When Mackenzie auditioned a year ago for her dance company I had no idea that meant I'd be accompanying her to a second convention all the way to Myrtle Beach, SC this summer! That announcement was made after she joined but what a fun opportunity. This was the DMI (Dancemakers) National Convention. We went to one of the Regional Conventions in November to Mobile, AL.
So after a long trip, and a crazy scare as we were taking off on her second flight headed for Myrtle Beach when we found out we had no hotel room for the first night (and would be getting in around 10pm). The lady told me that all the hotels in the area were also sold out. That was as we were heading out to runway. I hung up and panicked but managed to get one or two texts off to some of our gals who were already there. Ironically, some of our other friends' misfortune was our good fortune. At the same time we were pulling out of the gate, our friends were at the gate begging to get on the plane but their connecting flight was late and had put them behind. They were not allowed to board and got stuck in Atlanta for the night. Thanks to our wonderful moms already in Myrtle Beach, they gave up their evening helping us all work it out. Needless to say we took the rooms the others would have had for that night. Oh, and as for what happened? Um....I think I booked the hotel for the wrong date, since I had thought about a couple different travel dates. Oops.
So it was off to a bit of a rocky start but at least it all worked out. Here's Mackenzie and her friend and our roommate for the trip, Stefani at the Atlanta airport during our layover.
That night we slept great and had a bit of time the next morning to explore before the convention got started. We decided to walk a few blocks and check out the beach. Never seen the Atlantic coast before!
That day we just had to watch a few solos from our older girls. In between we jumped in a cab and went to the Boardwalk and rode on the Sky Wheel. It was great - no line and it had AC inside the little carriage.
Incredible views of the coast!
After competition we went out to dinner that night. The girls enjoyed sitting away from us moms at their own little spot.
Then it was back to the convention center for the big kick off plus solo awards. The girls loved the big late night dance party of night one!
Next day they had tons of dance classes. During their break we jumped in another cab and went to Broadway at the Beach to checkout. Lots of shopping and entertainment.
The rest of the day was spent getting ready for their competition that night. The girls kept playing this categories game. They were hilarious, too!
Ready to perform "Robots" one last time! Break a leg girls!
The girls did a spectacular job. Precise and flawless really. They did receive a 2nd place score (which means scoring a 2 out of 3, not that they placed 2nd of all their peers). They had received a 1st place score in Mobile, so I think they were a little disappointed, but after seeing the others at the National competition, I imagine theirs just didn't have the level of difficulty that some of the others did that they were up against. Plus they learned this dance a year ago. We were talking about how our girls have "outgrown" their dance in ability. But they did a great job and we were so proud of them!
The rest of the trip was filled with more of the same - tons of hours in dance classes, with breaks to steal away and do quick things. Competition in the late afternoon and evening and then daily awards. Our apprentice dancers went to support the older girls on the other evenings.
Swimming fun at the pool hotel.
Dance class. This one was ballet. They were learning the Can-Can. Brought back drill team memories for me! Their classes included tap, ballet, jazz, contemporary, lyrical, hip hop and even musical theater. Mackenzie's favorite was "Everything is Awesome" from The Lego Movie!
Mackenzie and I finally found a brief moment to actually take in the beach. Here is Mackenzie stepping into the Atlantic Ocean. Ta-dah!
And relaxing. And then we blinked and had to go back. Most expensive umbrella I've ever rented, given the fact that we were there only about 45 minutes. It's okay though. I really liked that umbrella for the 20 minutes we sat under it!
Awards again - Dance party in the bleachers!
Here's the whole group with their trophies, minus the two HUGE trophies that the Junior/Senior Companies won the next afternoon. Two Judges Pick Awards - what an honor!
And finally heading home. It was a fun trip but I was SO GLAD to go home and sleep in my own bed.
I'm so happy that Mackenzie gets to participate in something like this. What a fabulous opportunity. She loves being part of the company, even though it means a lot of work! This year her whole apprentice group is moving up to junior company and adding three new girls. As one mom said, they will be big and mighty!
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