Jaymz with Elite dancers. Kylie is 2nd from the left on the bottom.
Jaymz with Senior dancers. Kendall is behind Jaymz on his R. and McKayla (my niece) is behind him on L.
Jaymz at the house with Kendall, Kylie and Tricia.
We even had him work with our Elite boy/girl group we started last year. We somehow talked 16 boys into dancing with our Elite girls. (Real men are smart enough to figure out that if you are willing to learn to dance, you get to hang around really pretty girls at least once a week!) Our boys are the greatest. We have to work around football, basketball, swimming, track and wrestling but we manage to get it done. They do a clogging number and a ballroom number. Yes, we actually taught them how to clog - sort of! Jaymz taught them the lindy hop. Here he is in a video clip dancing with Katelynn Reed.
Jaymz with the Elite boys and girls.
Just a week after Jaymz was here, some of our girls were also able to attend a Hip Hop workshop with Tabitha and Napoleon in Tri-cities. T & N have been coming to Tri-cites for a few years because they choreograph for a team over there, but we were worried that with their new found fame as top fave choreographers on SYTYCD that they would be too busy to come. Kylie has had the opportunity to take 3 workshops from them. They are awesome. They have been married 10 years. They met in Las Vegas when they were attending college. They met in a dance class but neither of them were studying dance. After college, they decided to try and make dance their careers because they loved it so much. Tabitha is amazing!!! You have to see her in person to appreciate her. What I love best about her is that she is a little white girl and she kills at hip hop. She is so little but she dances so big. She gives hope to all white girls out there that it is possible to be good at hip hop - even if you are white. I love their choreography. They have such great musicality and they always tell a story.
Tabitha and Napoleon D'umo
Blurry picture of girls with Tabitha and Napoleon (in back 2nd and 3rd from L.)
Last weekend we had yet another workshop with Kaydee Francis. Kaydee is co-owner of The Dance Zone in Henderson, Las Vegas. We came across The Dance Zone last summer at the nationals competition that we went to in Vegas. At competition, we always like to have lots of studios to compete against but ideally we want them to be "beatable". It's much more exciting when you think you have a shot. It's fun to try and size up the competition as different groups arrive. Sometimes you can just tell as they walk in whether a group is good or not so good. There are tell-tale signs (but it is a trade secret that we can't divulge!) It's a fun little game we play in our own minds. Whether they are willing to admit it or not, most of the dancers and directors are doing it. When I saw some girls walk in with DZ jackets I thought, "Oh crud!" The only thing I knew about the DZ was that Sabra Johnson (winner of SYTYCD Season 3) had danced there so I figured they were really good and they were! Once we saw how good they were, then we just hoped that they were not in all of our categories... well they were. They had multiple dances in every single category we were in! They have some amazing dancers and they have an impressive program. Even though winning is great, it's always nice to compete against great studios because they make everyone "up their game". Sometimes we are the studio making everyone "up their game", and sometimes we are the studio "upping our game." I am happy to report that we outscored the DZ in quite a few categories at nationals and we felt it was a great compliment every time it happened.
You know what they say, "If you can't beat 'em - join 'em." Well, we struck up a friendship with Kaydee at nationals which eventually led to her coming up to ML to work with our dancers. She choreographed a jazz number for Elites (Kylie's group) and a contemporary number for Seniors (Kendall's group) and a jazz number for Minis (Cassidy Earl's group) along with some technique workshops. It was great for the girls. We currently have a lot of great routines started and we hope to be able to keep up with all of the cleaning and changing that needs to be done before they are ready. Potentially - we have some great numbers this year!
Danny, Lacey, Neil and Sabra from SYTYCD Season 3.
FYI for all you SYTYCD fans - Kaydee said that Sabra winning couldn't have happened to a nicer person. She said that she is kind and genuine and a very hard worker. When her car was broken down, she would walk to the studio. Always fun to hear the inside scoop
Jaymz with the Elite boys and girls.
Just a week after Jaymz was here, some of our girls were also able to attend a Hip Hop workshop with Tabitha and Napoleon in Tri-cities. T & N have been coming to Tri-cites for a few years because they choreograph for a team over there, but we were worried that with their new found fame as top fave choreographers on SYTYCD that they would be too busy to come. Kylie has had the opportunity to take 3 workshops from them. They are awesome. They have been married 10 years. They met in Las Vegas when they were attending college. They met in a dance class but neither of them were studying dance. After college, they decided to try and make dance their careers because they loved it so much. Tabitha is amazing!!! You have to see her in person to appreciate her. What I love best about her is that she is a little white girl and she kills at hip hop. She is so little but she dances so big. She gives hope to all white girls out there that it is possible to be good at hip hop - even if you are white. I love their choreography. They have such great musicality and they always tell a story.
Tabitha and Napoleon D'umo
Blurry picture of girls with Tabitha and Napoleon (in back 2nd and 3rd from L.)
Last weekend we had yet another workshop with Kaydee Francis. Kaydee is co-owner of The Dance Zone in Henderson, Las Vegas. We came across The Dance Zone last summer at the nationals competition that we went to in Vegas. At competition, we always like to have lots of studios to compete against but ideally we want them to be "beatable". It's much more exciting when you think you have a shot. It's fun to try and size up the competition as different groups arrive. Sometimes you can just tell as they walk in whether a group is good or not so good. There are tell-tale signs (but it is a trade secret that we can't divulge!) It's a fun little game we play in our own minds. Whether they are willing to admit it or not, most of the dancers and directors are doing it. When I saw some girls walk in with DZ jackets I thought, "Oh crud!" The only thing I knew about the DZ was that Sabra Johnson (winner of SYTYCD Season 3) had danced there so I figured they were really good and they were! Once we saw how good they were, then we just hoped that they were not in all of our categories... well they were. They had multiple dances in every single category we were in! They have some amazing dancers and they have an impressive program. Even though winning is great, it's always nice to compete against great studios because they make everyone "up their game". Sometimes we are the studio making everyone "up their game", and sometimes we are the studio "upping our game." I am happy to report that we outscored the DZ in quite a few categories at nationals and we felt it was a great compliment every time it happened.
You know what they say, "If you can't beat 'em - join 'em." Well, we struck up a friendship with Kaydee at nationals which eventually led to her coming up to ML to work with our dancers. She choreographed a jazz number for Elites (Kylie's group) and a contemporary number for Seniors (Kendall's group) and a jazz number for Minis (Cassidy Earl's group) along with some technique workshops. It was great for the girls. We currently have a lot of great routines started and we hope to be able to keep up with all of the cleaning and changing that needs to be done before they are ready. Potentially - we have some great numbers this year!
Danny, Lacey, Neil and Sabra from SYTYCD Season 3.
FYI for all you SYTYCD fans - Kaydee said that Sabra winning couldn't have happened to a nicer person. She said that she is kind and genuine and a very hard worker. When her car was broken down, she would walk to the studio. Always fun to hear the inside scoop
So that is why there has been a blogging lull!
4 comments:
Just when I leave Moses Lake you bring all the good choreographers! lol I can't wait to see all the fabulous numbers this year. I love the video post too!
Scarlet thought Jaymz's lindy hop was pretty darn sweet. After the third time through, I had to call it quits.
Man that post made me really miss dancing. I miss it anyway but when you rub it in my face like that it stings! :) Just kidding...but I do wonder if there will come a time when I don't miss it. What great opportunites you guys have given those girls in Moses Lake! In my day there weren't those kinds of options.
Wow, everthing about this post is making me jealous. How awesome for those girls (and guys) to have that opportunity.
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