i <3 dance

over the years, i have come to be quite the critic of dance.

it may be from my not quite 8 years of dance experience.

or, from my religious watching of the show So You Think You Can Dance

or from being a frequent attender of dance performances at BYU, my alum Thousand Oaks High, and at our rival school, Newbury Park, among others.

Last week, I was able to attend my high school's annual winter dance concert. it's the first one i've attended since i last performed in it myself, 4 years ago.

as always, it was fantastic.

great music, great sets and lighting, and of course, the dancing wasn't too shabby.

and for a high school dance department, that's pretty high praise.

although, it is tough, being as it's compared to the professionalism of SYTYCD.

both of my younger siblings are in the advanced dance class this year.

(there are 5 periods of dance-2 beginning classes, intermediate, advanced, and team)

kiana, a senior and bryce, a freshman.

bryce is also a member of the boys hip hop team.

(so entertaining to watch this tall, gangly, skinny white boy dance hip hop. i love it.)

their dances were some of my favorites.

the choreography blew my mind.

one, from the dance director's 18 year old daughter, was outstanding. made me feel slightly inadequate.

the other, from the team's coach (who also coaches at NPHS), who is eccentric, weird, but BLOODY BRILLIANT.

if anyone watches SYTYCD, i liken her to...sonya.  or wade robson. but still very unique.

i don't understand where some of these things come from, to be honest.

anyway, there was one piece from a group in the advanced class, which included my brother, choreographed by the coach, alexia, to the song ramalama by roisin murphy (LOVE--wade also choreographed to this 3 (or so) seasons ago). WEIRD. and DARK. slightly CREEPY as well.

but so stinkin' good.

Well, at our rival high school (where my mom and I now work, NPHS) their director is a former TOHS student and coach. she began their program and has taken a lot from us to get her started.

Their winter concert was tonight. yes, i got in for free (yay!)

their team coach (alexia) ran the whole program tonight, and although she is brilliant, it was hard to sit through.

the dancing is not even close to the level that TO is at. I blame it on the fact that they are still a young program, and that their director is out on maternity leave, so alexia was left to fend for herself, while also working at TO (talk about stressful!)

anyway, my point is--TO and NP have a close working relationship because of these alumni connections.

we ask them to be guest performers at our shows, and vice versa.

well, that one piece from advanced was the guest tonight.

they. blew. NP's TEAM. out. of. the. water.

literally, could have competed against, and beaten NP.

now, that isn't to say that the dancers on NP's team aren't good, because they are, individually.

it's just that, as a whole, they aren't very cohesive.

they'll get better.

but wow. GO TO. seriously. so good.

if i had video of it, i would post it.

that was the one dance i actually cat called---and i HATE that.

call me a hypocrite, but TO rocked the house tonight :)


on a wayyy different note (but maybe not so different...)
one) final 6 on SYTYCD? AWESOME. love ryan and ashleigh, and that they are together. HEART jakob, with all of my being.
second) does your best friend look like kris allen? yeah, i didn't think so. man, thank GOODNESS i only associate with good looking people ;) (he performed last night on SYTYCD-relevant still)