Dance life

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The audition episodes on SYTYCD are over! Wednesday’ show started off with Tyce as the guest judge. My team and I met Tyce at a convention where he taught us jazz before he became popular on SYTYCD, and we didn’t even like him then.  On the audition show my friends and I couldn’t stand him because he was so mean to all the contestants.  The show tries to find America’s best dancer, but it also encourages dancers to keep going and work hard.  Tyce was yelling at the contestants, telling them they were disgusting and horrible and I’m pretty sure his remarks discouraged hundreds of dancers.  He was way too harsh on dancers who were just trying to have fun. He should not be invited back to audition week. Lil C on the other hand, who was the judge who followed Tyce was a lot more respectful.  He told the dancers to keep dancing for themselves even though the show might not be right for them. Thanks Lil C that’s what you’re supposed to say!  Some of my favorites from Wednesday’s show were Pricilla (one of the first to go) Janette and Runolo (ballroom couple) Erik (the tap/hip hoper) Anna (who used lots of head) and Evan and Ryan (brothers).  Pricilla was so beautiful, and one of my favorites from this season, but the judges didn’t give her enough credit.  Janette and Runolo did that fantastic split kick that was featured in the commercials, they’re the type of couple who makes you wish you had a man to dance with. Erik was a tapper, but he added his own hiphop flavor into it, and he had such a funny personality.  Anna was great, and I was sure she would be sent straight to Vegas, but the judges didn’t like her head movements (which I thought added a lot or personality) and made her do choreography.  The reverse happened for Marico who did Memphis Duking which seemed like nothing special but he made it all the way to Vegas.  The last auditions to go were Evan and Ryan.  Evan did a really original broadway type routine, it had a cool 40’s theme and it was so refreshing to see a guy dance like that.  His brother was a tapper with a whoopi cushion, which sounded like a bad idea but it worked out really well and I really liked him.  I think Pricilla and Evan will do well in Vegas. 

The next day (Thursday) the guest judges were Adam and Mia, who are both amazing judges.  The show started off with a tap dancer who was good, but I didn’t think he was a ‘monster’ as Nigel said.  The next couple who auditions were brother and sister and they were strangely sexual with each other.  There dancing was horrible…they were falling everywhere and it was just painful (yet funny) to watch.  Then a 30 year old swing dancer auditioned and the next thing I know Adam (the guest judge) was on stage dancing with her.  He is such a nice and funny guy, and they were actually pretty good for complete improvisation.  The BEST part of the show was Nathan.  He’s 17 years old and so hot, and when he started dancing I was blown away.  I’ve never seen turns like that, my mouth was hanging open.  He is too young for the show, but he got a ticket to Vegas for season 6! That was such a nice thing to do and it was well deserved. I also loved Philippe and Amanda’s duet.  Philippe is the popper who battled on the finale of season four but didn’t go to Vegas because he was sick.  He went straight to Vegas before he even auditioned, but his duo with his friend Amanda was so beautiful.  They are such a cute couple and I just wanted them to kiss at the end it was so cute.  I hope Phil does well in Vegas, but I’m not sure he’ll do well in other styles.  I can’t wait for Vegas week, I’m so excited to see how everyone does.

So You Think You Can Dance is starting…no, I don’t mean the auditions in Canada, I mean the original show is back on TV.  Last Thursday was the first episode of season five, but I didn’t get to see it since I was in the middle of a storm in the Dominican and the satellite wasn’t working in our resort. Sadly I only got to watch it last night, but I’ll still be up to date before the next episode airs tomorrow.

The sad thing about the SYTYCD audition shows is the minimal exposure for so many talented dancers.  Not only are there thousands of dancers who don’t get on camera, but there are all those dancers who actually make it to the next round and still don’t get any exposure.  At the end of auditions in each city they announce how many people got in, the number is usually around 20. Of those 20 or so dancers who made it out of thousands we only get to see four or five if that.  Then again, I understand they have to show bad dancers, like the weird cat/star wars girl. 

