Monthly Archives

September 2015

Sep 30 2015
1

Summer 4 – Dancer Palooza and BuildaBEAST Experience

By | Convention, Dance, Friends | 2 Comments

If you missed the first posts in this series, go back to the beginning.

Summer 1 – LA Sparks and Trip To New York

Summer 2-  Hollywood Vibe DOTY and Team Larkles

Summer 3 – Leaving Las Vegas

Dancer PaloozaThe next week, we moved from Burbank down to Long Beach for Dancer Palooza. That is a weeklong intensive that, in my opinion, has the best collection of contemporary teachers you can find anywhere. I took classes from Mandy Moore, Mia Michaels, Sonya Tayeh, Teddy Forance, Stacey Tookey, Travis Wall, Dee Caspary, Benoit-Swan Pouffer, Andrew Winghart, and others. http://www.dancerpalooza.com/thecollective

Girls – dance aside – if you have not been to the expo at Dancer Palooza, you have not lived. It is the most number of booths that I have ever seen – its huge!

I did a haul vide with my loot! Check it out

Our #immaBEAST team also was invited to dance in the Showcase. We were rehearsing during Mini Muse and during Dancer Palooza, so after taking classes every day for two weeks, I also had rehearsals at night. I have never been in better shape in my life – 12 pack abs!

Liz_ImperioLiz Imperio and her new Fiancé came to the showcase. I love her and the support she gives me as a dancer, a friend and a coach. If you do not know Liz, try your best to meet her. She has a program called Breaking Barriers (http://breakingbarriers.dance/) that has been super helpful at helping me set my goals in life and as a professional dancer. Her coaching, advice, and heartfelt support she gives to dancers makes her a very special person. I can’t wait to get on tour with Hollywood Vibe where she is the creative director. #secondMom

Just to keep the flow going, the next week was the #BuildaBEAST Experience. What a switch from a week of contemporary to a week of hip hop. As an #immaBEAST and #lilBEAST, we were able to help work the event and dance. The entire week was filled with the best hip hop training I have ever had. I was surrounded by the best dancers from all over the world (like 22 countries or something insane like that) and across America. #immaBEAST is so much more than a crew. It’s a dance family like no other. The BuildaBEAST experience finished up with the auditions for #immaBEAST. The competition was so fierce and everyone worked so hard. I have no idea how Willdabeast narrowed down the hundreds of auditions to the team we have now (about 70 strong). The good news is that I was able to dance hard enough keep my spot on the team. I learned that there are no free rides in life. Just because I danced on the team last year was no indicator that I would be on the team this year.

Here is my Solo from the event – it was epic

PS – AirBoard was a sponsor at BuildaBEAST and I got one! Hurray. Super fun #christmaslist for you.

If you are keeping track of the weeks, by this point I have not been home at all since school let out in June, amounting to six straight weeks of being on the road! I should pause here and thank my parents for making this all possible for me. With two weeks left before school started, I stopped dancing 12 hours a day and was limited to #sparkkids rehearsals, auditons, #LASparks games, and rehearsals for the #immaBeAST season three video. We still were driving back and forth to LA multiple times each week and staying a few nights in LA each week, but I did actually get to sleep a few nights in my own bed and see my friends at home.

BuildaBEAST Season 3 Video

If you missed the first posts in this series, go back to the beginning.

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Summer 1 – LA Sparks and Trip To New York

Summer 2-  Hollywood Vibe DOTY and Team Larkles

Summer 3 – Leaving Las Vegas

Next up is the Summer Series Finale – Summer Ends, School Begins, and Big Announcement

Sep 28 2015
1

Summer 3 – Leaving Las Vegas

By | Family | No Comments

If you missed the first posts in this series, go back to the beginning.

