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Shockey dance
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I first started dancing when I was 5 years old when my parents enrolled me into the Margie Brooker Dance Studio off Wheeler Road in Augusta which ended up being my home for the first 4 years of my dance life. Who knew as of 2016 I'd have danced 21 active years even if they are not all together but hoping that's not the end!
- Years Danced: 21
- Total Dances: 82
- Junior Company - 1992-1994
- Apprentice Apprentice Company - 1994
- Apprentice Company - 1995
- Senior Apprentice Company - 1997
- Alumni Company - 2006
- Adult Class - 2009-2016
1987-88
I was such a cute little kid doing my first ballet dance at recital to "Getting Ready For The Ballet" in a cute satin white costume with tutu accented with a pink heart and darker pink sequins around the heart and on the edge of the top of the tutu. Years down the road I'd figure out a girl I went to high school with was on of the girls in my dance class!
1988-89
My second year of dance I got to add on tap which was to a song called "Ain't I Sweet" in a satin blue costume with a short ruffle in the front and a longer few layers in the back, the front has tons of different color sequins bordered in blue. Mom loved my shoulder shimmy. I personally loved the cheers we all received when we whipped our green boa around in a circle as that certainly got me grinning. I can't remember what the ballet number was without watching the recital.
1989-90
Third year of dance I was doing three dances of ballet, tap and jazz! I can't remember my tap but jazz was to "MTV Dancers" and ballet to "Echo Waltz". Our costume consisted of the same bottom black satin and sequin with gold sequin trim at the top and straps and two beaded strands that look like a necklace. For jazz we add on a skirt of fringes that swirl when we turn and for the ballet we add on a short black with gold sequin trim tutu. Around Christmas time my class performed a tap to "Jingle Bell Rock" at the Regency Mall for everyone walking around shopping. We got to wear our own warm clothes thinking winter wonderland. Sadly the Regency Mall is no longer a mall land just a big open space.
1990-91
My fourth and last year with the Margie Brooker Studio, due to her retiring, I know I did a jazz to "Show Business". Our ballet was to "Mirror" and got to dance around with a hand mirror. Many years later it would be fun to see other younger dancers doing a dance to that song also. Our costume was almost the same as the year before but instead of the "necklace" we had a white upside-down triangle of white sequins, with a fringe skirt for jazz and then a bit of a longer, poofy tutu.
1991-92
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On my fifth year of dance there was a change of teacher and studio just to say the least. Carol Colson Dance Studio took over the studio and so there were two studios. When it came to dance rehearsal there were two classes doing the same dances as one class does the first show and the second class did the last show. We did a jazz to "Adam's Groove" and it was fun but I hated the headband as when I spun around it slid up which would push my hair upwards which annoyed me to no end. The costume was black capri lycra pants with crazy colors at the bottom and the colors pop on the top with pink fringe on the sleeves and bottom of the top. We also did a ballet to "Spanish Promenade" in a red tutu with a little of it bordering the top of the costume, the body of it is lighter pink with red, zig zagging sequins and a poofy head piecee. Then for the first time ever I danced with a boy when our class did "Boy From New York City." Turns out the boy was Dustin Colson, nephew of my teacher, Pam Colson-Moye. We used the same costume but with a fringe red skirt.
After my fifth year I was unsure if I wanted to continue dancing. I didn't want to keep doing basic ballet at the bar and all that, granted years later we go back to basics to get better technique. Mom let me know that if I quit then I couldn't go back as she would have to pay for registration again. She then talked to Pam who said I was a very talented dancer and should try out for the dance company, as they go straight into learning dances and learning more advance steps.
1992-93
I tried out for Junior Company for my sixth year and made it in with a group of ladies who are part of my dance family for life. You could say we will grow up with each other and be great friends. The last weekend of October we went to our first dance convention. We had a blast! That year at dance recital we danced at both shows. The Junior Company did a tap to "Rock-a-Doodle" with Dustin as "Elvis", we had on purple and silver sequins with a frilled "tail" end and silver hat. Then we did a jazz number to "Itsy Bitsy Spider" with this goofy hat and gloves made of black and multi-colors. Then came the group number with all the dance companies to Mariah Carey's "I'll Be There." We all had on flowing costumes with long skirts, the Junior company was in pink, Apprentice company was in light blue, and the two Senior company members in a mix of the two.
1993-94
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The start of my 7th year we started practicing the "Rock-a-Doodle" tap from the previous year for our first time at competition in Columbia, SC. This was the Junior company's second time at dance convention. We all met at the McDonald's on Wrightsboro Road on a very early morning the last weekend of October. Sleepy and passing each other to go in to get breakfast after loading our bags into on of the cars then huddling around in the parking lot trying to keep warm. Heading into the hotel in Columbia we get our dance bracelets to get into the classes and to compete. We were all nervous to compete but we did pretty good from what I remember. After the New Year we start learning our dances for recital. We had a classic ballet to "Irish Lillies" in a green and white lace costume with a long flowing green skirt and a short puff sleeve. For tap we had a mainly black costume with a short back tutu trimmed in red sequins, an embellished design at the neck. We also had a fluffy black boa and partial black sleeves with ruffles at the upper arm dancing to "Spanish Rose". Our jazz was to "Shot In The Dark" was basic black: hat, leggins and shirt, although I had a pink flash light! We greatly enjoyed this dance because we got to come out of the audience in the dark! The final dance was an all companies dance to Bobby Brown's "Get Up" doing steppin. We greatly enjoyed ourselves then at the end we all started ponying back to one line leaving Aletha up by herself. She started looking around not quite knowing what was going on until we started singing the Mickey Mouse song. This was our way of saying bye as she graduates high school and heads off to college.
A few weeks after recital Pam contacted Mom to see if I'd want to join the Apprentice and Senior companies in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for the Dance Caravan's dance convention. Turns out Kia wasn't able to go and if Mom paid for me it would pay Kia back. Mom, my brother and I enjoyed a week in Charleston with other family members before she drove me up to North Myrtle Beach to meet with the older girls in the dance company.
Mom and I drove up and down the main road I don't know how many times trying to find this large conch shell as it was at the road we needed to turn on to get to the condo. I think it was an hour later that we finally saw it and I swear the years to come I would always immediately see that shell. We finally make it to the condo and get me settled even going out to the store to get me food for the week, I believe this was a Saturday.