I would like to go over my opinions on some of the dancers who were actually talented.

First of all Gabi (the first audition of the show) was supposedly the best audition Nigel had seen throughout the five years…I didn’t agree with that.  She was beautiful, but I wouldn’t say she was the best ever, I can’t even remember her routine.  Mutation were so creepy, but I really liked them. It’s too bad they just gave up on choreography. Nabuya, the Japanese locker who could barely speak English was so cute. I really like him and I’m so glad he got in. I loved Arielle, her routine is one of the few that stands out in my mind.  She had one move where she would cover her eyes that I just loved because she was so passionate.  Nina and Igor (the ballroom couple) were so cute.  Nina got spun around forever, and that’s basically what I remember from the dance, oddly though she wasn’t even the one to make it from the duo, Igor did.  Kellen was the dancer who had the umbrella, and he was so good.  I was almost crying at the end of his routine when he said that the umbrella represented his dead aunt because she was his shelter.  He was so genuine.  Chimezie is the one I remember the most because he was the one dancer I got to see while I was in Punta Cana.  The satellite came back on for a total of three minutes and I got to watch his audition and see that he went through to the next round before the satellite went out again. He seemed like such a nice guy, he didn’t care that Nigel kept saying his name wrong.  And I really like his whole driving the car theme of his dance.  The male partnership wasn’t so cool though. I actually saw potential in it, but the dance was just weird and the fall at the end made me feel so bad. My favorites were Natalie, Kati’s friend and Brandon, check them out.

Natalie’s dancing was so weird but interesting, and the amazingly weird Mowhawk judge Sonia was obsessed with her. She has such a great personality and I want her to make it all the way. Brandon was amazing! His dancing worked so well with the music and everything was so perfectly executed.  Both of the dancers just missed the cut, it was between them and one other person in both cases, so this is their year.  My predictions: Natalie and Brandon and Gabi will make it to the top twenty.

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Tomorrow’s the day of the So You Think You Can Dance Canada auditions in Montreal.  Even though I’m not auditioning myself I’m still really excited for everyone who is.  The best part of the audition process (that we get to see on TV) is when you recognize a dancer you know. Last season I recognized Justin Jackson, an amazing tap dancer who I’ve seen in countless competitions over the years. This year I’m hoping to see Jamie, who’s representing our dance school Cameron.  I can’t wait to see the Montreal auditions, and I hope that tomorrow goes well, not only for Justin and Jamie, but for everyone. Good luck guys, and I hope you have a blast!

After I finished writing my last lovely blog to you all I had to run back to the hotel in the rain.  The intense pouring rain, the rain where the rain drops are big and heavy, the kind of rain that comes down so hard and fast you forget where you’re going cause everything is just one blur of wetness in front of you.  Running in the rain was fun the first time, the second time it was not so much fun, I was alone and I was holding my way too big and way too heavy laptop and I got lost and took the long way around.  Finally I get back to my hotel room and dry off where I met dad and Connie (who also had to run back in the rain).  We all sat down together, turned on the TV, and were about to watch So You Think You Can Dance…but the satellite wasn’t working because of the bad weather…so I missed my favorite show, the one I’d been looking forward to watching all day.  I gave up, read my book, and went to bed. 

Yesterday (the next day) we woke up and it must have been a combination of rain, cold, home sickness, and the overall depression that a place so hot and beautiful could get so cold and gloomy, because things weren’t working out well.  Connie was feeling sick all day, from the moment she woke up until she went to sleep, so that puts a damper on everyone’s mood.  We had fun intentions though, we were going to go on a bike tour at 10:30, but no one was standing by the bikes.  We checked at 10, then 10:22, then 10:30, then repeatedly through out the rest of the day, but no one was ever there, so that plan wasn’t successful.  Instead we just sat by the pool (where I read).  It was cold and I was getting grumpy, and the uncomfortable chairs were driving me crazy, so I forced us all (even poor sick Connie) to migrate to the beach.  I lay my towel on the sand and finally got comfortable and read my book (the 6^th book I’ve read so far). That’s when dad started playing beach volleyball with a bunch of other Italians. Even though I wasn’t playing it was a lot of fun watching them and hearing them playfully tease each other in Italian (I have no idea what they were saying but they seemed to be laughing and enjoying themselves).  We went back to the room for warmth and to get ready for supper after dad finished his third game. 

