Region & State Drill

Region Drill was on Thursday, January 26, 2012. It was at Salem Hills High School. I did a countdown for the team again. We were spelling out the words elevate and passion. Here is a pic of the team on the day I brought sugar cookies in different alphabet letters and the team had to work together to figure out what the letters spelled.On the morning of Region, the moms brought breakfast to the team and they also received a special surprise. They got some cool black sparkly boots!

The team eating breakfast and waiting to open their surprise package!
This was a poster on the bus--it had cute dolls on it dressed in the costume for each of our dances!On the bus on our way to Region!Region DinnerThe team - showing their love to the crowd - just before the awards were announced.

Well, the awards were announced, and it was not what we were expecting! We ended up getting 2nd in each category and Salem Hills won 1st in each category. It was very upsetting, surprising, heart breaking, wow--I was in a state of shock, disbelief, whoa. I thought it was going to be close, but I didn't think Salem should have won every category. Especially military and dance. Maybe even character? I don't know. I think what made it hard, was that we had beaten them all year at each invitational, except for one time they beat us in character.

Needless to say, I don't have a picture of the team with their awards that night. The pic above is all I have as far as a team pic at Region. They didn't want to take a picture. We did have two girls place in the drill down! Hailey Bishop won 1st and Kimber Creer won 4th--which actually should have been 3rd. Another disappointment for our team. The caller said Kimber was out when actually Kimber executed the command correctly. But, what do you do? It is a judgement call--just like when a ref makes a bad call--you have to live with it.

I had always said that I didn't like it when a team takes 2nd and they cry. I would have loved to be 2nd so many times at Payson! But, now I totally understand why that happens! I kept thinking after the awards had been announced, we need to get out of here. Let's just get out of here and go to our locker room. We shouldn't be out here. I felt like everyone was staring at me and I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be doing? Oh, it was not fun! But, I tried to console people and also congratulate the winners. That's all I could do.

It's hard when you feel like your team has done all that it could--and it doesn't go the way you thought. I had someone ask me if I went in the locker room and yelled at my team? I said, "NO!" They did all that I wanted them to do that night. Seriously! Military was so good! Dance was good! Character did have a little bobble, but I still feel we had a better "character" routine! Well, all we could do was re-group and gear up for State!

We had our annual "Pre-State" Dinner party up at the Hiskey's house again. It was very nice! We had a pasta dinner and then yummy red velvet cheesecake for dessert. Here are a few pics:

The officers each prepared a motivational letter/thought for the team. I felt really good about things that night. I felt the team was ready and confident for State! We gave them a new shirt to wear to state. Normally it would have been a Region Champion shirt, but I decided to get them a shirt anyway and plus we could wear it to California!

The team - Pre-State Dinner Party

Well, State was another experience that I hope not to go through again. Well, I want to be at State with my team, but I don't want what happened to happen again!

We didn't hit our headstands in military! We hadn't had a fall in a long time! And we get to State, and bam-a couple bobbles! Well, we regrouped for dance and I told the team they had to come out strong for dance and show the judges that we were over what had happened in military! They performed the dance so good! But, when they walked on, they were too far back and they were out of bounds! I didn't know what to do--? Could I stop them and say move up? Oh dear, what does this mean? These were the thoughts going through my head.

Well, they ended up getting a penalty, for being out of bounds, but not as bad as I guess it could have been. But still, it meant getting 7th place instead of 3rd! Augh! It also meant getting 7th place overall instead of 4th! We did get 4th place in Character--which was good! But, Salem beat us in military. They beat us in Dance too--only because we got a penalty. If we hadn't received that penalty, we would have been 3rd and everyone else would have went down a place and so Salem would have been 6th in Dance. Salem ended up being 5th over all--but again, if we hadn't stepped out of bounds, we would have been 4th place and Mt. Crest would have been 5th and so Salem would have been 6th. I know all of this because I had Scott enter the scores in the tabulation program the next day after state and sure enough, that is how it would have been.

So, another lesson learned--don't start routines close to the back boundary! And, tell the girls to make sure they know to stay in bounds a million times! Augh! If I could go back in time!

This pic was on the Tribune website. It is my team waiting for the awards to be announced. A cool pic, but it also makes me kinda sad too!The team with our 4th place award in Character!Drill Down Winners again - Neisha Martinez 2nd and Hailey Bishop - 3rd in the State!All three of my girls that went to All-State made the team! They are amazing dancers and I am so proud of them. Aubrey, Makayla, and Kaitlynn - 4A All State Team members.

I am still a little heart broken about Region and State--but I have to remember how much my teams have accomplished in the past three years for being a new school! What a foundation they have built. A very high standard and a name for ourselves. I'm sure this all happened for a reason, and it was bound to happen sometime--but when I figure out why--I will post about it. Until then, I'm focusing on the positive and the fact that we would have been in the top five, we are a good team, and the judges placed us in dance before the penalty, so we are still up there. I also know some things have got to change for next year. I can't wait to get going with a new team and new ideas. Of course, I still have a lot of fun things to do with the current team too!

Region Preview 2011

We held our annual Region Preview on January 18, 2012. It is a big night for the team to perform all of their competition routines a week before our Region Competition. We invite a lot of the local dance studios to come perform as well. So, it is a fundraiser for us too!

We had a long program, because all of the studios wanted to perform at least three numbers this year. There were also a couple new studios and so it was a long night--but a good one! I felt it was a great success for our team!

