Makenna was on FOX 13 News

The dance studio that Makenna attends was visited by Big Budah from FOX 13 News. A few of the girls were chosen by their teachers to dance for the broadcast and Makenna was one of them. She had to be there at 6:30 in the morning. She was so excited that the early time didn't phase her in the least. I walked into her room at 5:15 am and said, "Makenna it's time to wake up." Her eyes popped right open and she very excitedly said, "Yeah!"

Here is the link....http://www.myfoxutah.com/myfox/MyFox/pages/sidebar_video.jsp?contentId=6954169&version=1&locale=EN-US

She runs out in blue towards the fron left-hand side of the screen. It focuses on her for a couple of seconds.

Let her know what you think. She loves comments and was so excited about this.

Fourth of July 2008

As part of our annual tradition, we gathered with friends to watch the local Fourth of July parade.
When the parade ends, we all walk over to the park and watch Makenna dance. This year we were especially lucky to have Nana, Grampa and Aunt Dana with us.

Disclaimer: Although I have been present through Makenna's rehearsals and knew that the summer program was hip hop I was still surprised by the songs lyrics and the dance moves. Makenna was oblivious, but I was shocked. I should have known that they do not sing about butterflies and rainbows in hip hop. I learned to appreciate it for what it was. I enjoyed watching Makenna do something that she absolutely loves.

Team pictures

Makenna's dance studio takes new team pictures every May. They get all dolled up then pose in small groups. They then digitally put all of the girls together into the same picture.

Solo performance at National Dance Spectacular 4/26/08

Makenna performed her solo again at the National Dance Spectacular this morning. It is the same dance she did last month at the Utah Dance Spectacular. The girls gathered around to hear the results during the Awards Ceremony.


Makenna was so happy to receive the title of Queen in the National Dance Spectacular Preschool Division. To top it off, this time the trophy is purple. She was so excited that it would match her room. That's mommy's girl. We are so proud of Makenna's hard work. She absolutely loves dance. This was definitely a wonderful Makenna day, with a solo, two team dances and a new trophy.

Hip Hop Dance

Here is the Tiny Classic's new hip hop dance. The girls love this dance!

Time for a costume change

The Tiny Classics learned a new hip hop dance for this competition.

They changed out of their pink costumes into purple.

Then, they hung out and waited to hit the dance floor.

National Dance Spectacular

Here are the girls posing before they went out to perform their Classic Showteam dance.

More pics from Makenna's 1st solo

We were so busy filming the solo that we didn't get any still shots. Low and behold, there was a lady who sat and took pictures of every performance. These are the two shots she took of Makenna. Thank you to the lady who remains nameless:-)

Utah Jazz game

Touch of Class danced for the Utah Jazz. They were the pre-game show. It was really cute to watch Makenna tonight. She was so happy and excited to be there. I think some of that energy made her a little bit distracted. It seemed like she was finding it hard to focus. She giggled about that after it was over. She had fun though and we watched a great game. It was the Jazz vs. the Lakers. We got to sit courtside while the players warmed-up and the girls danced. Then we moved to our nose-bleed seats to watch the game. Matt had class tonight. It was a bummer to not have him there with us. One more year and then we will have our "normal" family life back.

Makenna was on the Jumbo Tron while they were waiting to start their dance.

A HUGE SURPRISE!

We were just beginning to settle down from the excitement of Makenna being named Queen of her division, when her name was announced again. "Number 122, Makenna Martin, Dance Spectacular Utah Amateur Over-all Queen," came over the loud speakers. We were shocked! No camera or camcorder ready. Makenna went up and received her trophy (which is taller than she is), her crown, MP3 player, etc. She came back to us and we calmed down enough to get some pictures then. She was on cloud 9! Being new to all of this, we later found out she scored higher than all of the girls in the Amateur Solo group. This included ages from preschool (which is what she is) to the teenagers. Quite an accomplishment! We are so proud of all the hard work she put into practicing.

Awards

Makenna won the title of Queen in her dance division. The placement of the dancers is as follows...Queen, First Attendant, Second Attendant and so forth. I was so nervous I choked (literally), shook (as you will see in the video), and cherished her moment. This video gives you a feel of the moment:-)

Team Competition Finale 3/15/08

All of the Classic Showteam came together for the finale.

Team Competition

Later that day, it was time for a costume change and team competition.