One of our annual regional competitions has always been Showstopper and this year was no different. What was different was the location. Showstopper decided to split Houston into two different regionals this year. Lucky for us, instead of the usual drive to the other side of Houston we only had a 10 minute drive across the highway! Not sure which I like better - being close to home or staying in a hotel for the weekend - but the stress of "Did I forget anything?" was not missed at all. This did make the competition smaller than usual though. In Junior Large Groups there were only 10 groups in our level and seven were from our studio. Makes the results look great on paper, but it's nice to see how you stack up against other studios. Somehow it didn't make Teen Solos any smaller, we still had to sit through 6 hours of them. My daughter should never question my love for her! 💖
One major issue from the weekend was the set-up of the two rooms. They were next to each other and instead of closing off each room, the last two sections were left open. Yes, that means you could hear music, cheering, and announcements from the other room. It was horrible when watching a beautiful lyrical in your room and there is a thumping jazz number going on in the other. To top it off the merchandise and photo tables were located inside room 1. That only added to the movement in the room and since the lights weren't dimmed you saw everything. I hope that if they keep this location in future years, these things are corrected.
Groups went well and all three of hers placed in their respective top 5. Trio started off really good, but got off somewhere - I've seen them do much better in the studio.
Where I have seen the most growth is in her solo. As you can read in my last post, she ended last year on a sour note and doubts were steadily creeping in again. The night before her solo I asked her if she was nervous. She said "Not really, I figure there are only 4 people who are there to judge me and the rest are there to support me, so no need to be nervous." She blew me away with that! Her confidence on stage was awesome, her timing was the best I have ever seen from her, and I could not have been more proud.
Next weekend we are off to Starbound.
Click here for the video of her solo "A Million Years Ago" choreographed by Dawn Dippel, North Harris Performing Arts.
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| "Wasting My Young Years" trio |
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| One of my favorite still shots a friend captured. |
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| Big Brother there to support his little sister. |