Sunday we all went out to the beach which wasn't that far from the condo and of course I get sunburned. I have to let it be known that I'm shy, at least until I get to know everyone, so I tend to be quite. That evening we go to the Pavilion which is an amusement park. I got a couple of the girls to do the bumper cars with me. BIG mistake with a sunburn! Ouch, did that hurt every time I got hit. After a while we start walking along the strip that runs along side the beach checking out the shops. I got one of those fun hair wraps in my hair which I didn't take out til closer to the school year.
Then we come to the Gay Dolphin shop which is a multi level souvenir shop, not just 3 floors but mid levels between those floors. I came across this wall of small license plates with names on them, lo and behold there's a "Charlotte" plate. Since it's rare to find one with my long name on it I decided I would buy it. I start looking for Pam's poofy curly blonde hair as she has my spending money. When I can't find her this is when I realize I haven't seen anyone from dance anywhere! I went all over the levels. I walked down the strip and around to the other side before coming back to the store. I even snuck over the turn-style to go to the observation tower on top of the building hoping maybe I could see my group but still nothing! After a while of coming back down I hear my name over the speaker and there they were! We all got emotional and hugged. They told me how they made it all the way back to the cars which were about 4 blocks away and were buckled in when they realized that I wasn't there. Aletha even told off a police officer who wouldn't help because he was about to get off work and gave an excuse of there being too many people to search. Apparently he threatened to arrest her but she told him to just go get off work since he wasn't being helpful. They praised me for staying in one spot, if only they knew! Then I was informed that I can't be quite anymore so anytime we go anywhere they would be like, "Charlotte?!" This certainly made me closer to this older group of girls who I felt intimidated by.
When it came to the five-day dance convention I actually got to dance in the advanced classes with the rest of the girls. I even got to cheer them on when they competed and when they won three 1st place trophies.
1994-95
After the fun of the summer and getting to dance in the advanced classes with the older girls I decided to try out for Apprentice company. I ended up becoming an Apprentice Apprentice company member. Pam explained to me that I was the strongest dancer in Junior company and she wasn't quite ready to have me leave after only two years so that year she had me dancing in both companies. I danced twice a week, one night at the Lumpkin Rd studio for Junior Company then a night at the Wheeler Rd studio for Apprentice. This year we decided to not do the dance convention at Columbia in October. Instead we learned a few dances for recital and went to a convention/competition in Atlanta with the Dance Olympics on January 20-22, 1995.
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One of the dances we learned was a Scott Benson number called "Carry On" that for recital would be called "Rhinestone Sun". This dance involved the Apprentice and Senior company members. I grew strong muscles in my right thigh due to how long we have to hold it up during the dance! The costume is an orange-red color, an open back, a short skirt that is cut into strips, a diamond cut out with a flesh colored mesh on the upper chest, rhinestones, and long sleeves. Due to the open back mom and I went to the mall to shop for a backless, strapless bra for me to wear. I was still a pretty skinny girl and hardly any chest so once we squeezed me into the tiniest one they had, it fit great! Until I raised my arms and my upper half came right out of the cups so we were like "oops that won't work!" Instead we got some adhesive cups that I never ended up using. When we competed with it at the Dance Olympics we won 2nd place!
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Another dance we worked on in time for the convention was "Bad, Bad Mood." The basis of the song is the ladies being in a bad mood due to the men not paying attention. Mom made the "ladies" costumes to sort of look like a short skirted 50's dress which mine was teal. Then we add on a white apron so we have somewhere for our white plastic rolling pins. The "men" wore different colors of plaid pajama's. This dance was a pair up between some from each company. I remember one dance class where I was wearing the apron and Pam wanted me to jump on her back to try this one exit move. Well it didn't quite work very well when I still had the rolling pin in the apron! Whoops! My bad. The dance came out great and we ended up in 4th place at Dance Olympics.
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This dance year I also decided to try out doing Pointe. I have to say it is very hard to do. Also, always make sure your toenails are always cut low or else it hurts! First class, Rhonda (one of the girls on the Apprentice company) taught us how to break in our shoes. After that it was gradually learning how to get up on pointe. At recital we danced to "Victorian Dreams" and I was too unsure about my ability that maybe half or less of the dance did I actually go up on pointe. Our costume was a white based costume of a long filmy skirt, satin bodice with a silver sequin design, off the shoulder filmy short sleeves trimmed in silver sequins and straps.
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I had two more dances with Junior company. One dance was with Dustin playing "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown." This was a tap number and the girls wore a costume that had a black and white checkered skirt with a thigh top and short sleeves, the neck and bottom of the sleeves trimmed in black sequins. I had a lime green color with Jennifer, Nikki had pink, Jessica and Meta had orange, all with a red flower pinned on. Dustin had checkered pants to match us. Our ballet was to "Ragtime" in a pink old time looking dress trimmed in white lace and the dance consisted of quite a bit of strong ballet moves.
Apprentice company had a fun dance to "Kung Fu Fighting", dressing us in white chi's and satin belts of which mine was purple. At the end of the dance we all moved off to the side to leave room for Michi Bunn's brother to come out doing a segment of Karate with a long wooden stick.
I also enjoyed my first ever lyrical with the Apprentice company to "Better Days". We wore a beautiful blue-green long filmy skirt with sequins at the cups, then strips of the same material from the skirt going from the straps to our wrists, held on by elastic sequin bands, so it flows when turning. After the dance I had to quickly change out of it so that a mom could wear it to dance with her daughter in the "Puff the Magic Dragon" piece that the other girls danced.
Unknowingly to me is Pam chose me for "Most Improved Dancer" at recital due to performing seven dances at each show! I actually had learned a tap the Apprentice company did at recital but didn't get to dance it until the dance convention that summer in Myrtle Beach. The song was "Rompin Stompin Aggie" in red and gold "cowboy" type costumes with white cowboy hats and we won 3rd place. Kung Fu Fighting won 2nd place and Carry On won 1st place.
1995-96
My first full year as an Apprentice Company member started in the fall of 1995 so the coming up recital "Shop Around" will be before the summer Olympics! One of the dances the apprentice company did was called "Olympic Dreams" which we danced with Olympic colored hulu hoops. Since I was the lightest member they raised me up to be like the Statue of Liberty. Our costumes were of course red, white, and blue.
