jazz - 6th
• Contemporary - 4th
• Line Jazz - 1st
• Acro - 3rd
• Tap - 8th (highest scoring tap group of the week)
• Hip Hop - ::sad trombone::
• Contemporary - Judge's Award, 5th
• Lyrical - 7th

For all of those group dances, they basically compete against themselves and the other teams from their studio, so yeah. They done good.

Except for that Acro thing. The studio is a studio that is very good at Acro, so that should generally land at the very top of the heap. Every time Alexis' team has done that dance this season, it's been flawless. AND THEN THERE WAS NATIONALS. If it could go wrong? It did. There was a person who fell out of her handstand, for example. That particular person could probably play a game of checkers while in a handstand, so it was very shocking. There was also a couple of people who completely blew a tumbling pass that was supposed to be synchronized and then they fought about it off to the side AND WE COULD ALL HEAR THEM and woooooweeeeee were they an unusual level of chaotic.

Alexis is bitter about the whole thing. She's especially bitter because even with a long list of mistakes, they took third. That means the difficulty was high enough to win all sorts of things, if only they had executed.

I will be hearing about that whole thing for months. Yay?

The other weird thing that happened was that Line Jazz thing. It wasn't weird for being oddly performed, though. It was actually REALLY good (... obviously. It did get 1st place.) It was weird because it's the dance that has basically the whole competitive team in it and we do that again? Large groups? I'm talking 89 kids on stage together. After 2+ years of avoiding large groups, it was weird seeing it again. We're two weeks out now, so it's safe to say we didn't end up with a COVID outbreak as a result, but it is still a bit disconcerting.

Also disconcerting is the fact that my child is not a Janet Jackson fan. The Line Jazz thing was a Janet compilation and I was all, "RESPECT YOUR ELDERS" and made Alexis watch a few videos. To say she was unimpressed would be an understatement and WHERE DID I GO WRONG? Seriously, how do you not love Rythym Nation? I know the answer to that because Alexis has explained it to me 15 times, but that doesn't make any of it any more acceptable.

And with that, we shall be holding a week-long Janet appreciation camp at my house. It will be all Janet all the time. Either the girls will learn to show a little respect or I'm going to have a great week of bopping while they look at me annoyed. I win regardless.

Good Job (to Nobody in Particular, of Course)

It's Dance Nationals week, otherwise known as Beach Week with Occasional Interruptions for a Dance Thing. Alexis had her solo today, while the majority of her performances are at the end of the week.

Of course.

I say that because this is the type of thing where if you place first in your category, you come back for the "best of the best." Last year I was younger and dumber and I was like, "Maybe they won't?" and then of course they did, which matters because it adds a day to the festivities.

This year I'm assuming it will happen, though I won't actually know if I have to stick around all day Sunday until Saturday night at about 11:00pm. Hahahahahahalolololz. Having kids is the best.

ANYWAY.

Solo. Today. There were 138 dancers in Alexis' category. This happened.

She is at the low end of the age bracket she competed in, for what it's worth. First through third was all seniors.

So, yeah. I'd call that an accomplishment. And Imma gonna stop talking because 16 year-olds are jerks and get all kerfluffled if you compliment them and basically up their jerk game by about 42341 notches as some sort of weird retribution.

SHUTTING UP NOW.

Another Thing Checked Off the List

It must be early summer because chaos is still reigning supreme. Between birthday parties (apparently all of Mila's 2nd grade class was born in May or June?), dance recitals, dance competitions, all the end of the school year wildness, and that stuff that's just a part of summer kicking off, there's been a lot. Squeeeeeeezed into there was a cheer competition, the state competition to be exact, and hey! Both girls do that!

First, let me admit I made a critical error at the start of cheer season. The coach placed Mila on a level higher than she was last year and I was all, "Oh, okay," without realizing SUMMOFABEACH I AGREED TO NATIONALS WITH THAT.

So, yeah, Mila's team did well enough this year to earn a trip to nationals, which is great and all except she's still little so it's a different nationals than Alexis goes to. As in, I get to go to cheer nationals twice this year in two very different places and UGH THAT WAS STOOOOOPID. Please send Advil and sleep to me in July because there are two weekends that are going to be super rough, and they happen to have a dance thing shoved in with them.

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to do competitive sports that include travelling out of state all summer long. If only I had learned that lesson a little bit sooner.

ANYWAY. Mila did great at her cheer thing, with her team placing second out of a lot of teams.

(Mila is top left when you're looking at that pyramid of girls.)

It's still extremely shocking that the kid who takes absolutely nothing seriously somehow manages to show up to these things and do her part as well as possible. I always half expect her to just bust into a little twerk on the side and ignore what she's supposed to be doing. But she doesn't.

And then there's Alexis. Of course we expect her to show up and do everything well. That's who she is and it's why she's always front and center.

Alexis does the work. Always. She cares deeply about whether she does it excellently, which is fine because she does. Her team also took second, though I think maybe I'd like to call shenanigans on that. While Alexis' team had a few definite mistakes, the team that beat them didn't try any of the hard things and it seems weird that they scored higher. I clearly know very little about these things, but shenanigans. Nationals will be better, hopefully.

But still, second place.

Just like her sister who turns everything into a party.

So maybe partying your way through cheer practice is just as effective as working hard all the way through cheer practice? It sure seems that way. Ahem.