The Best Dance Competition of my life.

Time:: 12:11 pm
Wearing::  Baggy camo pants with a torn up black and white shirt that says ‘Brazen hussie psycho dancer punk from Hell’.
Last ate::  Grande Mocha Frappacino from Starbucks.  : D  It’s why I’m alive right now.

SO, where in the hell do I start. 
I had dance competition yesterday (on Sunday) with Starlight.  Just as a little background information, I had pulled my right groin last Monday (-Ouch-) and hadn’t danced since the Saturday before that.  I had barely even stretched my groin since then.  And now, here starts the diary of my day:

On Sunday I woke up at 6:40 am to get ready for competition.  I’d gotten most of my stuff together the night before after the four hour dance rehearsal on Saturday, and even missed my CSI: Weekends for this purpose.  Granted, I’d much rather dance than watch TV but aside from dance, CSI is a very important event in my life.    (And Stargate.  General O’Neil is one of my heros.  And I saw him on another commercial- it made me very very happy.)  We left our house at 8:30, 15 minutes later than we were supposed to- my dad has a tendency to not start getting ready until everyone else says they’re ready to go.  It’s very annoying.  But we made record time and headed into the competition site (a high school) at 9:15.  Let me just say I was more nervous than usual, particularily because of my groin.  When you’re a dancer, mobility in your groin is unbelievably important… my right leg moved front and back freely, but side to side was a challenge.  I watched my little sister Jordan dance first, and she did beautifully like she always does.  The first part of her song is a dedication to her dad whom she has seen maybe once in her life.  He’s never seen her dance, and I can’t believe a father would not want to see their daughter dance, especially one as talented as Jordan.  It almost makes me cry it’s just so sad.  I feel so lucky to have a dad who cares (even though he’s chronically late).  Caitlin went next, being gross like she always is.  She’s our resident gymnast, and she has no hip sockets.  She can like, hyperextend her middle splits and eat dinner in a handstand.  She’s insane like that and just does really gross, inhuman stuff.  She aims to be in the Cirque, and I think if she REALLY wants to do it and becomes very dedicated to her work, she would be excellent.  But she has to overcome a little ego problem to get there.  Anyway, she did beautifully.  I started warming up and stretching (-OUCH-) and my groin was protesting vehemently.  I was thinking that this competition was the stupidest idea of my entire fricking life.  I went and I watched a few more of our solos, dragging a heating pad along with me to keep on my groin so it would stay warm and not freeze up on me.  During one of these, my mom suddenly looks at me and goes "KARA!"  with the widest eyes in the entire world.  It was pretty scary… I’ve never seen my mom look like that before.  She says, "You will never believe this."  I said, "Believe WHAT!?"  "Who’s judging," she replies.  "Who’s judging," I ask.  Finally, she gives me the stupid program and I almost scream in the middle of some poor girl’s solo.  Johanna Sapakie, one of my childhood heroes, was judging the competition.  She danced at my studio in Minnesota (where I got most of my formal training, even though I was only there for two years) as an 18 year old, whereas I was a silent, scared-to-death 10-year-old.  I had a few classes with her because the director was pushing me toward bigger and better things, and I looked up to Ms. Johanna like no other.  She was an amazing dancer, strong, and technical and she never cared what anyone thought about her.  (Better yet-as I realize now- she was built exactly like I am now with broad shoulders, boobs, thickly built, and full of muscles.)  She’s the majority of the reason I’m dancing now, because she inspired me to keep working to her level and so I could dance like her.  She was my mentor at one point, and now she was going to be judging me.  As I was sitting there in the audience, I wasn’t sure whether or not I should have a heart attack or jump for joy.