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The opener was called "Mannequins" to Prince's "U Got The Look." We each found black pieces to put together for our costumes from each other. I had my black jazz boots, thigh high leg warmers, from someone else I borrowed a long sleeve leotard to put over my black bicycle shorts. There is a piece of music after in the song a girl says, "Oh please," that we got 8 slow counts to do our own robot section. Considering I was a bit of a shy, quite dancer they were all surprised by what I came up with! Try to imagine... When the "oh please" comes I do a pivot to the back while doing a "pshaw" move (only way I can think to describe it). There's a little bit of a pause before: Count 1, 2 - Right hand to right butt while shifting hips to the right. Count 3, 4 - Left hand to left butt while shifting hips to the left. Count 5, 6 - Exaggerate hip swing to the right. Count 7, 8 - Exaggerate hip swing to the left. Then swing around to the front to continue with the dance.
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The Apprentice and Senior company did a tap dance called "Rappin At The Mall" to "Hi De Ho" from the movie the Mask. I think this was the first dance I had a hat prop. Everyone had the same tops of long sleeve black shirt with white polka dots, white collar and cuffs and a white vest lined with black sequins. The difference was Senior company had black shorts where as the Apprentice company had black pants. A couple of the girls from the young adult class joined us as well.
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The Apprentice and Senior company lyrical was to Seal's "Kiss From A Rose." The pink costume had a long heavy skirt that fanned out beautifully just like a rose when we turned and had little finger holds when needed. There was a v-neck that had light pink sequins bordering the neckline, medium sleeves that had a bit of extra material to match the skirt. I think it's funny how much everyone talked about hating the song but years later stated they did indeed like it, maybe it was the constant repetitiveness of hearing it.
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Our big production number that not only had all the company members but also the young adult class was done to the Village People's "In The Navy." We start coming on in columns doing the same few steps until we are all on the stage. One of the bigger parts of the dance, which Pam was proud of, was our large pinwheel doing a kick line, first in one direction then changing directions. The costume is all one piece with bell bottoms. The pants are blue up to a high waist that flows into a red and white vertical stripes top with no sleeves, then a white sailor's collar tied in front with yellow stars and edged with blue sequins. We also had a sailor hat with a gold star at the front, cuffs for our wrists the same as the collar area and white Keds sneakers.
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This was my second and last year going to pointe class and it was extra fun because mom joined me in the class. I was very proud of her as looking back on the recital she was the only one in the class to do 90% of the dance en pointe. I think the rest of us didn't work as hard or trust ourselves enough to try to be en pointe at recital. Our dance was to "Anitra's Dance" and wore the same costumes as the year before but added a white wide headband wrap. A fun memory at dance rehearsal is when Rhonda came out to do an en pointe solor with a tambourine. She would be en pointe doing a back then front attitude (one leg semi bent at hip height) and tap the tambourine to her foot each time. Of course with it being an open tambourine she ended up getting her foot caught in it! Thankfully she didn't hurt herself.
That summer we once again went to the dance convention and competition in Myrtle Beach. We competed with "Better Days" we performed the year before and won 2nd place. We also received 2nd place for "Hi De Ho." For competition we had to take out the pinwheel for "In The Navy" as it wasn't such a large group and so we practiced at the beach planning to do fun pieces in it's place with blowup kiddie tubes. I can't remember which one I had but when it came time for me to get on the floor and scoot myself along the floor I didn't realize I had gotten on a rough part of the floor. I just hoped I didn't rough up my costume pants. We ended up getting 3rd place.
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Later in the month of July 1996 I tried out for the Harlem High School's Dance Team and made it on! We got awards also for trying out. I received a gold Universal Cheerleading Association All Star, a Universal Dance Star ribbon (yellow), a Excellent Universal Dance Association ribbon (red), a Outstanding Universal Dance Association ribbon (white), a Superior Universal Dance Association ribbon (yellow), and two of the Superior Universal Dance Association (blue) ribbon.
1996-97
At the fall dance convention I went in with an Assistant Teacher band just like I did during the summer. I believe we competed just unfortunately I didn't write it down. Afterwards we started working on dances for dance recital which was a theme about shoes.
Our opener was the Apprentice and Senior companies dancing to Footloose's theme song but Pam called it "Fabulous Feet." Pam even danced with us! All our costumes were sleeveless black short leotards. On top we had a transparent black "dress" shirt with long sleeves and sequins at the sleeves, collar, down the front and a line at the pocket. Mine was a dark blue, the others have gold and red, etc. Then a matching colored sequin "baseball" cap.
Several years Pam has in one form or another done what I like to say is the well known Cruella De Vil dance with the Cruella's and the Dalmatians. This particular year six of us performed it after a bunch of smaller Dalmatians danced, she called it "High Heels." Granted this was my first time dancing in heels as a Cruella with my Dalmatian being Nikki Taylor. I greatly enjoyed doing the dance after first seeing it a few years prior. There was one section in the dance that I slipped on the slick wooden floor but thankfully wasn't that big of a slip with Nikki there holding me up!
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Being the recital right after Mission Impossible coming to theater's we did a dance to a reworked version of the Mission: Impossible television theme song, which was originally composed by Lalo Schifrin and was known as the "Burning Fuse." Pam called it "Sneakers" in the theme of the recital. Our costumes were of purple crushed velvet texture, all one piece with no sleeves starting with a tall necked collar down to loose pants.
Our large company group number was to "Malaguena" which is a beautiful musical number. All our costumes were in a brilliant red crushed velvet top half with a gold sequin upside down lotus outline design at the neck, then gossamer short cap sleeves with cutouts outlined in the same sequins. We, the Apprentice and Senior girls, had long past the knee tulle skirts, the Junior's had tutus. Once I started doing lyrical dances I wasn't big into ballets but loved this particular dance.
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That summer between the Myrtle Beach convention and school starting I went to another dance team evaluation and exam. I ended up receiving the following: two Superior Marching Auxiliaries Summer Camp ribbons (blue), and a Marching Auxiliaries All Star Performer ribbon (white). Later that fall the coach and I had a little bit of a falling out. I told her I couldn't make it to a weekend game due to going to an Art Symposium. She told me I'd need to choose either dance or art. Little did she realize that if I don't dance at school it's not the end of the world as I am on a dance company. That just all turned me off a bit so I declined being on the competition team and that was my last year of Dance Team.
