Please welcome Ellen, my 11 year old god daughter, as today's guest blogger.
2 Families + 1 Vacation =
Lots of Memories
Earlier this month I spent ten days in southern Florida with my mom,
dad, brother and sister (my real family) and also with my dance family. We all met at the beautiful Westin Diplomat
Hotel in Hollywood Beach , Florida for the American Dance Awards
Nationals. The hotel is located on the
beach with awesome pools and a clear blue ocean. Because my mom is the owner of our dance
school our hotel room got upgraded to a huge corner suite with a living room,
dining room, and large bedroom and bathroom.
The best part of the suite is that it had two walls made of glass with a
wrap around balcony that overlooked the pools and the ocean. If you turned the corner of the balcony, our
room was just at the right angle to see the city too.
Although the hotel and all of its surroundings are
breathtaking, the best part of the trip was being there to perform with my
friends. Seventy dancers from my dance
studio were all there too! How many
eleven year olds get to go on a tropical vacation with all of their closest
friends? We call ourselves a ‘dance
family’ because we are growing up together.
I am best friends with the dancers my age, but I am also very close to
the older dancers. They look out for us
and set examples for us to follow. My
friends and I see what amazing dancers they are and how hard they work. We all hope to dance like them someday.
Besides swimming in the pools, building sandcastles on the
beach and having parties in each other’s rooms, the highlight of the trip was
the dancing. In addition to performing
for the judges, we also got to take master classes from some of the best
teachers in the business. I have been
lucky enough to take classes from movie, TV, and Broadway Stars. Many times the dancers beside me have even
performed in Broadway shows like Billy Elliot and Annie. Schools from all over the US , Canada
and even South Africa
were there.
At the end of the regular competition, the judges decide
which dances make the Dance Off. I was
hoping for at least one of all of my ten routines to make it, but I was
thrilled when they announced that two had made it! The next day we all performed our hardest in
front of new judges at the Dance Off.
Finally it came time for the Awards Gala. This is when all dancers, teachers and
parents get all dressed up to find out who won.
The American Dance Awards Gala is like the Academy
Awards. If you are one of the top
scoring routines from the Dance Off then you are ‘Nominated’ and part of your
routine plays on the big screens. At
last they started to announce the nominees.
My friends and I all held hands with high hopes. When they called both of our dances I was
shocked! I felt so proud to see our hard
work pay off as our routines played up on the big screen. After the nominees were announced the
audience settled down to hear the final results. My friends and I squeezed each other’s hands
even tighter. My friends and I had never
placed at the Dance Off before. American
Dance Awards is called the Ultimate Challenge because it attracts the most
elite talent in the world. And then it
happened, we got 3rd
Place ! We
couldn’t believe it! We were all screaming! Our reactions were even being filmed on the
big screens! We all beamed as the
photographers took our picture with the huge trophy.
I will never forget that Nationals, spent in such a beautiful
place, with my family and my dance family.
I feel so fortunate to have people at home and at dance that I can count
on. I have already started to dream
about next year’s Nationals which will be held in New York City . I am sure that there will be more fun and
more memories to be made!
There are Shortcuts to happiness and dancing is one of them.
– Vicki Baum
2 comments:
Beautiful job Miss Ellen and congratulations to you and your dance friends,quite an accomplishment!
Ellen, I really enjoyed reading about your trip! I especially liked how descriptive you were - I could picture everything. Not only are you a fabulous dancer, but you are an excellent writer as well! Congratulations!
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