I had a strange craving for pizza and fettuccini alfredo all day.  I had pizza for lunch and all I wanted to end this slightly sad day on a high was my fettuccini alfredo.  We decide to go to the Italian restaurant (which was overly air conditioned) but they had no alfredo sauce. How pathetic. A few nights earlier I had had pasta and alfredo sauce at the buffet, so dad offered to go bring me back a bowl of alfredo sauce to put on the plain pasta I ordered.  There was no alfredo sauce that day. Double pathetic. So I had my pasta with four cheese sauce which was very strong (but it managed to satisfy my desire for cheesy sauced pasta). I went to bed very early last night hoping that today would be better. 

Today we woke up and I had a lovely breakfast of pancakes J. Things were really looking good for today. Over breakfast we planned out our itinerary so we could try things we haven’t done on our last day while still having lots of time to relax on the beach.  We went to the bikes at 10ish to go on the bike tour and yay people were there. At 10:25 it starts to rain, and the bike tour is cancelled.  Oh well, it’s just a few droplets in warm weather, so we stayed by the pool.  Then it started raining harder, I had to join Connie under the umbrella and I still wasn’t dry.  I was covered in blankets trying to stay warm and dry and the rain was coming down so much it took us five minutes to muster up the courage to make a run for our room (we were the last people by the pool by then). Back I shower and decide to dry my hair, myself, my clothes and my shoes with the hairdryer.  Sadly the most heat I felt all day was when my dad blew the hair dryer in my face when my eyes were closed and said, “Imagine the warm beach.” After that we watched TV…lots of TV (too much for a tropical vacation) and we constantly checked out the window to see if the rain had stopped. When it did we went to the beach and managed to get in a good 18 minutes of sun and I’d say less than half an hour kayaking.  Dad and kayak don’t exactly mix well, and I had a great time laughing at him when he and the kayak flipped over as he tried to get inside.  Well it started raining and here we are, back in the room listening to the thunder and lighting as the power flickers on and off.  The power outage isn’t the problem, it’s the flooded streets.  Looking outside our room the ground is a pool.  The paths and the grass are indistinguishable; they’re all just one big brown wet murky muddy mess. The resort is flooded…what are we going to do for supper?

Well it turns out that the power outage really was the problem, because when the rain started to slow and the roads were drained and almost dry we were able to easily walk to the Mexican restaurant. But when we got to the restaurant it was pitch black. We had to read the menus outside (under the moon light…how poetic) then we sat eating nachos in the dark.  The lights came on (and we happened to be taking a picture at that exact moment so we caught our excited reactions – it’s not a very good picture though) but soon they faded out again.  We ordered in the dark, ate with light, waited for desert in the dark, ate desert with light, then left in the dark.  It was an interesting meal after an interesting day.  That night we planned to get back to our itinerary and watch a kid’s movie then go to the show…well neither of those events went on at the resort, instead all the dancers and entertainers were in the lobby dancing with the old men and women at the resort.  It was fun to watch, but kind of depressing at the same time because I was just sitting down watching, no one but an old drunk man who looked like a turtle asked me to dance.  Oh well.  That night I slept well, and we woke up bright and early to the warm sun on our last day.  Of course the day we leave is the day the rain stops and the sun rises to a beautiful blue sky.  We managed to get a few hours of tanning in before we had to wait half an hour for our bus that never came. We paid extra for a ride to the airport and then flew home to see all our friends and family YAY! Despite everything that went wrong, it was still a fun trip, and I’m glad I went.