1997-98
In 1998, the recital theme was TV Guide: Television's Greatest Hits. This was the first year I did all my dances with most of my original Junior company group just this time we are all Apprentice company dancers although occasionally we are referred to as the Senior Apprentice company.
Our opener with all Apprentice company members was a cute ballet to "Good Morning America" theme, not like the show but more like a "Good morning, time to wake up," probably to open for morning Saturday shows way back when. Our costumes make me think of those nightgowns of yesteryear, flowing, long sleeves, and lacy. It was a light blue color with the leotard being a little darker, light blue and the bodice is sequins. The rest of the costume is a light blue filmy gauze material. Also, a blue ribbon that matches the sequins at the front high waist in a bow and also as a choker.
The Senior Apprentice company did a tap to Elvis Presley's "Jail House Rock" which was a fun, fast, hard tap. Our costume was an all in one costume that has black tap shorts, loose cap sleeves, and all was in sequins! I greatly enjoyed dancing to one of my favorite songs.
All but the Junior company did a fun jazz number to "Secret Agent Man". By the way I was totally singing that in my head as I was typing. HA HA! Our costume consists of black semi tight pants. Then the top is a loose bottom of black that flows up to a tighter top of black, lime green and silver sequins in a cool pattern out to short sleeves.
Our full company dance number was called "X-Files" and the music was actually to Will Smith's "Men In Black." Now fun fact is we learned the dance at the convention back in the Fall to LL Cool J's "Phenomenon" song but worked great with a few additions to "Men In Black." Our costume was pretty simple: black pants, white men's shirt, and a loosely knotted tie.
That summer we enjoyed yet again another great summer at the dance convention and competition. I went again as an Assistant Teacher so I could choose which classes I wanted to attend. We always wanted to learn any dance that Barry Youngblood brought to the table.
1998-99
Our 1999 dance recital is a Calendar theme so we had a large company group number to "Girl of All Seasons". I was April with a yellow parka on. I kept joking April shower's bring May "flowers." *wink* HA HA! Everyone had a Holiday each but was such a great opener.
We, the Senior Apprentice company, had three dances that were just us. Our first was "Be My Valentine" which was actually Martina McBride's "My Valentine" which was a beautiful lyrical. We actually didn't end up finishing the last of the dance the night before during dance rehearsal. This was one of my favorite costumes as it was a beautiful red long skirted costume with thin straps. The beginning of the dance we passed around a red glitter heart.
Our second dance was called "Swing Kids" and was a fun jazz number. Pam put this together to make me feel better. A High School friend had taught me all the Lindy Hop moves he had learned in 3 days but I did it in 3 hours. Then taught some of my friends in my German class for them to get asked to perform before the Miss HHS pageant which just pissed me off as I got them into it. So anyways we did this number and had to get a few more guys to dance with. The dance wasn't quite a Lindy Hop but it was still fun. We had a pink costume with black polka dots: a one piece costume of a skirt and top with short sleeves.
Our third dance was called "Thriller" which really threw off the audience as we did a fast tap to a Techo beat. Our costumes were pink and purple, no sleeves, "turtleneck", with a short skirt that was cut into strips to fan out when turning.
Our big Senior Apprentice and Apprentice company had a three part dance. It opened with "Summer Delight" with myself and four others in the back while the rest of the group danced. When they posed at the end we slowly start weaving ourselves through them to pose when the others start moving to the back. My small group started dancing the moves from Janet Jackson's "I Get So Lonely." I loved this dance! Sadly Pam said no to doing the same type of costume as she had. When we finished ours then the back group moved forward for us to finish out the dance all together to "This Is How My Drummer Drums." The costume was a one piece starting with black pants moving up to an animal print top half with transparent animal print loose long sleeves.
1999-00
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In Nov 1999 we went to another Atlanta convention, called the Tremaine, that was a lot of fun but made me very sore where when it came to the second day I laid down til "Dan the Man"'s class started. Now this was our nickname for him but his actual name is Dan Karaty who many years later I was ecstatic to see him as a Judge on So You Think You Can Dance, Season 1. At the time I enjoyed telling friends that he choreographed such big names as Jessica Simpson, 'NSYNC, Brittany Spears, and Kylie Minogue. We all had crushes on him! I greatly enjoyed learning a sort of sexy dance to Janet Jackson's "Throb". Of course didn't know the name of it until the convention called to let me know. We also competed with the third song of "Summer Delight" and "DinDaDa". The only other thing I remember of it all was the "doodoo balls" hair style! HAHA!
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My Senior year of High School was a fantastic year of dance. Due to graduation I got to do a solo as a "goodbye." Pam gave me the option between 'NSYNC "Bye, Bye, Bye" or Ricky Martin's "Livin La Vida Loca." Both are great songs but I chose Ricky! I was nervous as I usually am when it goes dark behind the curtains and then the slow pull of the curtains opening but even more so being the only person on stage. Due to this nervousness that when some of my hair was stuck to my lipstick I didn't get it off my face so it looked like I had a microphone head piece. Another is my number was very short as I didn't try to stay on stage longer than the choreographed section which seemed to throw the audience as it took them a little bit to realize it was over to clap. I enjoyed doing my full body shimmy in the dance which looked great with my costume pants. I borrowed these red ruffled pants from one of the girls who performed a few year's ago to "Red Hot." I had on a red bra with a chiffon long sleeved mid-drift wrap top that my mom made.
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Our huge group Company number was the opener to the recital. This dance had seven different songs and dances in it. We were all dressed in either shorts or long pants of white plastic material, and crushed velvet leotards of different colors. Then there was the fake boots made of the same white material as our shorts/pants and our bright colored wigs that we tried to have different than the leotard color. All but the Junior company were on stage to do a jazz number to Lenny Kravitz's "American Woman" from there we moved to that Austin Power's "Soul Bossa Nova" and out came Aletha dressed as Austin Powers. From there Austin Powers and all but Jennifer and Nikki (Senior Company) moved off stage so they could do another jazz dance to Aerosmith's "Come Together." While they were dancing we pulled on chiffon white flowing pants so when their dance was done the Senior Apprentice group (me) came out to Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven" dancing a lyrical. The next dance was the Apprentice tap dancing to Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride." Finally the young Junior company came out doing a jazz dance to Joan Jett's "I Love Rock and Roll." While they were dancing the rest of us were on the side of the stage changing into jeans and a black shirt and getting out hair out of the wigs. In darkness we all came to the center to start doing a very fun dance to Kid Rock's "Bawitdaba". When we started rolling out from the center the Junior company started rolling out to get into position. First few weeks of practicing this particular dance gave me a stick neck from all the head banging to the right and forward. I couldn't turn my head to check traffic without moving my upper body too!
