Showtime :)

Hello beautiful people :)

These past two days have been phenomenal!

I couldn't ask for a better way to spend my weekend.

I love being around my second family, especially when we are all in such fabulous moods.

If you've kept up with my 30 Day Snap Challenge, you'd know that this weekend has been my recital weekend.

It's my studio's 3rd annual recital and I couldn't be more thrilled.

The weather was beautiful, which made all of us even happier.

I haven't gotten much sleep because I've either been really excited or stressed out over the shows.

Why I was stressed? I have no clue.

I'm normally stressed out for no particular reason when it comes to dance situations.

I just put so much into all of my performances and choreography that I want everything to turn out perfectly.

When it comes to dance, I strive for perfection.

The amount of hard work that the entire staff and all of the dancers put in is incredible.

It really requires a lot of team work.

The end product couldn't be achieved if we didn't all work together.

All of my students did great and I'm so proud of how they looked on stage.

My babies shined and surprisingly knew the steps.

I have never been more impressed with two and three year olds in my life!

They smiled, they laughed, they had a great time. 

My older girls did just as great.

They executed my routine very well; nailing all the movement and having great stage presence.

I'm a lot harder on my older students.

But at the end of the day, they know that I love all of them so much!

I'm going to share with you a few pictures that I took over the weekend.

I've been her teacher for two years and the growth that this young dancer has made puts a smile on my face :)

 

The things I wear to make my kids smile!

Animal Crackers in my Soup: Zebra, Mother Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Cheetah, Lobster, Cow

Hokey Pokey.

 I've grown attached to these munchkins because I've had them for so long.

I won't be their teacher next year, so saying bye to them was a little emotional.

They've all snuck their way into my heart :)

Butterfly Fly Away

This girl puts a smile on my face. She is always so happy. & She loves me as much as I love her

One of the younger dancers that I've grown close with :)

Another little troublemaker that I'm so proud of!

Her mom is my hair stylist. You can't get any cooler than this chic!

Where do I begin with these two? I've fallen in love with them after the first class I had with them!

The poor girls were crying after saying bye to this year's graduates!

I was very surprised seeing this girl at the showcase.

I danced with her for many years and she switched studios this year.

Seeing her come out and support all of us made me really excited.

I miss her so much <3

What made the weekend even better was being back on the stage. 

I got to perform three routines this weekend.

A tap duet with my old partner, a lyrical group with one of the senior companies and I filled in for the other senior company in a lyrical group.

All the stress and anxiety that I was feeling prior to getting on the stage vanished the moment I stepped foot onto it.

Hearing my students, fellow dancers and the parents cheering for me felt so nice and I loved all the bright lights.

I made sure to embrace every moment of it, in case I don't get to do this again. 

A smile was the only thing that could be found on my face.

Despite all of the bruises, bumps and blisters I have now, I had the time of my life.

Rocking a first position after a night of dancing on the stage in bare feet! Yuck!

Today has been rough and I've been aching all over.

I plan to take a few resting days, so I can stop feeling like an old lady.

But I wouldn't trade this feeling for anything in the world.

I miss the feeling of being sore!

It makes me feel like I've accomplished something and I definitely have this weekend!

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend like I did!

Leave a comment below and let me know what you did this weekend and something that you love doing!

Also, don't be afraid to follow me on Bloglovin' !

Hugs and Butterfly Kisses

xx

30 Day Snap | Perfect

Hello beautiful people :)

Today has been perfect. 

I had my last two recitals of the season and I've been having the time of my life :)

I love my job, my kids and being on stage!

On top of that, the weather was great!

Hugs and Butterfly Kisses

xx

30 Day Snap | Craziness

Hello beautiful people :)

Today has been a crazy day and I'm glad it's over!

I had my first show of the year end recital weekend. 

It's my first time being on stage in a year. 

So whilst I applied my stage makeup I watched an old show called Charmed. 

I use to watch this show with my mom when I was little and then I found it on Netflix and having been rewatching the entire thing :)

Now I'm off to McDonalds for some dinner :)

Hugs and Butterfly Kisses

xx

30 Day Snap #13 | Editing

Hello beautiful people :)

With my studio's recital this weekend, I've spent majority of the day making sure that everything is prepared for my classes.

Which means I need to double check costumes, make sure all the music is correct and that I know all of the routines that I am in.

I had to re-edit one of my baby class' song because it ended a little funny.

I love editing music.

I love focusing on something and oddly enough it relaxes me.

