Panama City Beach Dance Competition

This weekend we made our much anticipated trip down to Panama City for Kaylyn's dance competition. We made the trip with friends of ours, Chris and Deborah, whose daughter Kaitlyn is on the competition team with Kaylyn, and whose son Sam, is on Luke's T-Ball team. I think this was the best competition we've been to, even though we didn't get to spend but a few hours playing on the beach on Friday afternoon. The weather was a perfect, sunny 75 degrees, with a nice breeze. It was a bit cold for the kids to get in the water, which was still around 50-60 degrees, but that didn't stop them from trying. P.C. was packed out with the dance competition, a cheerleading competition, a jazz festival, and spring breakers. Yes, my kids got their first experience of spring break on the Redneck Riviera. I hope, years from now, they remember how crazy they thought all of those screaming drunks were....

The competition, the reason we were there in the first place, went well. The stage was right on the beach, which was exciting for the girls, and a different experience. They are used to dancing on a dark auditorium stage with spotlights on them, meaning they can't see the audience and the acoustics are directed toward them. On the sunny beach, they could see EVERY audience member and had to deal with and open stage, with no "backstage," the change in the sounds of the music, the breeze blowing their hair everywhere, and the distraction of all the other kids playing in the sand. So, as you can see, this competition atmosphere was different from anything they've ever experienced. They did great despite all of the distractions, bringing home an "elite gold" score for their jazz dance and a "platinum" score for their tap dance, and a "top first" award for their tap dance, meaning they scored the highest in their group of "large group tap, age 7-10." This is actually a pretty big thing since this was a BIG competition, with around 120 schools competing, and some amazing dancers. The girls had fun and loved every minute of it.

Playing in the sand

Enjoying a few hours of beach time

Kaitlyn making "sand angels"I don't know what was so interesting

Luke flying his kite

Freeeeezzzzing after a short swim in the ocean. I told her it was too cold, but did she listen??? Lesson learned....

These two are best buds. They got along so well all weekend. We didn't have to break up not one fight between the two of them. Now, the girls......that's a different story!

Silly Boys

Getting ready to dance. This was, after all, the reason we were there.... Their jazz song is "Vacation." Pretty cute dance. This dance received an "elite gold" rating.

Kaylyn and Kaitlyn posing for the camera

Group Pic

Costume change for "Satisfaction," their tap song. This dance received a "platinum" rating, and they got "Top First" for this routine.

Hammin' it up for the camera

Chris and Luke passing the time during the competition by digging a big hole in the sand.

The ShowStopper's group at the awards ceremony

MOM! Stop with the pictures!!!

Waiting a looonnnnngggg time at Sharky's to eat. ALL of the ShowStopper's Competition teams (and their families) went to Sharky's after the awards ceremony to celebrate. This was planned months ago, reservations were made, meals were ordered in advance....they knew we were coming. Good idea in theory, but in actuality, not so much. We waited FOREVER! I felt so sorry for our poor waiter. He had only been working there for 2 days and they stuck him with 75 + hungry dancers and their families. He had to deliver food and drinks to all those people BY HIMSELF. Poor guy! I'm guessing he turned in his resignation by the end of the night.

Two hungry, cold, and VERY unhappy boys