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The Senior Apprentice tap was called "American Girl" but was to 702's "Where My Girls At." Our costume consisting of a white short sleeved shirt, black hat, pants with red glitter pinstripes, red sequined waistband and red sequined "suspenders." The dance was a nice easy pace.
The Senior, Senior Apprentice, and Apprentice companies did a dance that we all loved which was to George Kranz's "Din Daa Daa." The dance was a jazz number with some African moves, etc. Our costumes were made of an almost golden brown crushed velvet. We had pants and a loose top that had interesting straps and slits on the side.
2000
That fall I started college at the Savannah College of Art and met Mark, who would become my future ex-husband. I told Pam I would go to dance convention and competition in Columbia. We competed with "Din Daa Daa" and I taught myself, while at school, the "Total Eclipse of the Heart" dance from a few years prior to be an additional person in the group. I wasn't completely sure of myself when it came time to go out there as I never did that dance at recital. I can't remember if we won anything as my mind was too wrapped up on Mark. I didn't even attend much of the dance classes, although did learn a lyrical to Creed's "Arms Wide Open."
2006
Six years after graduating from High School, getting married and recently divorced, I came back to the dance floor. I did learn some ballroom the year prior a few classes at a time: West Coast Lindy, Salsa, etc. but as much fun as it is it wasn't the type of dancing I did for 12 years. The catalyst to coming back was Pam called my parents house to ask about a costume and found me instead which was a joy for her. She invited me to come by the new studio and one thing lead to another and I was dancing again as well as Assistant Teaching the Teen class and Company. When I first walked in I recognized Pam's daughter Allison aka Noodle. One girl was all excited to see me and I acted like I knew who she was then finally realized who she was! HA HA! I learned all the dances that Company did but when it came time to get costumes Pam asked if I'd rather do the tap or the lyrical and was surprised I chose the tap. The reason she asked was in payment for my assisting on teaching she was going to pay me in dance costumes.
Now I have to say the dance Company did not flow the way it did when I was in it. Dancers were showing up late, talking when they were suppose to be learning or dancing. One night before Pam showed up I ended up chewing out the girls which ended up making things a bit tense at Rehearsal and Recital. Although some of us still told the others what a good job they did or were going to do and at least 11 years or less later are friends on Facebook.
Pam spoke of her retiring after this year (2006) which made me sad but she would ask what my favorite dances were. Turns out her plan to theme the recital as "Memories". The first half was called "Scrapbook Memories" which consisted of three dances I did and a fourth one I taught.
My first dance of the night was a tap to Michael Jackson's "Working Day and Night" with all the company members. I loved doing the riff combos. Our costumes were an all in one pant suit. The pants were black with silver glitter pinstripes coming to just below our breast line, black and silver sequined "suspenders", silver tie, and either teal or pink sleeveless bodice.
The dance I taught the girls was the original "Carry On" dance I did when 15 years old but Pam called it "Carry On The Family Tradition." Prior to teaching it I had to relearn it via my recital tape which had me converting it to DVD. I tried to get them to dance the original number but we had to change some sections to make it a little easier for them. They did a great job of the dance. I was very proud although I wasn't able to watch it until way later since I had to hurry into this other costume.
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The next dance was called "Dance Programs of Yesteryear" in the program but was actually "Peter Gunn" theme song. Pam left me in charge of learning the dance from the 1993 recital as well as from Scott Benson's, the choreographer, dance video. Then I taught it to two girls who I had danced with before I graduated from High School: Ashley Jenkins and Samantha Kalney. I was pretty excited about getting to do this dance as I loved it back when the Apprentice and Senior companies performed it. We did a great job of performing it with just three of us. For our costumes we borrowed a previous costume from a few years prior that they did Matrix with. I used Allison, Pam's daughter's costume. It was a full body suit of black pleather. Tight from the ankle to the halter top which I could not wear a thing under. My main concern was getting it off after but that was easy compared to putting it on.
The last dance of the first half I was in was as I like to put it an Alumni Company dance called "Kissin' Cuzzins." The girls were made up of Nikki Colson, Randa Dixon, Ashley Jenkins, Ronda Price, Jennifer Taylor Sargent, and Jackie Lyda Shults. The boys were made up of myself, Dustin Colson, Samantha Kalney, Pam Moye, Daphanie Scandrick and Aletha Snowberger. The dance started off with Roger Miller's "Chugalug" with all of us "boys" lounging around with our "Moonshine" jugs to get up for a fun tap. From there we whistled the "girls" coming out to Hank Williams's "Hey Good Lookin'." Then we paired up, myself with Nikki, and did a paired up section before the "girls" did their own number. After that went into two circles and we escort our "girls" to the back. The movie Deliverance's "Dueling Banjos" starts up and somehow instead of getting into a fight with just one of the other "boys" I'm in one with two, Aletha and Samantha, since Daphanie didn't show up. Then we get to the fast tapping number battling each other becoming friends at the end to head back to get our "girls" with fishing poles. Our final dance in this big number was to Andy Griffith's "Going To The Fishing Hole." I had to wait til after to crack up at this one couple in front of me that jumped back when I pretended to cast my pole. At the end Nikki and I had planned on her pretending to almost wack me with the fishing pole when she turned but I would duck at the last minute, worked great until she almost hip checked me into the curtains. HA HA! The "boys" costumes consisted of jean overalls, a plaid lumber jack shirt, and a "Hillbilly" type hat. I think this was my best number considering we learned it all in maybe four Saturday's.
The second half of the show was called "Family Memories." One of the dances was a oldie but goodie from the 1993 recital called "Friends Like Me" which I never danced but taught myself and taught the company girls. Pam had to change up a few things for their tap level.
