12/15/2022 Convention Time BABY!

Let the madness begin!

Our season "officially begins" with our first Tremaine Convention and Competition at the beginning of January. This is the team's first chance to showcase what they have been working on for the past several months and my daughter will compete one of her solos for the first time this season. All the long hours of rehearsing for the dancers and coaches, hours of prop building for Rothrock Dad, and hours and hours of costuming, rhinestone, headpiece making, and even some prop making for me! Whew! It's been a whirlwind but so much fun. I can't wait to show how everything turned out, of course at the end of the season so keep an eye out for that post ;)

What does this mean for the Rothrock girls? Trip time!! We are big Tremaine people in our home studio, The Dance Force. We also love traveling, which was my inspiration for this entire blog. This will be the time that we start planning our meals, implementing our budget, packing, and most of all enjoying the trip.

For those of you who have not attended Dance conventions in general and are curious as to what it is, let me explain. The Dance conventions that we attend provide a wonderful opportunity to train from the best of the best in the industry, and make connections with other dancer friends from other locations that you normally would not have the opportunity to meet, try new styles, and work hard - VERY hard. Some conventions even have a competition attached to them. We love those!

My daughter's typical weekend at a dance convention starts on Friday night with the optional classes. These are typically not age specific but more of an all-ages come-to-the-same-class type of thing. They are normally smaller in size, and just give an opportunity to move after a long day of traveling. Get in the right head space if you will. She's typically back up to our room around 10:00 pm, and she will lay out all her clothes for the next day. The outfit is everything when you are a teen. Am I right?!

Believe it or not, there is some strategy that goes into what she wears. She starts planning her outfits about a week or so ahead of time, and will normally ask a few trusted people for their opinion on which would be better for her to wear in order to stand out the most. You might wonder why this is important to her and let me explain. Not only are dance conventions opportunities to dance and learn, but they are also opportunities to earn scholarships and get your face out there. This can be very important if your end goal is to be employed by the company when you age out of the competition age, or if you want to make their pre-pro and ultimately pro team. Making connections is important. Making a good impression is also important, just like any other job interview.

This is all provided she doesn't compete Friday nights. It looks like this season will most likely have many Friday-night competitions for her. Our January competition will look slightly different for us. She will end up riding up with her coaches, as I have to work Friday. As soon as I get off work, boom! time to hit the road and fingers crossed I make it there before she hits the stage. If not ill just have to pull over and watch her on the live stream. (We are so lucky to have coaches who are willing to do this for us)

Anyway, back to our weekend, Friday night - picking out an outfit for Saturday morning (maybe competition), packing her backpack, and heading to bed. Saturday morning comes around way too soon. That alarm goes off super early and she's up getting her hair PERFECT, not a strand out of place, fixing herself up with some makeup, accessorizing (she typically sports a cute necklace and earrings), getting dressed, and then I have to force her to eat breakfast, hahaha! Typically I can get her to have a protein shake, maybe some fruit and cheese. She's so anxious to get downstairs that she doesn't like to take the time to eat, so we normally toss some food and snacks in her bag to graze on through the morning. Normally by this time, I've managed to go from 1 teen in my room to about 3. The girls like to walk down together and like to get ready together and our room seems to be the spot to do it. After they are all finished priming and prepping, we will head downstairs to find the rest of the team. (I like to be there with all the girls and see them excited to head off to class.) I typically just stay down there for about 5-10 minutes (after we find the team and coaches) then will head back up to my room. Saturday classes normally end around 3:00-4:00, then if there are groups competing, it will take place promptly after classes. Typically the girls get changed and ready pretty quickly, then we launch into competition mode. If we are lucky, the competition and awards will be over by 10:00-11:00 pm. By this time, I've typically placed an order for dinner and picked it up or have already had one of my meals (listed on my previous blog) ready to eat. We eat a super super quick dinner and crash out!

Sunday is not as hectic, it's a little more laid back. She does typically have to be downstairs at about 8:00 am but she is finished shortly after lunchtime. Then the closing show and awards happen. This is an extremely entertaining, typically high-production show put on by faculty and staff and some of the winning pieces from the competition. They also hand out all the scholarships and awards from the weekend. There is great music and fun lighting, it's almost like a big party! Once this is over, it clears out SO fast. Everyone is anxious to hit the road and get home, as are we. We normally munch on our snack left over from the weekend, might stop for a quick bite to eat, and book it home. We both typically have to get up early for school (her) and work (me). No rest for the wicked, right? We wouldn't have it any other way tho. We love the excitement and chaos and I love watching her bloom into the person and dancer she's becoming.

My next blog will be a recap of our first competition, I may even have some cool photos to share. For now, here is a photo from last year's regionals :)

-Rothrock Mom