Jeff Pocorro came and took some action shots of the team. I got all of these photos from his website. I'm so grateful-- he has taken some amazing shots of the team this year.

First, I have the team perform the BDT Camp Dance. Here are some pics from it:

Party Rock - the 2011 BDT Camp Dance
Then, I introduce each member of the team and give them a flower.Kimber

AubreyNeishaBryn, Madeline, and Lindsey

I didn't post pics of everyone from the intros--sorry! But here are some pics from each of our routines:

Hip hop - "Outta Your Mind"

Military - "Salvation"

I felt they really performed military well that night. They hit the headstands and everything looked really sharp!Dance - "Tigerlily"

I struggled with this costume this year - we kept adding to it to make it more "visible" on the floor. I think I learned a lesson - don't use gold or orange again--unless I have a darker, more bold color to go along with it!Lyrical - "Turning Tables"Character - "Samba Adagio"

Our character routine was an African/tribal theme. We had an "abstract" jungle made out of the cubes that we covered with greenery to look like vines. Then we had drums too. I loved the colors that we used. I knew our theme wasn't that unique and there were actually quite a few "tribal" character routines this year. Including Bountiful, the reining state champs! But, their tribal routine went above and beyond--they were on stilts! It was an amazing routine to watch! So good! Wow is all I could say! But, we did our best and really worked on our "character" of our routine.

We changed the way we did our hair and makeup for the performance that night. So, it took a little longer to get ready. I liked the changes though! I don't know why it took me 3 invitational competitions to figure out that I didn't like their hair and that the makeup needed to be something more dramatic! Oh well, I guess that is why you go to invitationals to get feedback and to make changes!

We invited Juab to come perform with us again. They did good too. Every time my aunt Lisa, Juab's coach, would come sit down by me to give me her music, I thought, what is that minty smell. Well, I finally asked her and she let me in on the secret. So now we had a "secret weapon" for Region and State. I have to admit at first, I didn't know if I thought it would work, but it did. I really felt it made a difference in some of the girls.

So, another Region Preview night was finished! A big success and it was fun to have "Elleve Alumni" there to support us! I even invited them down to do the traditional drill down at the end of the performances with us. It was fun--I'm sure I will make that a tradition too!

Salt Lake Valley Classic & Murray Classic Drill Team Competitions

The Elleves competed in two more invitational drill team competitions in January. First, on January 6 & 7 we competed in the Salt Lake Valley Classic competition at Juan Diego High School.

This year, I actually had someone competing in the solo competition. Shalee is the very first Elleve to compete in a solo competition!

Shalee Hiskey - a junior member of my team. Here she is in her solo costume. Her routine is to the song, Pop, Drop and Roll. She did awesome and won 1st place in the 4A Jazz division!

Me, Laney, Makayla, Shalee, Hailey, Madeline, and Jamie.

I drove a suburban up to watch Shalee compete and the girls pictured above came up with me. We had to load the character props before we left and then I got a little lost on the way to Juan Diego, but we were still going to be there in pretty good time. But, I guess they were running way ahead and things were somewhat disorganized? Anyway, Shalee's mom texted us and said Shalee is on next we we were pulling into the parking lot of the school. I stopped the suburban at the door and had the girls run in so at least they would get to see the whole thing! I quickly parked and ran in, but I just barely missed seeing her perform! Oh well, as least her team mates were able to see her dance!

Shalee - doing a move from her solo.

The next day, bright and early, the whole team came up for the team competition. It went pretty good. Bountiful was there and so was Hillcrest, two top competitors in the 4A division this year. We ended up taking 2nd in Hip Hop, 2nd in Lyrical, 2nd in Military, 3rd in Dance, and 2nd in Character.

The team with the trophies.

We also had three girls place in the drill down. Neisha Martinez won 1st place, Aubrey Finch won 2nd place, and Laney Melton won 3rd place! Awesome!

One week later, on January 14th, we competed in the Murray Classic Competition at Murray High School. We had another great day--this time we ended up being 1st in Hip Hop, 2nd in Lyrical, 3rd in Military, 3rd in Dance, 4th in Character. But, we won two other trophies. One for Exceptional Technique. This one was decided on by the judges. We also won this award last year, so I felt good about receiving it again for the second year in a row! Then, we also won the Sportsmanship award! This was voted on by all the teams. The girls felt very honored to have received this award--it meant a lot to them!

The team with the trophies.

Drill down winners again - Aubrey Finch, 1st place, Melissa Durtschi, 2nd place, Makayla Wilson, 4th place, and Kaitlynn Blood, 5th place! Elleves rock at drill down!

The seniors at their last invitational competition of the year!

Well, the invitationals are over. Now all that is left is Region and State.

Celebrating Birthdays

Me, my mom, and sisters all got together on December 3o to celebrate my birthday and Amy's birthday, which is in January. We usually get together during Christmas break because we all can make it work then with all of our schedules, etc.

We decided to meet at The Cheesecake Factory in Salt Lake. It was yummy as usual. Here is a pic of the cheesecake:


I love how they decorate it! It was delicious too! My favorite kind is the white chocolate macadamia nut. We also shared a piece of the Red Velvet Cheesecake! It is so good too!

Here I am with my birthday cheesecake!

Amy with her birthday cheesecake.

We had a great time chatting and then we did a little shopping afterwards. It's always a fun get together, even when it is for your birthday and you don't like the fact that you are getting older!