Monthly Archives

April 2014

ivivva or lululemon kids

By | Stuff I Like | No Comments

ivivv a girls stuff

You might think that it’s a little strange for an eleven-year-old to be shopping at lululemon, and most other people think so too. That is exactly how I found out about Ivivva.

I went to New York last Summer for many different things including dance, family time, and just plain old fun! While we were there, my mom and I decided to go do some shopping! We went to a few of my favorite stores including Abercrombie, Pacsun, and Tilly’s, and then we came across lululemon. Many of my friends have told me about the store and so we decided to go in. Their merchandise was cute and so I tried on two pairs of athletic shorts and a sports bra. The sports bra fit fine, but the shorts were a little bit too big. My mom asked one of the women working there if they made any of the shorts in smaller sizes and then she said, “We actually recently created a full kids line called ivivva. It would probably fit your daughter much better than lulu would.” My mom said, “Thank you!” with a big smile on her face and we searched for the closest Ivivva on Google Maps. It turned out it was only about 5 blocks away!

We went into the store with open minds and happy faces and started looking around. Almost instantly we found a bunch of stuff that we were interested in so I entered the fitting room. Everything fit great! The sizes are very true and all the employees are super nice. They are all either dancers, yoga teachers, or ice skaters, so they know about the athletic body. They were also very helpful with finding the products that are for the specific sport you play. The store is divided into parts based on sizes, so it is very easy to find the one you need. I hope you will go there someday to see for yourself!

If you’re reading my blog, you’re probably a dancer. And since this store only has about 10 locations. They probably don’t have a store in your hometown. But fortunately, they have a great website that has all the same merchandise that they sell in their stores. Click the link below to see it!

ivivva

Hollywood Vibe Feels Good

By | Competition, Convention, Dance | No Comments

In The Pocket

In any sport or activity, you hear people talk about being in the zone. When music and rhythm is involved: dancers, singers, or musicians are in the pocket rather than in the zone. Being in the pocket means staying on your rhythm and…. I’m sorry, it just doesn’t make sense if you have not had that feeling for yourself. Last weekend, at Hollywood Vibe Dance Convention I stayed in that pocket for the whole weekend.

During the Fall, you audition for your group dances. In a month’s time, normally, you will get a packet in the mail that says what dances you were placed in and if a solo is recommended or not. About a week after that, you learn your group dances. I think that is the funnest part of the process because the choreography is fresh in our minds and exciting because it’s new. Here is a list of the groups I am in.

In the beginning of Winter, we have our first regional competition. That is the studio’s chance to test our dances and see how they are judged. From these results and judges’ notes, we can make changes to our dances. This year, our first competition was LA Dance Magic (LADM for short). All of our dances got Platinum, the highest award you can get, but there was still room for improvement, because you can always become better. On a personal level, I won the Magic Performer award which means I was the top Junior dancer of that regional competition. All of our dances qualified for their national finals and I qualified to compete for Magic Performer of the Year.

After LADM, we came back to the studio to work on improving our dances. This was in preparation for Hollywood Vibe regionals. After months of hard work, we showed up at Hollywood Vibe with all of our dances in great shape. It was a special weekend for all of us. It was especially fun because we had our mini and junior rookie teams at the competition and they did fabulous! All of our dances were solid, highlighted by my junior lyrical piece, Tears of an Angel, choreographed by Keara Blake. It won 1st place Platinum as well as overall high score and it was awarded the Outstanding Choreography award. Go Ms. Keara! It was exciting to see the entire studio do so well, it felt like we won everything! I was honored with the Regional Dancer of the Year Award and I was very thankful because I worked very hard to achieve it. If you do not know dance, here is a reference – The current Junior Hollywood Vibe Dancer of the Year is Brooke Kosinski – principle dancer at Abby Lee Dance Company and one of the stars of the show Dance Moms.

Much in the same way that a dancer has to stay in the pocket to perform well, the team has to stay in the pocket for the entire year. That means lots of hard work in the studio, but it also means showing up at competition ready to dance. So far, our season has been great. We have a few more months of work to do in the studio to prepare for nationals. If we practice real hard, it will be more likely that we succeed.

I would just like to say thank you to all of my teachers, choreographers, my parents, the rest of my family, and of course, my wittle puppy dog, Austin.

Mr. Marco is Back! Pt 2

By | Auditions, Dance, Friends | 2 Comments

We left off where from my first post – Mr. Marco is Back Pt 1 Mr. Marco picked me to be in the opening number for a Michael Jackson tribute show. Remember that? Well, that same night, Ms. J informed us that our first rehearsals would start on April 1st and April 2nd. I was super pumped and hungry for learning new material.

At our first rehearsal, we mainly focused on learning all of the sections and blocking. For non-performers, that means putting everyone in spots. I really liked all the different part because not one was similar to the one before. We got really close to being finished in that rehearsal, so we didn’t have much to do the next day but run it and clean. By the end of the day, I felt that it was definitely a time well spent working on it and making it as close to flawless as possible. You know what they say, practice makes perfect!

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Mr. Marco is Back! Pt 1

By | Auditions, Dance, Friends, Uncategorized | One Comment

Those of you who know who Marco Cruz is (mostly my dance friends) know that he has been gone from DPAC for a while teaching at KAR, a popular convention/competition. I have missed him a lot because he was one of my favorite teachers at DPAC! Fortunately though, he recently visited us twice and that is what I will be telling you about today.

Mr. Marco choreographed my first ever solo, Whatcha Want. I won every competition with that solo so you could see why I love him. I also enjoy his amazing teaching styles and challenging combos.

Last week, Ms J. told us that there was going to be an audition for the opening number that we are performing at a Michael Jackson Tribute show in LA. Afterward, she told us that Mr. Marco was choreographing it. I was upper excited but I also knew that I needed to bring my A Game because he’s very tough. The audition started on Thursday during the two hours when it’s usually Hip Hop 2-3 and Hip Hop 4-5. Marco walked in with his trusty assistant, Taylor and they started the combo right away. I had visited Marco a few weeks before that so I already knew the beginning of the piece but he also added many other things so I don’t think I had much of an advantage at all. After we did the dance he split us up into four groups. We ran the combo a few times in those groups and then he started putting us into different groups based on what he thought would look good together. He did this for a while, taking people out and putting people in. Finally, after he did this for about 20 minutes, he started picking the people that were going to be in the actual piece. He started with choosing the older girls. Then he got to the younger ones like me. He called out about five people and then he paused. I was a little bit upset because I thought he was done and I didn’t get picked, but right after that he turned to me and said, “You’re in.” I was super excited because it was very unexpected!

Click here to see the second post in this sears – Mr. Marco is Back Part 2

 

 

To be continued…