DANCE DAYS

 Ok. SO. We have been Very Busy with dance, which makes sense because it is the reason Dorothy's here blah blah blah. We have been spending our days at the convention center .4 miles (and a 6-minute drive) from our hotel with plenty of Starbucks runs in between. We could be doing this anywhere in the US, Dance Moms reruns and room service desserts included.

She danced well all week, but this is a TOUGH COMPETITION. Her company routines did really well, but her club dances were not as competitive as they have been regionally (duh).

She got double platinum and did not place in her trio. She got double platinum and did not place in her junior jazz large group. She got platinum (THEY WERE ROBBED) and did not place in her junior large group hip hop. She got double platinum and did not place in her junior lyrical small group. She got elite platinum and 7th overall for all the top-level junior small groups in her junior tap small group. And she got elite platinum and was a NATIONAL CHAMPION in her junior hip hop line. SO AWESOME. She missed the cut off to perform in the Saturday "best of the best" competition by 2 in tap (top 5 perform) and by mere points in her line because the senior line also won its division, and each studio can only be represented once in a best of the best category (more like the "best of the eligible"). The seniors had a higher score than the juniors, natch. Sooooo, we get to leave bright and early Saturday morning, which means we have one more tourist/vacay day tomorrow! WHAT A WEEK.

Would you like a photo dump? In totally random order? With a bunch of caption typos??

Tap company backstage before they danced so well I teared up and got 7th place overall in the most competitive junior small group category.

Junior lyrical small group (cheesiest most perfectly junior jazziest dance to Colors of the Wind)

POOL PARTY!

Junior jazz large group-- such a cute dance.

Tappers

National champs for hip hop line!

Backstage words of wisdom:

CUTIES

They had to wait in the wings whole someone went out and cleaned up stray sequins from the previous act.

Can't even tell which one is my kid

National champs

Love these costumes

And these

Group hug?

Company small groups

Morning glam

On Insta, I captioned this Dance Moms but your kid is Abby

Ready to slay

So fierce!

Cuties:

GYM! I worked out all but one day! And that day I lifted weights to a YouTube video in the room

She was so salty after not doing well in her large groups. A trip to the outlet mall and Culvers helped her turn in around LOL.

See? Ready for small group

The bow Jibbitz ARE really cute

Elite platinum smiles

She has really good hair here, and I have not looked nice in a week.

Yesssssss

Morning warm ups

My favorite dance lewk this season

There is an adorable little neighborhood near our hotel, and we had time to venture there for lunch between dances yesterday

 Another button, but this one's for being a national champ. It's just low-key.

Another pool party shot.

Netflix and chill but literally. And Disney Plus.

Dorothy sure did grab that mic

Love this cute dance

Starbs of course.

Lunch selfie

Jackrabbit Filly did not disappoint

Crab Rangoon cheeseball

I swear I took more pics, but maybe not?

Would you even believe the 2025-2026 dance season kicks off Monday with 8 weeks of tryouts?!