My first performance (at 10:30ish) was my lyrical solo called Adam In Chains.  I begin the dance blindfolded (and sitting down- whether I’m nervous or not, my legs have a horrible habit of shaking with my adrenaline.  Thus, sitting down, I have more of a chance to regain my strength.).  It went alright; I improvised a little bit because I screw up a lot.  I love solos for this reason LOL.  I didn’t fall on my ass or anything though.  Except when I put the blindfold on at the end I literally couldn’t see crap.  When I put the blindfold on before I walk out on stage, I stretch the black material in a way that when the light penetrates the blindfold, I can discern the lights (that mark the end of the stage- very important, considering that the end of the stage is typically a four or five foot drop-off).   But when I put the blindfold back on, I only have a few seconds (and I’m under scrutiny by everybody) and not the luxury to stretch it out and make it all pretty.  So, I put the blindfold on, but I couldnt’ see anything.  I kept rolling my head (thankfully, a motif in my dance) to see a little bit underneath the blindfold to watch for the wings, but I could only hope that I didn’t run into anyone.  As soon as I thought I was close enough to offstage, I voiced a warning that I couldn’t see anything.  ^_^  Then I went and put the heating pad around my groin again (which was very attractive, let me tell you) to keep it from getting cold.  Then we performed ‘It’s Raining Men,’ Senior team’s jazz routine that nobody likes.  Ms. Johanna watched me devoutly throughout the first halfof the routine and it made me mildly nervous.  But then she remembered there were more people in the routine.  After that I went on for my hip hop solo Puzzle Box.  I like my hip hop solo, because it’s a fun routine… it’s very relaxed, and I love entertaining, I love making people laugh.  And apparently I have the whole audience going too, so I love the solo.  Before I went onstage, I had a few people who recognized me or my costume from the last competition who said they LOVED my solo.  I prayed very hard before I went on, received some foreign encouragement and then I NAILED my handstand onstage.  I nailed it.  I was a little nervous for my one-elbow handstand k-kick though, and it showed… I didn’t freeze the position as I wanted to, but I didn’t fall on my head like I have in the past, so I was okay with it.  Especially since I made it all the way into the middle on my handstand entrance.  I finished it, and I guess everyone liked it because I got a lot of applause and stuff.  It made me happy.  My solo was the very last one- which rocked.  I love leaving an impression like that!!  My hip

hop solo, by the way, is a combination of hip hop, gymnastics, mime, lyrical, and musical theater.  It’s a choreographical work of art, basically.  So I walked back onstage with my fellow soloists from my studio with my groin all wrapped up again in my heating pad.  Heh.  I was sitting onstage taking off my wristbands and removing the athletic tape from my wrists when I look up and see the competition announcer staring at me.  I felt like a fake, as I was sitting there nursing a pulled groin and weak wrists.  But the announcer (who liked me last year, and made fun of me [with me] last year with my hip hop solo) is (and was) my favorite person ever.  Then the awards ceremony proceeded:  Jordan got 3rd overall in the Teen division solos with a platinum award.  She stood in the middle of a slew of our rival studio (who had all gotten the other coveted overall awards), the short one among the tall gangly ones.  She stood strong though.  We were proud.  Then in the Senior division, Caitlin (resident gymnast) got a 3rd overall in the senior division solos.  And I was sitting there on stage going, ‘I’m not going to win anything.  I’ve never won anything higher than a 4th overall and that was when I was 11.  Puzzle Box got a 5th overall at the last competition, but that was it.’  And then my buddy (the announcer) called out, "Part of the tie for 2nd place Overall goes to Adam in Chains from Broadway Dance & Fitness!"  And I was like ‘HOLY SHIT This has never happened before, ACK!!!’  So I was kind of standing there at the front of the stage with the other overalls in shock.  This was the highest score I’d ever gotten, and it was for my lyrical (which at the other competition didn’t even get the highest awarded medal).  Then the announcer says, "Good thing you got out of that Puzzle Box, Kara."  I grinned and said, "Yea, I found the key!"  He laughed and he goes, "The second half of the tie for 2nd place Overall goes to Puzzle Box from BROADWAY DANCE AND FITNESS!"  And I just about died.  I just about wound up as a giant puddle on the floor in front of everyone.  As it was, I cracked up and was still in shock as I got another award.  Let me get this across to you… tying with yourself is VERY hard to do.  The odds are almost impossible when you’re competing against some 50 odd other routines.  The odds ARE impossible when you are competing with a lyrical and a hip hop, two styles of dance that are at other ends of the spectrum.  I did the impossible, and I did it with the best scores of my life.  There was one girl that got both 1st overall and 3rd overall, but she did that with two lyricals.  I mean, come on- if that’s her strength, then that’s cheating!  I deserved what I got through and THROUGH!  I was never more proud of what I accomplished than yesterda.  