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Ola! I’m starting to miss you all more and more, but I’m having a great time here just relaxing and trying not to worry about anything back home.

A few nights ago Connie and I went to another one of the shows they put on each night.  This time it had some sort of theme going, I thought it was west side story because it used the same music, but then it turned out to be more of a rich people vs. street gang type thing.  Rich girl falls in love with random guy from other group and her bf fights for her.  It was very cheesy, and the dancers did a lot more awkward acting than was necessary in my opinion.  At one point the two groups were fighting and they were throwing tires at each other (random prop eh?) and it went on for a good minute…no dancing just throwing tires (it seems like they forgot the point of what they were doing) until one guy got hit in the stomach with the tire.  Haha. The whole time there was this one girl (she was really tall but that’s a completely useless fact) who did nothing but stand in the background as an extra.  She tried to dance (in the back of course) but she didn’t seem happy about it.  It was just funny, the music, the acting, the not so much dancing, the lip singing (where they just stop mid word), basically the whole thing, but I enjoyed it for all of those reasons.

The next day (yesterday) was our typical day in the Dominican. Wake up, eat breakfast, sit by the beach, sit by the pool, read, drink lemonade, eat pizza for lunch, swim, sit by the pool some more, finish my book, go back to the hotel and get ready for supper, take a nap, go to supper, then go to the coffee place after diner.  This is our daily routine, but yesterday while we were in the coffee shop it was raining.  Dad wanted to get a drink in the lobby before we went back to the hotel to watch American Idol and maybe avoid walking home in the rain.  As we were sitting, Dad and Connie sharing a cigar, it started to pour.  Thunder, lighting, the whole bit, as we were sitting in the hut of a lobby.  The rain started whipping us in the face since we were sitting close to the edge, but there was no where to move to.  Rain started pouring in the unfinished roof of the lobby flooding it (the poor guy with a mop didn’t know what to do). The ground was wet the seats were soaked everyone was huddled close together trying to avoid the rain while taking pictures of it to prove to their friends back home that it was really that bad. 

It was 8:00, so we decided to make a run for it back at our hotel, it didn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon.  The water went up to our ankles on the ground outside, it was pouring from the roof of the buffet as we try to dog the downpour.  It reminded me of the rides at waterparks where the water is pouring straight above you and you try to steer your tube the other way but you go right into it, head on, soaking yourself.  Well we were soaked, screaming and laughing as we ran splashing in the dark back to our hotel.  We get back, dry off, and watch American Idol (go Kris).  Then we go to sleep and start our whole routine over again today.   The only exceptions today are that we played beach volleyball and went to the restaurant Wasabi where I ate Japanese food for the first real time.

So to pick up where I left off, I left the internet café and the nightly show was starting so Connie and I joined the audience. I was really excited because I saw the dancers rehearsing and they seemed really good.  The show starts and some cheesy lip singer (yes, I know, it’s lip sync but I think that sounds gay) came on.  The dancers followed soon after, and I was slightly disappointed with the final product.  They were off timing a lot of the time and one of the dancers just looked really awkward.  She was putting so much into her moves she looked like she was flailing around the stage as a joke.  The others were doing okay, but dancing in almost every act really took a toll on them and they looked tired and bored…their faces seemed dead at points. Their costumes (for the girls) were really short and skimpy and I couldn’t believe that they would actually show their entire butts (just a thong) on stage.  It made me happy that none of them were stick skinny like most dancers I see (on TV and in my dance school).  The lifts were really impressive too, and they seemed so effortless for them; lift after lift the men were strong and the women looked great.

