It's time to catch up on stories from previous blog posts.
1. New dance officially added to the repertoire! My team debuted "Geronimo" (choreographed by Naomi Zweben) at the Millersport Sweet Corn Festival. I shared my anxiety about dancing it in front of the choreographer in this post from September 3rd:
Clogging under pressure!
Unfortunately, Naomi was ill and unable to attend the festival to watch us or to clog with her own team, Yellow Rose Cloggers. Naomi's husband captured our performance on video to show her at home. (That kinda made me more nervous.)
The performance was certainly not perfect, but it was respectable for a new routine. Naomi was very kind and messaged me later with compliments to share with the group. We now dance the routine MUCH better! We should probably send Naomi an updated video.
2. Competition update. CCA Dance Matrix in Bristol, TN was a success! The stage had excellent sound, the theater was beautiful, and Fancy Free Cloggers had fun!
Packing for competition can be stressful, as discussed in this post from September 17th:
pack your bags! (and don't forget anything...)
Luckily, no one left anything essential at home!
Fancy Free Cloggers gettin' sassy before hoedown!
Five kids from Fancy Free (two not in the pic above) competed in solos and did us proud! Some placed in their age categories, some didn't, but they ALL danced well!
I'm especially proud of my duo partner, who delivered a personal best performance in a cappella solos! That award is well-deserved!
Way to go, Molly!
Fancy Free got to take our hoedown to the dance-off. We also brought home first in exhibition. We placed second in traditional line, precision, artistic expression. Two young teammates won their age division in contemporary duet. Molly and I won the 26+ age division in traditional duo by default when our competitors scratched (possibly due to the late hour - duos/duets were danced last). We were happy with our performance, though.
Congrats to friends from other teams who brought home trophies! We got to watch some amazing clogging! Thank you to the organizers and participants for a fun competition.
Dancers from other teams were hoping to see Jim, our 92-year-old clogger. He is fine, thanks for asking! Jim was initially planning to compete his duet with Evie at Dance Matrix, but discovered the date conflicted with a military reunion he wanted to attend in Alabama. Jim returned from his trip in time to attend dance class on Tuesday night and said he enjoyed the reunion.
After a long day of competition in Tennessee, we decided to eat a late dinner in Virginia. This was accomplished by crossing the street (a fun quirk of Bristol).
Final pic with team awards before driving home!
3. What an honor! (My e-mail subscribers got the scoop on this last week, but I want to share with everyone else, too.)
Many of you know about the awesome clogging photos and memes posted on Facebook by I Love Clogging and by Tangled Feet Stompers. (If you haven't already liked their pages on Facebook, do it today!)
Tangled Feet Stompers recently made my day (or week or month) by publishing a meme inspired by this blog post from July 14:
There's more than one way to tie a clogging shoe.
Thanks, Tangled Feet Stompers! I love it!
Some of my other favorites:
My director has their "The Rules of Dance" framed in the clogging studio!
Thank you for creating beautiful images, Tangled Feet Stompers and I Love Clogging! Your talent and hard work is appreciated.
That wraps up the unfinished stories for now!
Do you have clogging updates to share? Post in the comments!