Summer 1 – LA Sparks and Trip To New York

Summer 2-  Hollywood Vibe DOTY and Team Larkles

Leaving Las Vegas broke up the #teamlarkes tour for a few days. Grandma Anne, my mom, dad, @AustinDoodle and I took a round-about way down to Phoenix. We went up to Bryce Canyon in Utah then drove South down through Nevada along the Grand Canyon and through Sedona. It took us three days and we really were glad that my mom got a new comfy car. If your parents ever ask you if you want to go see one of these places, say YES! I cannot tell you how beautiful it was. Pictures do not do it justice. The size of everything is amazing. I liked Bryce Canyon the best. The Grand Canyon was huge, but it is really a big wide ditch. Definitely something to see, but the upward spires of Bryce Canyon and Sedona are more dramatic to me. We finished the three day tour in Phoenix where #teamlarkles was reunited.

Leah and her family are so nice. We stayed at an amazing 5-Star resort (my parents had free vouchers). We got to see  Leah every day since she lives in Scottsdale. One day we worked with a photographer  and got new headshots. Another day we took a private lesson with Leah’s favorite choreographer (kayci). Another day we splashed around in the pool. Another day we went to the Roga’s house for her brother’s amazing birthday party. It was a great visit. Phoenix rocks!

After Phoenix, #teamlarkes went back to Los Angeles for a week of training with Jessica Star for the Mini Muse intensive. Mini Muse is an intensive that is hard to get into because of the high standard of dance and the commitment to giving back by supporting anti-bullying. Here is a video highlighting the classes we took with amazing choreographers. Our anti-bullying video releases in October. It was shot on the Santa Monica pier! My favorite class was silks. If you have not taken a silks class, seek one out. Everyone at mini muse was wonderful and I met dancers from all over America. We had a blast and I hope to do it again. Check out the Muse Effect on Facebook or Instagram (MuseDanceCompany) for more information and follow them! Thanks again Jessica for being so flexible with my audition and work schedule. It is hard to do this stuff as a working dancer, but you made it happen!

Check back or subscribe to see post #4 in this summer series – Dancer Palooza and BuildaBeast

If you missed the first posts in this series, go back to the beginning.

Summer 1 – LA Sparks and Trip To New York

Summer 2-  Hollywood Vibe DOTY and Team Larkles

Sep 25 2015
1

Summer 2- Hollywood Vibe DOTY and Team Larkles

By | Competition, Convention, Dance | One Comment

If you missed the first posts in this series, go back to the beginning.

Summer 1 – LA Sparks and Trip To New York

If you read my blog regularly, I won Regional Dancer of the Year for Hollywood Vibe. It is a huge honor to be selected by the Hollywood Vibe faculty as the top dancer of the weekend, but moreover it qualified me to compete for the National Dancer of the Year during Hollywood Vibe’s Nationals Competition.

Hollywood Vibe held their week-long Nationals in LA and the talent and competition was fierce. It was not really a drama, but emotions ran high. I loved dancing with so many friends from around the Nation, like one of my besties, Leah Roga from Phoenix.  Just for fun, our parents had #teamlarkles#TeamLarkles shirts made for us since we plan to spend many weeks together, and #TeamLarkles was born!  I tried to work as hard as I could so that I could dance well and show the teachers at the convention that I was deserving of the title National Dancer of the Year. I woke up my mom at 5:30 each morning to help me get ready so I could be there way before our call time 7:00 am. Liz Imperio, creative director of Hollywood Vibe taught me a lesson that I try to live by. She said that if your call time is 7:00 then 6:45 is “on time”.  If you want to be early you need to be there at 6:30 am.  I do my best to follow this rule whenever I am headed to a rehearsal or audition.

At the end of the week, they called up the top 5 dancers to the stage.  Then they announced the top 2 dancers in my Intermediate category to do a dance off. I made the top 2 list and it was very nerve racking, but exciting at the same time.  The next morning the two of us got to dance for all of the judges at the event and a large audience.  They didn’t tell us who won the award until the awards show that evening.

At the end of the night, I was the last dancer standing and was awarded the Hollywood Vibe National Dancer of the Year! There were so many dancers deserving of the title that it was a shock to win!