The dance I learned but didn't dance was a lyrical to Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You" which was called "High School Sweetheart" in the program. The girls did a beautiful job and I didn't pull anymore muscles trying to do the switch split.
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All the company members, teen class and myself did a very fun hip hop dance mix called "Making Memories." The music was a great blend of many different well known songs mixed by a fantastic choreographer Barry Youngblood. This was my first time doing hip hop but loved it! I screwed up at the beginning with the last minute plan of one side doing a robot move then the other side. I went up too early and thankfully one of the girls went ahead and did it after me probably seeing my "oh crap" look. Then the others came up when they were suppose to so it didn't look as bad. Our costumes were made up of nylon pants that come to just below the knee, mid drift halter tops, and small holed net top in a lighter color that made us have sleeves but bare shoulders so you could see the other top under. We then had different baseball caps or fabric around our heads. There was pink, yellow and blue which I chose.
The finale was again with the same group and costumes minus the over top was Raven's "We Are Family" dance at the end of the recital. I was paired up with our shortest dancer doing hip bumps. Then doing that whole "Soul Train" dancing down the center doing steps. At the end we started coming out in lines with all the studio students.
Due to Pam closing the studio she didn't get a videographer in time for the recital so thankfully Jennifer's husband had taped it and hooked me up with a DVD. We also got to dance at the Imperial Theater which was small backstage which was fine since we had a smaller group of dancers. That was my only year not danced at my home away from home aka the Maxwell Theater.
2009-10
Four years after Pam closed the studio Debbie Dye called Pam out of retirement to teach at the Augusta Youth School of Dance. Pam then proceeded to call a lot of her former Company dancers trying to get us in to be part of her Adult class that she asked for. Those of us that came back for this first year was: Julie Farris, Jennifer Taylor Sargent, Aletha Snowberger, Cara Scott, Amanda Corley, Nikki Colson, Blair Sullivan, Allison Moye and myself. Included in our class was also Molly Sullivan, Haley Sullivan, Whitney Sullivan, and Jessica Harris whom this was our first time meeting. Julie, Jennifer, and Aletha didn't do all the dances just the tap. Blair actually came towards the end and did a quick cameo on the tap. This was my first year of going to a tanning bed so I wouldn't be a ghost on stage.
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Those of us from Company were totally surprised when Pam actually had a dance ready for us on the first day of class which is so unusual as we don't normally start til after the New Year. Our first dance was to A.R. Rahman's "Jai Ho" which opened the recital to a workout of a Bollywood dance. The costumes were purple and pink. Halter tops of holographic purple with a pink sequin band on the bottom of it with dangling coins. The same purple material makes up the belt of the skirt with a detail of the pink sequins and dangling coins from the purple. The skirt is purple and pink chiffon cut into strips to make it easier for splits. During one of the classes we thought to try this one crouch spin to pop up like we've been doing in the dance into a lunge. I was like, "Ok, Cara and I will do it to see how it looks with the dance." When it came time turns out I ended up on the floor whereas Cara was still standing because she didn't do it. We all laughed when Pam said apparently Cara was waiting to see how it went with me before she tried it. HA HA! This was my first dance wearing what some called "foot thongs."
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Our next dance of the night was called "Hip Hop Divas" which was a hip hop dance made up of four songs: Ke$ha's "Tic Tok", Durrough's "Ice Cream Paint Job", Blackeyed Peas's "Boom Boom Pow", and ending with Micheal Jackson's "Smooth Criminal." Now we didn't dance through the whole of each song but was a great number. I greatly enjoyed learning some famous Micheal Jackson moves. The costumes were black para-shoot pants just under the knee, pink sequin halter top, and random wrist, arm, and hats. We tried out for the front position for this sliding part of "Boom Boom Pow" and I got one of those slots! Of course when recital came I messed up at one of the shows by almost sliding of the stage and losing my balance.
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After the intermission came a combo performance of a younger class with ours. They were dressed as adorable penguins dancing to "Happy Feet". When their dance was over Blair came out in a hilarious Penguin costume to help them off stage via this large igloo. Then she came out to the front center to start a funny dance to Vanilla Ice's "Ice, Ice Baby" at the end of her dance she waved us on out until we were all in our places. Our tap song was called "Penguins In Wonderland" which was actually Brittany Murphy's "Boogie Wonderland." A hard but amazing tap dance that Pam later brings back for a company class in a few years. The costume is black satin leotard with white pipping on the rib cage, halter style neck with white ruffles at the neck, black "suit" tail with white under.
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The final dance for our class was a lyrical called "Just Be Happy" but was actually Leona Lewis's "Happy". Only six of us actually danced: Allison, Whitney, Jessica, Cara, Molly and myself. We added in a few new steps that Cara had found via YouTube like a back rollover which I loved doing despite it giving my knee bruises from coming down. I actually got to choreograph the first couple of eight counts in the dance which was an amazing thing to do. Our costumes were made of a peachy coral chiffon and satin leotard, the chiffon draped jaggedly and braided into a strap over one shoulder.
2010-11
My second year at Augusta Youth School of Dance didn't quite have as fast a start as the year before. Of course my knee started to bother me a bit more this particular year. Aletha joined us for "All That Jazz" and "I Won't Dance With You."
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Our opening number was Chicago's "All That Jazz" that started off with a little bit of a chair dance. We had this one spot of the dance on the chair that we leaned back to almost touch the floor. One dance class close to recital I didn't have the correct placement for my butt and tipped right over! You can imagine the noise that made with a metal chair. Boy, did I have a bruised til bone going into crunch time for recital. After that fall I was more cautious doing that part of the dance. Then I had issues pushing up on another section with one leg due to my knee so I had to pull the other one in to help. Pam wasn't happy but I couldn't get up otherwise. The costume was a bit more expensive since it was more of a Ballroom costume plus, we got a black bob to look like Catherine Zeta-Jones character in Chicago. We had silver sequin chokers and elbow length black opera gloves. The costume itself was black, white, gray, and silver: black sequin bandeau with straps going into white panels in the front and back with silver sequins down to a fringe skirt of white, gray, and black, and the front and back are held together with black string crisscrossing on each side.