Every single person I talked to directly afterward asked me how on earth did I tie myself with a hip hop and a lyrical.  Honestly, I couldn’t tell them- I think the judges did that to me because they thought i liked puzzles.  Well, I don’t care much for puzzles- I just dance one.  : /  Anyway, I wound up with like four trophies and two medals and an ego the size of a blizzard.  Those trophies did not leave my hands or the crook of my arm or my lap for an hour straight.  I almost cried when I had to put them down to get changed for my group routines.  But after I’d eaten in the truck (after awards) I went back into the auditorium and sat right behind the empty judges seats (they were taking a break to eat) to wait for Ms. Johanna to come back so I could introduce myself.  She came back and in the minute before the competition started, I quickly introduced myself, and told her I used to dance with her at Butterfield’s a looong time ago.  Then I went to get changed (and put down my trophies.  WAHH!)  The first dance was with a giant prop piece, and it went okay.  I didn’t reach my peak, but that’s ok; apparently it looked good.  I was onstage and was seeing people mess up left and right, but whatever.  It’s all in the eyes of the beholder!  (The judges.)  Next was Fly Away, the lyrical dance I choreographed for Senior Team.  I wasn’t supposed to be in the dance anymore, but one of the girls in the routine (in all of Senior Team’s routines, actually) couldn’t make any of the routines because she had a wedding.  So I was called in as an alternate for Fly Away and another dance called Money (we’ll get to that one later).  Fly Away went alright, it has a lot of lifts in it and they all went well.  Next was a snappy change backstage into Rock Your Soul, another lyrical piece that was a mixed choreography effort by senior team a long time ago for our director’s wedding.  That one went well like always, but it was mildly depressing because it was the last time we’d ever perform that routine.  Next was another snappy change backstage for our ballet piece, Minor Swing.  That went alright, too.  Nothing exciting, except for some hair mishaps.  Then was Money, which was a mess because the competition schedule got all messed up.  We waited backstage for a half an hour before we performed, and by then the majority of us were pretty stone cold, and Caitlin got a migraine so she was vomiting.  I didn’t nail a single turn during that routine- that’s the routine that scares me every time I do it.  I’m not sure why, but it’s just intimidating I guess.  That’s the other dance that I’m an alternate for.  I step in if anyone is injured, sick, or can’t make a competition or performance.  Being an alternate is a tough position.  A lot of thinking on your feet.  Let’s see… then I hit my adrenaline low.  My adrenaline lows are BAD.  I usually don’t get it until I’m completely done with competition, but I’d waited so long before Money without doing anything, and then I screwed up all of my turns… I hit my low then with two more dances left to go.  Ack!  I was almost in tears, just ready to go to sleep and give up, and I felt like I was a horrible dancer… but then I finally pulled myself together right before the next dance, having convinced myself that the team needed me and when everything was over, I could have my low all I want.  So I busted a move in the next routine, going hella cheesy, and even popped off four perfect turns in second into a flawless quad turn in the very beginning.  A major change from the last routine.  Then… we had the hip hop production.  I choreographed this hip hop production in two months, with half of the team missing half of the rehearsals, and nobody at my studio is a dedicated hip hop dancer.  So they don’t listen real well when it comes to hip hop.  Hmm.  Last Tuesday was our last official rehearsal for this hip hop dance, and we had to finish learning the routine.  That was the same day I realized that one girl wasn’t going to be able to perform this routine at competition.  So I had to learn her part, take her out and put me in.  Whew.  That was a mess.  So I never got to really look at the finished routine.  The dance wasn’t meant to be yet, and a lot of people wouldn’t remember what was next.  And we all knew it was hopeless, but that’s ok, we were going to do it anyway.  So I walked out onstage with everybody else and assumed my position sitting at the very end of the stage.  And this is where it happened.  Talking with judges is taboo.  You don’t talk to the judges.  And earlier on in the day, I’d already said hi to Ms. Johanna.  Anyway, I’ll continue, just know that talking to judges is taboo.  Most dancers are scared to death of judges.  So, I’m sitting at the front of the stage when I hear someone in front of me on the judges panel say something.  I look up and say, "What?"  One of the judges say with a big grin, "You’re sitting on the mike."  I think, "Oh, shit.  This is the most embaressing moment of my life.’  I look underneath my ass, and sure enough, there’s a microphone embedded in the stage.  I look back at the judges and grin and say, completely unbiddenly as I ease off the microphone, "So, I’m guessing I shouldn’t pass gas?"  The judges and the announcer and the sound guy stare at me for a moment, then the announcer cracks up, and the rest of the panel follows suit.  I’m going, ‘I did not just talk to the judges, I did not just talk to hte judges, I did not…’ Throughout the whole dance, the only thing going on in my head was, ‘I did not talk to the judges, I did not talk to the judges let alone make a mild comment about passing gas!!!!!’  