Since I enjoy editing music, I think I will enjoy editing videos once I start making them :)

Hope your 30 Day Snap Challenge is going great :)

Hugs and Butterfly Kisses

xx

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30 Day Snap #8 | Rehearsal

Hello beautiful people :)

Today I spent preparing for recital which is next weekend!

The day has been really long and I am so excited to be home. 

Dress rehearsals are always exhausting and any dancer can agree with me. 

Preparing for showcases is stressful and tiring. 

But the dances looked great and I'm looking forward for our year end recital! 

Leave a comment below if you're a dancer and agree with me :)

Hugs and Butterfly Kisses

xx

30 Day Snap #5 | Dancing All Night

Hello beautiful people :)

This is how I spent majority of my day today!

I was teaching and covering classes.

This is the studio that I am always in.

We got this design done last year and I love it. 

I think it gives the studio character :)

Hugs and Butterfly Kisses

xx

The Beauty of Dance

Hello Beautiful People :)

It's me again!

I hope you don't mind me blogging more than once a day.

I just have so many things to blog about and I don't want to forget about them.

This post is more personal and about something that means a lot to me.

I'm assuming that you know what it is about because of the title.

Yes, this is a dance post.

Something that I haven't talked about much on this blog :(

Earlier this evening I was watching So You Think You Can Dance and watching some of the auditions really made me miss dancing.

Dance has been such an important part of my life since I was 6.

A day doesn't go by when I'm not choreographing routines in my head or dancing around my house.

The dance studio was and still is my happy place.

It is the place where I can truly express myself, work hard and still have a smile on my face.

I always feel welcomed and loved by my fellow dancers, students, parents and teachers.

It's not a place of judgement. 

You grow as dancers and as people with your team.

What I love about the studio that I graduated from and now work for is the strong sense of family.

I have such a strong support group at my studio and many of the dancers are my sisters because I spend so much time with them.

I am trained in every style of dance, but lyrical and tap being my specialities.

What I love the most about lyrical is how lost I can get in the music.

The music literally controls me. 

I love telling stories through routines, especially when I can personally relate to them.

Give me a lyrical routine and I will put 110% of myself into it.

Every part of my body is engaged in the routine and I love that feeling.

My favourite thing about tap is all the rhythms.

Tap is so intricate, so many different rhythms can be made.

I love watching tap routines and listening intently to all of the sounds.

Tap isn't always so easy, but once you can nail a routine, it is so satisfying!

My graduating lyrical solo 2012

 In my opinion dance is underestimated by many, especially athletes.

Dance is a way to express yourself, therefore making it an art.

But the amount of muscle and strength it takes to successfully express yourself makes it a sport.

I am so tired of people laughing and rejecting dance as a sport.

Let's get a hockey player or a soccer player into a dance studio and see how long they last.

It's insulting to us dancers when people laugh when we consider dance a sport. 

A nice sweaty photo after a long work out

Some of my friends don't understand the concept of being able to tell a story through a dance.

But for me it is so easy to unravel what a dancer is trying to tell their audience.

Almost every routine has a story.

Dancers are capable of making their audience cry, laugh and feel the anger that they are feeling.

& to me that is what makes dancers unique.

I think it just takes a person who can appreciate dance to understand the story.

Unfortunately, not everyone does so the stories are sometimes unable to be portrayed to them.

My senior jazz group 2012 with a pretty intense story

 

I miss dancing so much.

I didn't realize until my senior year that I am definitely more of a performer than I am a dancer.

I love being on stage and performing in front of others.

There's this feeling I get being on stage that makes me so happy.

It gets even better when I walk off the stage feeling 100% satisfied with how I danced.

There isn't a better feeling than both you and your choreographer being proud of the way you performed. 

I miss the competition environment...well minus the catty dancers.

If I could, I would be back on the stage in a heart beat.

As much as I love watching my students shine on stage, it's very different being on the choreographer side of things.

It's an adjustment that I'm going to have to get use to.

My goal now as a choreographer is to share my passion and drive with my girls.

Hopefully, with a year with me the passion and drive will start to rub off on them and it'll start making a difference in their performance.

Because to me, if you have flawless technique but very poor stage presence then I don't want to watch you dance.

A beautiful dancer is someone who has strong technique, but is also able to captivate the audience with their performance. 

A dancer is more than her legs and her ability to turn.

A dancer is being able to show everyone how much you love dance through each and every movement.

It's All Coming Back to Me 2012

 Well that's all for today ladies and gents.

I wish I could keep going, but I don't want to bore you all!

I hope you enjoyed my "rant" about dance.