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Second number of recital is called "Everybody Dance Now" which is a hip hop that consisted of in order: Katy Perry's "California Girl", Dev featuring The Cataracs's "Bass Down Low", Justin Beiber's "Somebody To Love" and ending with Justin Beiber featuring Ludacris's "Baby". On the last song Blake Jeffcoat danced with us pretending to be Justin Beiber since he had the hair. While we did the front half of the dance he hung out behind a "dressing room door". At rehearsal he said he may not hear the knock so I asked if he wanted me to bang on it. He said yes, I did and apparently scared him! Made me laugh for a bit and even now thinking of it! On California Girls I was one of the three who sat on the edge of the stage doing our part. Basically I was center the whole dance just depended on if I was up front, middle, or back. Our costumes consisted of short black bicycle shorts, white knee high socks with pink stripes around the top, the pink top from last year with an off the shoulder mid drift black loose top with DANCE in silver across the chest.
A dance I didn't do but that was just beautiful was a number to the Beatles' "Black Bird" with a twist of Julie Farris singing with a guitarist. Sadly the sound was bad on the DVD due to the videographer not fixing his microphones to handle it. He stated the guitar wasn't loud enough but the singing was too loud. I would have danced it if Molly hadn't worked out but the dancers were Molly, Cara, and Allison. The costumes were beautiful, too!
Our tap dance was called "I Won't Dance Without You" which was a mixed song from the "Step Up 2" movie of Frank Sinatra's "I Won't Dance" and a some added hip hop beats which translated into a great tap. Pam actually had called me up in the middle of the dance year asking if I could find the song as sadly it wasn't on the soundtrack. Thankfully I was able to find it and there was our tap dance. Our costumes were an all red sequined one piece from a halter collar to shorts with a "suit" tail.
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For those of us who didn't do the "Black Bird" number danced a lyrical to Christina Perry's "Jar of Hearts". This is one dance I love to talk about because I had a solo that I choreographed myself adding a spin C-Jump. The C-Jump is another move Cara and I practiced after seeing it on YouTube. I hate thinking about it due to messing up at one of the shows by going too early which in turn made Nikki go early so it looked like a wave but wasn't suppose to be. Another issue was I was at the front of pyramid for the chorus and they wouldn't back up far enough to start so each time I was closer and closer to the edge but thankfully never fell off. This costume Pam was proud of because she put the jagged broken heart on the front of them as well as cutting the white skirt in strips so the red underskirt would show when we turned. The top of the whole outfit was a white tank top style and we tied a strip of red chiffon around our waists to have some hang.
2012
Our third year with Pam at the Augusta Youth School of Dance brought us closer together as a group than we were starting three years prior. We lost Amanda due to work but gained Keali Miller who ended up only dancing this year only. This was the only year I actually did dance portraits of myself and several of the dancers. I had a lot of fun doing mine as I'd go through the dance figure a good pose to stop and hit my remote before tossing it to wait for the camera to snap.
The opener of recital was to Aqua's "Barbie Girl" with guest dancer Blake Jeffcoat as Ken! This was my second year doing a dance in character shoes aka medium heels so I was getting used to it a bit more and not as nervous considering the slick wood floor. Molly and Blake start off in these large "Barbie" boxes of course one will be Barbie and the other Ken. Blake, in his tux, actually come out of his box until towards the end. We are in hot pink sequined short dresses with spaghetti straps.
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Michael Jackson's "Man In The Mirror" choreographed by Cindy Folger, who is a good friend of Pam's and works at Augusta West, was a favorite dance of mine. I was proud of Jessica for getting the solo section that started the dance with Allison and I joining her after an 8-count or two. I'm a little upset with myself for the 7 P.M. show as I lost my balance and didn't land where I was suppose to so instead of continuing as I should I scooted to try to get in place so as to not mess up the last group coming thru us. I was at least there in time to do my favorite back roll. Our costumes were simple with the black biker shorts from the year prior, a white men's dress shirt Velcro-ed closed, and a gorgeous sequined bra. My bra was hot pink. When it got to a climatic part of the chorus "Change!" we ripped open our shirts to show off the bras before continuing the dance.
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Our tap dance was to Celo Green's "Forget You". We danced to the whole four minute song leaving us out of breath from the cardio it was! I have to say it was a great workout each week practicing it. This was the first dance we ever did toe turns in our taps which was a lot of fun. The costume was a hot little number as in heat hot not sexy. HA HA! The bottom half was satin black shorts bottom of a leotard that goes into a royal blue velvet bodice then a right black velvet long sleeve accented with rhinestones down a line of the arm and caps off with a black feathery short skirt.
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Justin Beiber's "Boyfriend" was our hip hop dance. This was the first time we didn't have multiple songs in one dance. If I remember right we did some of the moves from the music video. It wasn't as much of a cardio as the previous years but was still a good dance. Our costumes were a black top with one shoulder having a wider strap than the other, green camo short shorts and the same camo long sleeves with a strip connecting them across the front and back . This was our first year dancing in silver sequined Keds which end up being our hip hop shoes from now on. I liked the new shoes as my pour black jazz sneakers that I've had since 1999 were falling apart due to use and age.
2013
Fourth year of dancing at the Augusta Youth School of Dance was a great year for me as I'd been working out and was trimmer than before. Plus, thanks to working at a production company I could have my hair any color I wanted. A month or so before recital I got rainbow hair: purple, pink, green, yellow, blue, red, and I think orange. I actually matched quite a few of my costumes with my hair. The recital theme was like it was back in 1999 which was "Calendar of Dance." Blair danced with us but couldn't do the recital due to being pregnant and not wanting to lose it but we talked her into being in one of our group photos. This was also our last year with Nikki and Whitney dancing.
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We didn't open the recital this year but we did perform second for February to Luke Bryan's "Country Cuties". This was a simple costume that was one we put together ourselves. Our own fun colorful tops - mine was blue with lots of ruffles, short jean shorts that I didn't find til rehearsal day, and brown cowboy boots! This was my first pair of cowboy boots that I've wanted a while. I really wanted to get red boots but couldn't afford them at the time. I wasn't a person to listen to country music but I enjoyed this song! About three fourths of the dance was with a chair. We had this one part that we do in the dance that I received a text from mom that said, "Nice butt shimmy!" HA HA! The move was a full body shimmy that I did fantastically. HA HA!
