Competition Day!

My tappers: Piper, Audrey, me, Mia, Lilly, Zoe.

I've been to dance competitions before as an observer, but never as a choreographer. Last summer, the director of the studio I work for asked me to choreograph a tap dance for their competition team. Of course I said yes! We've been working on a Backstreet Boys piece since September-ish, and we finally brought it to competition yesterday. And I've learned a few things.

1. Competition pieces and recital pieces are NOT the same. Recital pieces need to be polished, and you can alter the choreography, and make it easier for everyone to execute flawlessly. Competition pieces need to be flawless and difficult. 
2. You cannot take shortcuts, as a choreographer, especially if the students are competing in higher age levels and classes. If you do take shortcuts, you won't place. 
3. Competing is hard work, and I'm amazed at our students at ASA. They're awesome.

Even though my tap girls didn't place, I am SO proud of them. Unlike the other tap groups who have probably been tapping for over 10 years, my group probably has, collectively, 10 years under their belt. They love the piece. They love putting on those shoes. They're spunky, they have attitude, and I love them.

I know I'm supposed to be a hardass, as it is a competition piece. And I'm going to work on upping the difficulty and really drilling it into the kids, but I can't help but have the proud mother feeling and mentality...