This year I am planning to go to as many Hollywood Vibe conventions as possible. It is a great honor to represent them. #TeamLarkles almost doubled up. Leah Roga was a finalist in Teens and won top solo overall. Her competition was REALLY competitive.  The Teen Dancer of the Year went to one of my immaBEAST teammates – Trinity Inay. She is a super sweet girl and a great dancer.  We got to know each other earlier this year when we  worked together on Dancing With The Stars (see video https://youtu.be/xQkAPpxDQB0?list=PLYVO53t5xTKUnxykgAK8wq_Qz88ujzrH6

).

Hollywood Vibe is my second National Championship as a dancer. The first came three years ago at Hollywood Connection; they call their national prize ICON of the Year. Here’s a little known fact for you.  Hailee Paine, one of the top 4 finalists on So You Think You Can Dance also won the Senior title of Icon of the Year at the same competition.  I absolutely love her!  She’s an amazing dancer and one of the nicest people in the world!  I was sad that she did not win SYTYCD, but getting to the final two for Team Stage is a huge accomplishment. She really shined as a versatile dancer, often outperforming many of the Team Street dancers in Hip Hop pieces. Amazing, right?  I’m so excited to see where her career is going to go from here!

Pulse Las VegasAfter Hollywood Vibe the #TeamLarkles tour continued at The Pulse on Tour in Las Vegas. We literally left the awards at HV Nationals and drove ALL through the night to get to Vegas. The Stutts family followed with us (shout out to Hannah and Pate). We did not get to perform in the showcase because we missed Friday, but the rest of the weekend was amazing – lots of friends and great training. A bunch of my friends including Leah became Pulse Protégé, which is a huge honor, but not me. Maybe I will win next time. You just never know. I really appreciate winning scholarships that have allowed us to continue going to Pulse in the future. The faculty, staff, and dancers go full out. It is a great place to learn and train. I am always exhausted when I leave. FYI, Bally’s Las Vegas is a dumpy hotel ☹

Be sure to check out the first post in this series

Summer 1 – LA Sparks and Trip To New York

Subscribe to see the next post –  Summer 3 – Leaving Las Vegas

Sep 23 2015
4

Summer 1 – LA Sparks and Trip To New York

By | Dance, Friends, Travel | 6 Comments

I am really sorry for not blogging in so long. My website was pretty messed up and I had a crazy summer. Now things are back to normal (well sort of) and I am back in school like most 12-year-old kids. The rest of my schedule is anything but normal, but it’s good to be home. Here is a recap of the summer. This will be series of posts that I’ll publish every couple of days as time permits, so hang in there and subscribe to get notified when Summer 2 is released – titled Hollywood Vibe Nationals, Drama and Team Larkles.

In the middle of June, I went with my school drama group to NYC. This was the beginning of a travel schedule that took me away all summer. We had an amazing experience. I have been to New York City once a year with my parents, so I know my way around Midtown and Times Square and have done all of the tourist-y stuff. I can tell you that it is way more fun to travel with your friends. (Sorry Mom and Dad!) We had a blast. I am releasing a video in the next few weeks that shows what we did. I lost the footage but just found it. Be sure and subscribe, or watch my YouTube channel. My favorite part of the trip was attending Broadway shows. At sometime in my life I hope to dance on Broadway (Hint Hint Chelsea Blake from MSA and Nelson Diaz from BTB Management). I also loved visiting the set of Saturday Night Live. I love comedy television and it would be amazing to be on that show! #goals. I guess the point of the trip was to dream big, and I am on it.

All summer long I have been dancing for the LA Sparks women’s professional basketball team as part of the LA Sparkids. The team just made the playoffs, so the season continues. The ability to work with choreographers like Brandee Evans and Jenna Frechette has been exceptional. And, who would not want to be on the court at the Staples Center! It is a legendary place for sports (aka home of the Lakers) and entertainment (Taylor Swift set a record for sold out shows this year). They are picky about posting video of our routines, so I do not have much beyond a few short clips on Instagram that shows the work. I made so many new friends on the #sparkids team and was able to work with a lot of the #sparkids that just made it to the #immaBEAST team too. I’m so excited that Im going to get to spend more time with them!

Be sure to subscribe if you want to hear the rest of the summer story. Next up is the Hollywood Vibe Nationals Drama and the introduction of the ongoing dream team – Team Larkles!

Click Here to read post 2 in the series now