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September was a tap to you guessed it Earth, Wind & Fire's "September." Pam had previously tapped this dance herself back in 1999 with some Alumni Company dancers. I started teaching myself from the 1999 dance recital but Pam changed it up just a little.This was a hard tap in that the rhythm of the taps were slightly off from what you would think it should be to the music. Aletha joined us towards the end of the dance year but since she did it the first time she just had to pick up the slight changes. Cara didn't do this dance as she wasn't feeling the tap and I think wanted to cut down on how many costumes she had to pay for. Our costume was a cute short dress with spaghetti straps made up of horizontal strips of color from top to bottom: bright green, canary yellow, hot pink, and right blue with each layer having it's own black fringe falling down.
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For the month of October we did a jazz number to Whitney Houston's "Queen Of The Night" but started with Michael Jackson's "Thriller". We needed good music for coming down the isles frightening some of the audience due to the capes going over their heads. I laugh when I think of the screams. Pam had wanted us to wear our character shoes with this dance but we talked her into letting us wear our lyrical footies. She also found us black capes that I had to teach the girls the swirling around the head step from "Peter Gunn" before we put the capes to the back of the dance floor as they were a lot more difficult to work with than you'd think. The rest of the costume was black and purple lace and jagged layers of chiffon for the skirt which was a truly beautiful costume. She also found us fun adhesive "makeup" to go along with it. Oh, and we had to look for the right fish net hole size in the footless style. Sadly you can't see much of the front half of the dance on the video due to the guy not fixing his camera settings.
2014
This particular dance year we lost some dancers and gained one for the year. Whitney had to drop out due to her work schedule. Nikki and Blair dropped out due to being pregnant. Dustin joined us for just this year to keep his oldest daughter interested in dance.
Dancing Through the Decades was the theme for recital where they gave little interesting tidbits of history depending on the song or decade.
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The opener was LFMAO's "Party Rock" with the 'master' class that Pam was grooming for competition. The dance was energetic but not too difficult. At the actual performances the first part of the show was in black light which apparently looked great but didn't so much on video. I even tried to get the videographer to get a setting for it prior but apparently it didn't work too well. Our costumes was a black tank leotard to black and neon colored checkered design shorts. The top half looks like we are wearing two different tops as some of the designs on the shorts have some at the top. The black has a pink lined design on the font like chevrons down the center and cool hot pink straps around back. Then to finish it off is a fluffy "tail" of neon chiffon layers with some longer than others that makes me think of Rio De Janeiro's Festival and the costumes they wear.
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Our next dance was for the 1960 year to Lorde's "Royals". I was a bit nervous on learning this dance at first as Pam said we had to choreograph our own 16 count section toward the beginning of the dance. I kept wanting to do a tripping step for the "tripping in the bathroom". Now that I think about it she may have meant tripping as in on drugs than tripping over something on the floor. The dance was a beautiful number with a gorgeous costume. During the beginning section of our first show Aletha and I slammed into each other when we were doing turns towards and past each other. Since we have many years of dance under our belt we kept going although when we came back together for a dance step we kind of laughed. Later Aletha said she saw Pam was upset but trying not to laugh at the same time. Then due to the color of our costumes friends in the audience said we should smile as we all look one color. I didn't end up smiling the second time either because I was being the "lofty royal." The arm of the costume was suppose to be on the opposite arm according to the dance magazine but I asked everyone to do it on the right arm to cover my larger wrist tattoo.
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The last dance for the 1970 year was to Anna Kendrick's "Cups" from Pitch Perfect. Dustin said he was instrumental in getting her to do that song after showing her a YouTube video of a group doing a tap dance to it. I feel every year we learn new steps we hadn't mastered before. We even had a fun add on section with Haley and I starting the pull backs, then two dancers at the other end started the wings coming back. Pam did 2nd show with us and I think she didn't know if she was going to do it until maybe 15 minutes prior to the dance going on. I think it was a absolutely fun, technical dance. Our costumes were very classy.
2015
This year was a bit disappointing as Pam was so busy with the "company" that she didn't think much about us and our dances. We ended up coming in MAYBE five classes total within a month to rehearsal our one dance! The dance was called "Mirror Mirror" for a nod to the Disney theme but was actually 5th Harmony's "Reflection". I think with all the squatting moves we had in this dance that I think my thighs and butt would have been AMAZING if we had more time to practice it! HAHA! There was a section towards the end of the dance that we split into three groups and choreographed our own sections. I loved the "hat" accessory that came with the costume. Also, Blair came back to dance after she had her daughter, Eva.
2016
This turned out to be my last year for the time being. I would have tried to swing it again if Pam hadn't retired again as soon as the last show ended. I actually found out in between shows. Aletha wasn't able to join due to so many other responsibilities.
Our tap was to Pharrell's "Happy." Pam pushed us to work on our single wings. I think the reason was due to the teen class now doing wings so we had to step it up. I'm still not sure if I actually accomplished a single wing or if we just faked it really well! The real interesting parts of class was working on the circle section as well as our individual steps. I had started off with one combo to then have it changed. I found if I counted each of my 8 counts in my head while doing it then I didn't take it too fast and did it on the beat. Cara even had to remind me at the end of the dance for both shows to put my hands on my hips instead of crossed on my chest which made us smile bigger. The costume was gorgeous in color and style.
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The jazz character dance "Great Gatsby" was actually a song from the remake Great Gatsby's soundtrack by Fergie featuring Q-Tip and GoonRock called "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got)." I absolutely can't help but want to dance to this song. To make it more like a party we had about two to three 8 counts that we each choreographed before coming together for the dance. I definitely think I was getting closer to being able to do a split with my right leg forward. I had to be careful on how fast I went down on the center split since my legs only wanted to spread so far! HAHAHA! I was told to learn a section of the dance off a YouTube to teach everyone which went very well. Then Cara and I figured out this one jump-leap-turn-to-land-on-the-ground move to teach everyone else. A few times I accidentally slammed a knee, ouch! Pam was able to rent a pretty chandelier that was lit during our dance after the opening. There is some talking at the beginning of the song so we paired up to do those parts. The fun part was each group was spotlighted at each of their turns before it was turned off before the next group. I'm not a gold person but the costume was gorgeous. Cara created our hair accessory on the designs we each picked and color.
