So, Sunday I got back from our team's trip to Idaho Falls for the Gem State Classic. Things to Note:1. The Gem State Classic is the biggest pure youth competition in the all of Utah, Idaho, etc.
2. It's two days long. The first day (Friday) is devoted to Team events, meaning that you only compete team numbers and only teams perform. You are scored by several judges on a scale of 1-10 on choreography, music, execution, technique, etc.
3. The second day (Saturday) is devoted to individual partnership events, meaning just you and your partner on the floor with several other couples. This includes Syllabus and Open Events.
4. Team Match is also competed on Saturday after everything else is done. Team Match is a competition between high schools for the spirit award and points out of 10 for four dances each performed by one couple from each team.
5. Individual Syllabus events are ranked in Bronze, Silver and Gold difficulties, Gold being the most difficult of the three. Bronze has a certain list of steps you are allowed to use for each dance. As you go up a level, the amount of steps you can use and the difficulty of the steps increase. So, Gold events are the most difficult of the three.
With all that in mind, allow me to continue. Friday morning we loaded the bus and drove to Idaho Falls, got to the hotel, did hair and makeup, and left for the competition. We were competing four numbers that night; Disco, Cabaret, Latin Medley, and Standard Medley. I danced in everything except Disco. We placed 3rd in both of our medleys, 2nd in our Cabaret, and 1st in the Disco. It was awesome. And at 12:00 it was time to head back to the hotel and be off to bed.
Saturday, we got to sleep in and eat some real food for breakfast, swim in the pool and get ready again for all of our individual events. Sam and I competed in Bonus Swing, Gold and Silver Tango, Gold and Silver Samba, Gold Mambo and Open Youth Standard Championship. We made it to semi-finals in Bonus Swing, Silver Samba and Gold Samba. We placed in all the rest. 5th in Silver Tango, 5th in Gold Mambo, 3rd in Gold Tango, and 2nd in Open Youth Standard Champ. It was awesome!
Then There was team match. I danced Samba with Paul for our team. Lehi won the spirit award (surprise surprise!!) :) And then we all went back to the hotel minus JaCee who was in the hospital for dehydration and exhaustion. She was ok though.
The rest is kinda blurry. To bed at 5:00 a.m. Bus home till 3:30. sleep. etc. Overall it was an awesome year for Lehi Ballroom!! I can't wait to go again!
So yeah....
Last night my ballroom team went to Lone Peak High and performed at the Utah Youth For Haiti Benefit Concert. There were a lot of really talented people that were there. There were a few dance companies, local singer/songwriters, and some faces from the Disney Channel and So You Think You Can Dance. In fact, I felt a little stupid seeing Randi Lynn Strong Evans on stage dancing after sitting right next to her in the dressing room talking about makeup, fake eyelashes and being claustrophobic and not even recognizing her. stupid me. We danced the 1st place Disco from Idaho and our Lindy Swing. It was super fun. I got a picture with a Haitian rapper named Faya (like fire) that sang/rapped a song about his home country as the closing act. It was really fun. I saw lots of old familiar faces and we had a blast. It felt really cool to be a part of something bigger than high school. We were helping a cause.
