Boston Bash: days 5 and 6

Saturday March 30th

Saturday was again spent mostly in the same competition hall as the day before, this time to watch the senior men dance, and cheer on Colin.  I always love watching the men dance because they are so powerful and at this level, they have quite excellent rhythm.  One thing I noticed as I was watching the dancing was that for their recall round, many of the men danced Vanishing Lake.  I came to worlds not knowing the tune, and left that competition not only having it memorized, but it's my set dance ear worm. It's not my set, but it is always in my head!

I ran straight from watching the senior men competition to get ready for the figure dress rehearsal.  I went to put on my wig, and ran into a slight snafu.  Of all the things I forgot to bring, I never would have thought it would be my wig.  When I was quickly packing (carelessly), I managed to grab the wrong wig.  I didn't realize my mistake until about half an hour before a dress rehearsal the day before competing at worlds.  I pulled the wig out of the bag, and wouldn't you know, it was my old wig that is completely the wrong color.  It was not my teams wig.  After a short freak out, I called around to other team members in the junior figure and was able to borrow the correct wig.  Problem solved.

My afternoon and early evening were dominated by a three hour figure practice and wig/make up tutorial to make sure we were ready.  It was a great chance to talk over with the team things those of us noticed about the staging with the junior figure, and what we can do to make our performance successful.

The night was concluded by eating at the P.F. Chang's bar because my friend and I were not feeling like good explorers.  I also had the good fortune of having excellent post-wig hair.  This once in a lifetime event was documented, and saved for posterity.

                                             Sunday March 31st: Competition Day

Our morning warm up and make up session will live in my mind forever as our best team building time.  We commandeered a bathroom four our team and helped each other achieve a uniform look with out make up and wigs.  Our Zumba-certified senior dancer led us in some of her favorite Zumba routines as a warm up.  We ran through our figure knowing that if we kept it controlled, and had our faces on, we could do this.  We could go home with some hardware from the world championships.

"Breathe"

Looking back a little over six months after being on the worlds stage, I cannot remember much of our performance, I do remember feelings.  During the walk on, I was keeping a cap on my nerves.  I may have been shaking just by the mere thought of dancing on a worlds stage.  My mantra was breathe.  Once the music started, it was smiley faces, chin up, sparkle baby sparkle, and one sassy wink at the judges.  I remember getting off the stage thinking that was not our best.  It was okay.  But not the best.

The entire time the announcer was calling out scores, I don't think I could breathe.  I tried adding up our numbers, but my brain could only focus on those groups that were receiving perfect 100s from the judges.  We were not among them.  Our team ended up placing 8th, the first non-awarded place.  It was mildly heartbreaking, considering the hours (read: years) of practice that we have put into this dance.

After dancing, those of us in the figure who were of age went to one of Boston's many Irish pubs.  We watched a little bit of the basketball tournament, reviewed videos of our performance that our friends and family were able to sneak, and determined that we didn't look as bad as we felt we danced.  It was a great chance to celebrate our accomplishment, and finally relax now that the pressure of performing at worlds was over.

My worlds experience was concluded with Pinkberry and having a mini viewing party for the Season Finale of Game of Thrones since the hotel I was in had HBO.  My greatest hope is that I get to repeat the experience in London this April as a soloist!

Goals: Keep up stamina and health

Days till Os: 24

Boston Bash: Days 3 and 4

Thursday, March 28th

Like Wednesday, Thursday was a frenzy of running around everywhere in Boston.  The morning was a special nod to Big who loves the Red Sox.

The middle of the day was my team support moment for the junior girls eight hands and figure choreography.  It was also my first look at the worlds stage I would soon be dancing on.  While watching the junior ceilis, I was mentally planning how the senior figure would look on the stage.

Maple junior girls figure

The night was a hectic nearly nightmare of late buses and north of Boston suburbs coupled with wine and paint.  The end result is pretty good if I say so myself.  (If you live in a major metropolitan area, I highly suggest looking into wine-and-painting night deals on LivingSocial or Groupon!)

Friday, March 29th

Friday was strictly dedicated to watching each second of the senior ladies solo competition.  I was there most to support the two dancers from my school in the senior ladies competition.  I was there to catch up with dancers who I hadn't seen in a while.  There was also a part of me that was there to see the top dancers in my age group completely rock the stage.  How could I pass up the opportunity to watch Claire, Olivia, Nadine, Simona, and Siobhan?  I couldn't is that answer.