I enjoyed watching the practice more than the show itself because it seemed less artificial.  They were wearing their regular clothes, their hair was down, they were marking the moves they seemed really happy and relaxed just dancing for themselves, not an audience. The awkward girl wasn’t dancing so intensely, she actually looked good, and I got to see their true personalities. One of the dancers was kick-boxing during practice and one couple was flirting by the side.  In the show they all blend together. But in the show and during practice I was just happy to be watching dancing because it reminded me of my school and all my friends.

Today (the next day) we got up and went to those Dominican shops.  I felt bad ignoring most of them, but they were way too aggressive constantly saying they prices were the lowest then offering more than twice what we wanted to pay.  I did manage to get most of my souvenirs though, yay! Other than that experience the day has been really relaxing, I just read and took a nap by the pool.  Having nothing to do is kinda stressing me out, but by going online at 4:30 in the afternoon I feel like a loser since no one is online to talk to me.  I am trying really hard to get a tan guys, I really am, but I just can’t compete with those old people whose skin is brown and shiny like a roasting chicken’s. I miss you!

I’m on vacation…and yes I am burnt, sorry mom. 

So I got off the plane and couldn’t believe I was actually at an airport. People were singing and dancing in exotic clothes in what looked to me like big huts…nothing close to an airport.  We got on our bus and I was welcomed to our resort by the song bongolayas congolayas that I used to sing in grade four (I thought we invented that song).  We explored our resort when we got here (we had some time before supper) and it’s a complete maze! I’m almost positive the big map showing where everything is put the ‘you are here’ marker in the wrong place just to confuse everyone.  We manage to get where we need to g by taking the long way around. 

Everything is cold, and it’s raining right now.  Yay…(sarcasm).  We lay on the beach for hours after breakfast, but it was windy and cloudy.  I’m on almost done my second book, I’m sure I’ll be reading a book a day if the weather stays this gloomy.  I had pizza for lunch, that was yummy, then we went to the pool (which was too cold to swim in) and guess what…read some more. That’s when it started raining and we went back to the room where Connie and dad were playing volleyball in our hotel (and she broke a light haha)…I was reading.  We went out to our hotel meeting, but I got distracted along the way when I saw people dancing.  They were rehearsing for the show tonight, and I’m really excited to see it.  We didn’t go to the show last night…we went back to our hotel and watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding.  Dad and Connie fell asleep half way through the movie.  After the movie ended I was reading my book when I heard the music and all the cheering from the show around the corner.  I wished I could be part of the action, but I stayed in and fell asleep to the sound of my dad’s snoring. 

Back to what I was originally saying, about today, after watching the rehearsal I met up wit Dad and Connie and we went to the pool/bar.  We were swimming and talking and playing volleyball and monkey in the middle until we were all pruney and it started to rain.  We went back to our hotel room and we all put after sun on our burns and got ready for supper at the Italian restaurant.  Supper was good, then we went to the casino and watched a lady lose and gain thousands of dollars in a matter of minutes at the roulette table, and a man win 125$ at the slots, all while we bet and lost little over 20$. Then I tried to steal internet to write this, but I was unsuccessful, so I’m not sitting in a very expensive internet café sharing my experience with you all. 

Enjoy, I miss you!

*originally written for lexiyoga.com

Yoga has a certain appeal to it.  Everyone hopes to be more relaxed, more flexible, and feel better about themselves and their lives, and yoga can help us to fulfill all these desires and more.  I was attracted to yoga for all these reasons, but as a young and blooming dancer I was really just in it for the fun.  Without really understanding what I was getting into I signed up for a local beginner yoga class.

Unknowingly I approached yoga the same way I approach dance.  As a dancer I constantly push myself in each class, and I can watch my progress and success by looking at my reflection in the wall length mirror at my studio.  I try to do my best, but I’m constantly comparing myself to the other dancers reflected in the mirror around me.  My instinctive competitive nature and my stubborn determinism made for one overly motivated yogini. 

