nuvo Dance Convention

Long recap post.. at least read the last paragraph at the bottom.. exciting stuff!!!

This weekend Maddie attended the nuvo dance convention in Westminister!! It was SO MUCH FUN!!! I think this is the best convention we have ever been to. The competition was amazing the dances were incredible and the teachers were freaking awesome!! When I saw the line up I about pee'd my pants with excitement! There were so many choreographers from SYTYCD and a couple that I really love!!

So first on Friday she had her first class from 8-9 pm. It was with Ivan Koumaev and it was Hip Hop and Robert from last seasons SYTYCD was the "helper" The comp had run late so it was a long night but once the class got started everyone was wide awake and excited to dance. He is an excellent teacher and Maddie really loved his class and the routine.

Saturday didnt start until the afternoon. We went early so we could watch her fellow class mates compete and they did a great job. Her first class was Jazz with Cooper and that was a lot of fun (on Sunday I ended up taking his parent class which was so much fun too!)

Then it was Jazz again with Stacey Tookey.. whom I love! That was also a great class but pretty hard and fast. Again Jazz with Mark Meismer and again fun good class. They had only a 30 minute break for dinner which was really only like 15 minutes from running late :(

Anthony Morigerato taught Tap and he is so amazing! He taught those kids some super hard fast fast moves in no time, I couldnt believe how fast they picked this stuff up! This summer he will be performing a dance in hopes to win the fastest taps in a minute for a world record.. he taps 18 taps in ONE SECOND.. uh what!! He showcased it for us after the comp today and it was amazing!

Kim McSwain taught a Jazz/Lyrical and Maddie has had a class with her and she moves fast but omg she is so dang funny and so so good with the kids! Super cute dance! She was teaching them the dance they would do for scholarship auditions so it was fast paced. The parents were then kicked out of the rooms.

Then they had hip hop with Ivan again to learn a new dance! And then at 9:30 we headed home! Maddie was out like a light in the car and I had to carry her in to bed!

We had to be back by 8 so we were up early this morning. Maddie was slow to get up for a few minutes then snapped awake realizing what was ahead and was super pumped to get moving.. love this girls happy attitude!!

So today they had Jazz, across the floor, hip hop and ballet. I ended up missing her ballet so I could run and grab lunch since they only have 45 minutes and I didnt think another lunchable was gonna cut it, so we had noodles!! YUMMY! After a couple days of eating crackers and water I was ready for food and Maddie downed it like she hadnt eaten in days! And of course we ate some rice crispies too!! (Tami you would have loved it they were perfect!)

So then it was Tap and I went to the parent class during that.. which I wasnt to sad about since the tapping gets pretty darn loud!

Then.. THEN it was time for TRAVIS FREAKING WALL to teach Lyrical!!!!! Oh man I cant even tell you how excited I was for that... oh and Maddie was too lol!

He was amazing of course! It was a pretty hard class and Maddie doesnt take any lyrical so I was a littly worried that she would fall behind or get confused but oh my goodness she was picking it up so quick! There are a lot of spins and extensions that she doesnt have but what she didnt have in technique she made up in style! After watching her for about 1/2 the class I started to get emotional. Watching her work so hard in a style she has no clue about and watching her do really well being one of the youngest was really cool! And when it wasnt her groups turn she was off to the side working on it and marking. She improved a ton each time it was her groups turn.. I was so proud of her!

After the class was over we ran to get a photo of her with Travis.. no cameras are allowed but after watching a bunch of parents do it I thought HEY Im gonna do it too right!

With her little friends.. and then getting her booklet signed. She got every teachers signature on that book!!

After the group shot she decided she really needed one alone.. I was a total cheeseball and told him how much we love him and how great he is and I know he gets a million moms doing the same thing but he acted really touched by that!

So after the last class I wanted to go home, it was just going to be a big pow wow to give out scholarships to the best kids.. I figured it would be to all the company dancers, but I had a feeling we should stay.. boy and I glad we did!!!

YEP Maddie ended up getting a $250 scholarship!! Each teacher gets to pick a few students that they really noticed and did a really great job. Its called the Stand Out award, for kids who stood out to them!! Well Ivan (hip hop) was the very last one to announce his and guess what, he called Maddies name and number!!! I thought she was rocking that class but Im her mom so it never crossed my mind that he would agree!! She wasnt sitting with me but I saw her pop up and walk through the crowd to go get it and I couldnt wait to put my arms around her! If you were there you would have seen what a big deal it was for her to get this recognition. First of all the company dancers there from other places were amazing and were considered the "big wigs" in Colorado. Usually our company does really well and gets top billing but not this one.. they did great but they werent winning it all. Maddie isnt even part of our company she just went as one of the invited dancers. So her not being in one of the "BIG" companies that were taking it all and not even being part of the competing companies and getting this was a big freaking deal! After they were done she came running to me and I scooped her up and gave her a big hug and we both cried... ya we are cheesy and classy like that!!

Im so dang proud of how hard she worked.. seeing these other girls and how amazing they were was pretty intimidating to me so for her to not give up and work her booty.. and shake it hard enough to get noticed in a room of over 100 girls is just cool!

Love my little dancing diva!!!!