We finished the dance, and I walked off laughing and saying, "Well, none of us knew what we were doing, but it was fun!!"  Everyone agreed with me, and we were all laughing and energetic, and I think the competition needed that.  Even though the whole routine was unbelievably messy.  Awards for the group routines was held soon after.  I was sitting in the middle of the stage, losing my mind (when I was waiting just backstage after the hip hop for awards I’d laughed until I had tears, I’d run into the wall repeatedly, and made idle comments about my pelvic bone until I was sane again) when I heard my name being incessantly called.  I looked up, and I saw the announcer ninja standing at the edge of the stage.  I stood up and I go "Oh, no, what did I do now!"  He grinned, and motioned me over.  When I neared, he gently tapped the microphone adn said, "I want you to sit right here!"  I laughed and said, "No thanks, I’ve figured out that game!  Even though it may be less interesting, I choose to sit right next to the mike."  He laughed and replied, "It would have been more interested if you would have done what you implied earlier!"  All of the other studios were sitting on the stage behind us probably wondering what the hell we were talking about, and honestly, that was the first time I have ever shared an inside joke with someone who helps run a competition.  The announcer actually wanted me to draw names for scholarships and prizes out of pieces of paper in a giant box.  I was searching around and kept coming up with the same group, but finally I kept getting different studios.  When we ran out of prizes, the announcer guy grins at me and says, "Now here’s yours, a scholarship to a Starlight convention!"  I was like, "Oh, wow.  I’ve never gotten anything like this before!"  I was in shock!  Because the announcer didn’t have to pick me for the convention scholarship, he went through a lot to get to me.  I stood up after thanking him for my scholarship, and then apologized to the sound guy for the whole mike incident.  He made some mild comment about gas and I cracked up, much to the confusion of everyone in the audience as well as everyone onstage.  LOL.  So, our group routines did really well.  In 4th overall of the routines was our jazz routine Money (the one where I fell out of all of my turns), in 3rd was our lyrical Rock Your Soul, and in 2nd was our open routine Spitfire.  Our hip hop routine that was so messy and where I sat on the mike?  It got the highest medal award that was allotted.  It was amazing.  Yes, definitely.  And that wasn’t it!  No, it wasn’t.  One of the teen girls that I was sitting with was making random noises after every award that was given, so I laughed the whole way through the awards.  But then they were going to give out awards for opportunities for agent representation in LA, and you can put your money on the first person they called… Me, from Broadway Dance & Fitness.  I almost cried.  I’d never won so much stuff in my LIFE.  I’d won two overalls in my life before I won two at this competition, and I’d never won a scholarship or a special award as cool as that before.  NEVER!  And I got all of it at once, with a pulled groin and not having danced for a week, in front of a judge who used to be my dancing hero.  Caitlin got a special award for agent representation as well, and Jordan got a distinguished performer award.  It was incredible.  As soon as it was over, I had a few minutes with my studio, and then sought out Ms. Johanna.  We talked for a good long while, and she sprawled out on the stage with me to talk.  She’d said that in the beginning she was having doubts I’d been in Minnesota with her, but then I sat on the mike and said what I did and she knew I’d lived in Minnesota because all Minnesotans are dorks.  She said, "We’re all dorks in Minnesota, because we’re always snowed in- there’s nothing to do but sit around and be dorks!!!"  We talked about old times, about some of my old dance heros (like they were easily accessible to me- I never dreamed I would be having casual conversation with one of my heros).  She took down my e-mail address so she could e-mail me soon and we would talk.  I told her I was going to be moving to LA sometime soon, and that’s where she lives.  Ms. Johanna dances for my favorite choreographer in the world, too.  She’s a beautiful person for me to know, and I love her because she’s so human.  She would much rather give up judging just to talk and convene with fellow dancers.  She’s so approachable and friendly, just a beautiful role model.  I’m 18 and I still look up to her like I was 10.  ::smiles shyly::  And then we finished talking, and I listened to a few more wisecracks from the sound guy about the mike, got a few more compliments from other dance teachers and dance students and went back to the dressing room to start cleaning up.  Most everyone was already gone, but someone in there said something and I just burst into tears.  I started babbling about everything that had just happened and I was bawling and it was just something.  LOL.  Caitlin patted me on the back and said, "Okay, you get some sleep on the way home, okay?"  I just nodded and wiped my eyes.  Then I took off my eyelashes because the glue had unstuck after ten hours and tears anyway. 
I’m still trying to figure out all it is that I just won.  I’m still in shock.  I have, no joke, never won so much in my entire life than I did at that competition. 

–INMATE–