I was so enthusiastic about yoga I bought myself a pocket sized ‘Yoga for Dummies’ book so I could learn between classes.  While I was flipping through the pages I saw someone leaning down touching the ground with their nose on their knees. I was blown away.  Seeing the human body bend that way seemed unnatural, but I was more surprised to discover that it was a move we did everyday in the ‘Sun Salutation’.  Most of my class couldn’t even touch the ground, so our noses were no where near our knees.  Even I, one of the most flexible ones in class, only managed to get my nose a foot away from my knees.  After seeing the picture and discovering what move 3/10 really looked like I had made up my mind: I was going to touch my nose to my knees by the end of my yoga classes.  Every class during the ‘Sun Salutation’ I concentrated all my energy on reaching my goal.  At first I was upset when I couldn’t reach lower, I constantly felt bad about myself, as if something was wrong with me preventing me from achieving my goals.  At some point, I felt myself getting closer and from then on my mentality changed.  I started feeling optimistic about my goals, and I didn’t feel like they were a dark cloud looming over me.  Each time I performed the ‘Sun Salutation’ I felt better and better, about myself and my body.  I remember feeling happy, oddly and overwhelmingly happy, when I touched the ground because I felt like today could have been the day.  Then I stopped caring about my goal and I just embraced the feeling I got every time I did the stretch, that’s when my nose finally touched me knees.  I was really proud of myself, and I showed my friends and family, but in class I didn’t care anymore, whether my nose and knees touched or not it didn’t matter.  I was just really happy and content while I was doing yoga. 

When I first started my yoga classes I looked around at the others in my class and I compared myself.  I pushed myself to be more flexible than everyone else, and I made a point of doing all the moves at their most difficult variations just to prove to myself that I was able to.  I didn’t understand the real nature of yoga.  I was too caught up in my own juvenile world to let go and forget about impressing anyone, even myself.  But through my oblivion I realized why yoga is so special.  My mind and body felt more connected than ever, and I truly believe that when I no longer had negative energy my body responded accordingly and I was able to fulfill my goals. It’s about attitude, and that applies to all aspects of our life.

When people hear that I am a dancer one of the first things they ask is if I will try out for So You Think You Can Dance.  Of course it would be a great opportunity and a lot of fun, but it just isn’t me, and I know a lot of other dancers who feel the same way.  I love dancing, but I’m not a soloist, I’m a group dancer.  I’m part of a team and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

This weekend was the CanDance competition and we did fantastically.  At the competition, and a few others this season, I realized how close we are as a team.  

Our first dance was ‘500 Miles’, a dance which requires a lot of energy and endurance.  By the last minute of the dance we’re usually all exhausted, but this time everyone seemed to find an extra boost of energy…everyone except me.  I was having a great time dancing when my energy started to drain.  I started to think too much and I could see my kicks going lower and I felt incapable of pushing myself that extra amount.  I came off stage disappointed in myself and I looked around to see all my team mates smiling.  My teacher said it went well, my parents and friends said it went well, and I was the only one it seemed who didn’t feel it went well.  Because everyone was so happy about the dance their enthusiasm rubbed off on me, and within minutes I was raving about the dance too, almost forgetting about my lack of energy.  

Our next dance was ‘Maestro’, a dance where the intermediate and senior dancers are combined (giving the dance a total of almost 20 dancers).  It is such a fun dance to do because it allows a lot of expression and personality to shine through.  I felt great while dancing it, I committed myself to it and I managed to finish the dance without any mistakes.  I came off stage ecstatic looking around smiling to see the reactions of my peers.  My best friends were mistake free like me, but when we met up with our teacher she said that she’d never seen so many mistakes in that dance before.  I looked around and realized that people were less than satisfied with their performance, and it made me feel bummed out, not because I was disappointed in them, but because I felt like I did badly as well.  We’re a team and if a few people don’t perform to their potential even though we’re supportive and understanding, we still all feel it as if it were our mistake. 

So this weekend, even though we did extremely well (winning Platinums, Golds and special awards) the way I felt about each dance was a direct reflection of what everyone else on my team felt.