I will leave you with a link of me and my duet partner dancing.

The video was taken in 2011, but it's one of my favourites and the most recent.

I hope you like it :)HERE

Leave comments below if you are a dancer or your thoughts about dance!

Also, let me know if you want me to do more dance related posts :)

Hugs and Butterfly Kisses

xx

Dance Moms Finale :)

Hello beautiful people :)

Tonight is the Dance Moms Finale and I decided that it would be a beautiful opportunity to talk about one of my favourite shows. 

I've been told that I'm not supposed to like the show because I'm a dancer, which I don't really understand.

Every argument in every episode, I understand both Abby's point of view and the moms' point of view because I'm a dancer and a choreographer.

It's quite funny when I watch this show because I frequently scream at the TV, I get butterflies before the girls dance and I get aggravated when Melissa starts getting all whiny.

 

I don't like picking favourites in general, but I can't help it.

Chloe and Brooke are by far my favourite dancers.

Chloe is just phenomenal on stage and I can't take my eyes off of her. She has beautiful extensions and I would die to be able to turn like her.

Brooke is another fantastic dancer, but is definitely looked past by Abby, which is unfortunate because treatment like that really does effect a dancer mentally.

To me, if I am being completely honest, I'm over this whole Maddie thing. I don't think that she's a better dancer than Chloe, the other girls are definitely catching up to her.

The one thing that really bothers me about Maddie is that when she is on stage, her face never changes...it always looks the same. There is no variety in her facial expressions and to me that is something very important in the Dance World.

Don't get me wrong Maddie is an incredibly talented dancer and she'll get far, I just don't agree on the way Abby puts her above the rest of the girls all the time. 

Now time for the mommas :)

My all time favourite mothers are Kelly and Christi!

When they fought for a bit during this current season, I was absolutely devastated! 

Some people believe that they are the crazy ones, but I truly believe that they are doing what's best for their daughters and most of the time they have the right to be angry.

Chloe, Brooke and Paige have been treated terribly by Abby and I would have acted the same way as Christi and Kelly!

To me, Melissa is the crazy and whiny mom.

The way Melissa goes about doing things makes me angry and I don't agree with her methods.

She's all happy and doesn't care about anything when Maddie is on top of the pyramid, but the second she isn't, Melissa just finds everything to complain about!

She's going to be in for a rude awakening when she realizes that there are girls out there who can out dance Maddie and Mackenzie.

This show is an addiction.

I don't think I watch this show like most non-dancer people do.

A lot of people don't understand the fights and the cattiness, but majority of dancers will.

People think that it's just this particular group that acts this way, but this is an excellent representation of the Dance World.

There are mothers like Kelly, Christi, Jill, Holly and Melissa at every studio

& every studio has their drama.

The world of dance is competitive and parents will do whatever it takes for their child to get on top.

Sometimes it be pathetic and sometimes it can be overly competitive,

But it comes with being a dancer or a dance mom.

I've been joking with my artistic directors this year, 

that dancers shouldn't be allowed to watch Dance Moms, especially their parents

Because ever since this show has become really popular, the moms have gotten crazier...

To the point, where I can say some moms at my studio are worse than these moms.

Comment below about what you think about the show and how I've commented about it.

I'd definitely be interested to see if I'm just looking at all of this wrong.

I hope you are all having a beautiful day & enjoy the Dance Moms Finale tonight

I know I sure will :)

Hugs and Butterfly Kisses

xx

Trying Something New!

Well hello there beautiful people

I want to take a few moments to explain the purpose of this blog and why I've decided to do this.
This whole blogging scenario is very new to me and I'm curious to see how this is going to go.
I really hope that I enjoy doing this because I see so many people just loving this.

The purpose of this blog is to share with you any fashion and beauty trends that is currently catching my eye. I'm not a fashion and beauty expert, but I do know enough to share with you my favourite items, that you might enjoy as well.
I'm aware of the excessive amount of beauty and fashion blogs out there, so I do not want to solely dedicate this blog to just that. 

After graduating high school I have definitely changed a lot and have been more opened to experiencing new things, which I hope that I can share with you all.
I also have some great people in my life that provide me with some great advice that I would also like to share.

I also have a strong passion for dance, so for any dancers out there I would definitely enjoy blogging about dance experiences, or new things that I've learned about the fine spart...yes I just mixed sport and art together, because I am a firm believer that it is both.

So I shall leave all you beautiful people with that fine introduction.
Don't hesitate to comment and give me feedback. I'll absolutely love it :)
Hugs and Butterfly kisses
xox