Me, Emily, Colin, Kelly, and Nora.

During lunch, I played around on the stage.

Then recalls were announced.  It was a tense and overwhelming experience, and I wasn't even dancing!  Getting to watch Claire Greaney's set dance was one of the most fabulous and inspiring moments of my dance career.  I think it was perfect.  I also made sure to record which dancer did which set, and I took my data and compiled it into a pie chart upon my return from Boston.

After watching dancing all day, my little group was ravished, so we went on a search for Mexican food and margaritas.  We stumbled upon this trendy Mexican restaurant a block and a half away from the dance action that just happened to be participating in Boston's Restaurant Week.  It was a win-win situation.

Goals: finish all the Boston blog posts!
Days till NANs: 51

Boston Bash: Days 1 and 2

Tuesday, March 26th

The minute we parked and tried to make our way to the hotel, confusion erupted.  Having located the elevators, Big and I figured that it would be an easy shot to the hotel and eventual relaxation.  That was not the case, for the elevator we chose led us to what looked like a shopping mall.  This was not something we were expecting, so we went back down the elevators only to decide to ride them back up again.  This time, we actually exited the elevators to see that yes, we were in a mall, and yes the hotel was in that general area. With our scads of bags, we made it through check in and to our room.

That evening, my main mission was to acquire my dancer ID card and the necessary wristbands, purchase and peruse the program, and buy my worlds t-shirt.  This was easier said than done.  Big and I had no clue how to get to the Hynes, so we adopted that age old strategy of following the people in the wigs and/or worlds-caliber outfits.  After wandering past many shops, we made it to the Hynes, and most importantly the vendors section.  I was given my ID card with a little patience, and purchased my program.  After wandering around the vendors (so sparkly) and wondering where the competition halls were (not labeled), it was decided that my worlds shirt would have to be bought first thing the next morning simply because of the sheer volume of people.

Having exhausted our sense of adventure for the day somewhere between a long drive and crowded convention center, we decided to eat at the hotel's bar.  That night, I had my first taste of New England Clam Chowda.  The more I ate it, the more my mouth warmed up to the idea of liking clams, but that could have also been the Angry Orchard speaking.  After that, It was most decidedly bedtime.

Wednesday, March 27th

After waking up (and now that we had the lay of the land under our belt), I made sure I was first in line at the t-shirt vendor.  With the last of my I Need It checklist checked off, Big and I made our way off to the Boston Commons to start the Freedom Trail.

In all honesty, we made it less than halfway.  Shortly before lunch, we arrived at Faneuil Hall, stocked to the brim with shopping.  The Christmas store was our first stop, where I found an Irish dancer ornament that I got personalized to read "Boston 2013."  Next stop was the Newbury comics store, chock full of comics and other pop culture items. (Doctor Who, anyone?)  There, I purchased a tiny key chain sized version on Captain America's shield to accessorize my new purse to rep my Star Spangled Girl with the Curls attitude of course!

Lunchtime was held at the Union Oyster House, which is apparently Boston's oldest restaurant.  There was much New England Clam Chowda to be had, followed by the most delicious lobster ravioli.  We left stuffed and not looking forward to the long haul back to the Marriott.  It was this moment that we realized that as Washingtonians and seasoned Metro riders, we could definitely handle the Boston T (which surprisingly leaves a little to be desired).

After our hour of afternoon relaxation, Big decided that she wanted to see if Marshall's had anything worthy of a going out outfit for the evening.  On our way though, we got distracted by the huge (sexy) Boston Public Library.  The best part of our aimless wander through this bibliophile's heaven was stumbling upon the Courtyard restaurant, who just happened to be serving afternoon tea.  In the library. With all the fixin's.  It was the best accidental discovery of the day.

The evening was spent at this wonderful joint called a piano bar.  The set up is this: two pianists and other musicians there to entertain you with songs that are popular with the crowd (Don't Stop Believing) or requested (Baby Got Back).  Howlin' at the Moon is one of those places where the more you drink, the more you sing, the more fun you have.

To be continued...

Goals: The troubling hornpipe rhythm
Days till NANs: 86