bunheadventures: showstopper anaheim ii competition

this post is looong overdue. but i wanted to do a recap and share what it’s like going to competition so who cares if it happened, like two weeks ago? showstopper is always fun because everyone wins. literally, everyone who goes on stage gets a trophy.

day zero: thursday, may 21st, 2015

this year was a little more crazy and little more fun because my dad, also the artistic director of our ballet studio, went to new york
the same weekend. in his young days, he danced with american ballet theatre, and he went for the 75th anniversary alumni party. 75 years! that’s kinda
important and only happens once. we can handle ourselves at the competition just fine.

so on thursday morning/afternoon, he hopped on a plane and headed for the big apple. meanwhile, my mom and i had some relaxation time before the hectic
schedule began. we ate lunch at curry house, which i used to go to as a child but stopped because it was a bit far. i remember it being better as a child,
but it’s probably because they have a superb kids meal. after that we decided to go shopping because we never have time to go
shopping. i ended up buying two pairs of shoes and some jeans/shorts. YAY~

there was still ballet class at night for the competitors, but i was a teacher’s aid because there were too many people. usually, we have around
15 people per class, but this was double. IT WAS INSANE. also, ms. lily is an intense teacher. anyway, the class was packed and hard and hot. once we got
home i started packing to go to anaheim. i meh i hate packing because i usually over-pack or forget something. UGH.

day one: friday, may 22nd, 2015

today was the first real day of the competition. did i mention it’s held at the disneyland hotel? it was kinda awful because 1)
you’re so close to disneyland, but you can’t actually go because you’re COMPETING, 2) it was disneyland’s 60th anniversary so it was packed, 3) it
was memorial day weekend so it was EVEN MORE PACKED. ugh, people.

in the morning i went to my friend, jessica’s, house to carpool to the venue. she was in a pretty good mood because she got to skip school. YAY! we ended
up arriving a little early, so she had to prep her hair and makeup outside. not too bad except there were so many people. i got to relax because i
didn’t need to compete until later at night, so i was basically going around being excited. what most people don’t tell you is this: competitions are stressful, but fun and exciting. (or at least it is for me). some of the other
girls at our studio – samantha, carolyn, and lucia – also arrived because they were competing that day as well. there were also kids – nicole, alana, and
jeanie – who came to simply support.

once the actual competing begins, there’s not much to do except cheer people on. i swear, the kids at our studio are hardcore cheerleaders. we are
so supportive of each other, IT’S GREAT. everyone’s bustling with excitement and things go by in a flash. i had to perform my duet with jessica at night, and we did fairly well!

the day’s results:
overall first place in our duet and overall first place for jessica’s solos! huzzah!

(this is a photo from our duet, but it’s annoying that they didn’t get any pictures of us together)

day two: saturday, may 23rd, 2015

we didn’t have any of our students competing until late at night, so it was a day of (mostly) relaxation. jessica stayed with us at the
hotel (and she continued to stay with us until the comp ended) and wanted to eat breakfast to the tiki restaurant in the disneyland hotel. the breakfast
menu ends at 11:00am, so we thought it would be fine to leave our hotel at 10:20ish. (it takes ~10 minutes to drive to the competition venue.) we carpooled
with lanai’s family and it took forever to find parking/get into the parking lot. why did it have to be memorial day weekend? and
disney’s 60th anniversary??? we ended up arriving at the tiki place at 10:58am, but by the time we got up to the register to order, it was 11:00am
. the breakfast menu was over and done.

do you have any idea how frustrating that is?! i didn’t really mind that much, but i could practically taste the mickey-shaped waffles. then POOF…
gone. i ended up ordering a salad because i don’t want a burger for breakfast. it was fairly disappointing, but that may have been because
i was already expecting breakfast foods.

I CALL THIS DISAPPOINTMENT.

after we finished our supposed-to-be-breakfast-but-ended-up-being-lunch, the three of us – jessica, alana, and i – decided to go watch pitch perfect 2! it was around 12pm, but the movie didn’t start until 1pm. we had some time to spare and decided to
explore downtown disney because it’s literally right there. we ended up exploring an art gallery, buying kettle corn, and taking photos in a photo booth. the pictures came out awful, but “it’s the
memories that count.”

the movie was great.
i got teary-eyed at some parts, but ultimately, i prefer the original. i’m a little disappointed in the ending because it wasn’t very conclusive. however,
everything else – the singing, plot, characters, etc – was fabulous.

afterwards, all of us went to eat at a restaurant in downtown disney called la brea bakery café. i ordered a salmon and kale salad because SALMON AND KALE.
(don’t judge me for getting another salad; i love my veggies, okay). it was so good but that might’ve been because 1) the morning salad was gross
and 2) i was really hungry and tired of kettle corn.

by now it was like 5ish, so we decided to go to the competition venue to get ready. there were nine girls dancing in an ensemble (group dance) piece, and
they weren’t suppose to arrive until 6pm or 7pm. obviously, i took a nap. the rest of the day was mostly spent preparing their hair, makeup, costume, warmup, and all that jazz. we ended really late (again) and
couldn’t eat dinner because everywhere was closed (again) and were starving (again).

day three: sunday, may 24th, 2015

the great thing about our hotel was that it had a continental breakfast; the horrible thing was that it was only open from 7am to 9am.
I JUST WANT TO SLEEP IN. but i also want breakfast. so i forced myself to get up at 8am to go down and get breakfast. the food ended up being awful, but
that might’ve been because i was so annoyed that the breakfast we held in the wee hours of the morning. (maybe i’m being a tad
overdramatic. BUT STILL.) after breakfast, i went back to sleep (because i’m actually part sloth and i need my sleep).

we had only had four girls competing today
at 3pm, but it was their first time. which means nervous anxiety from tiny children. we arrived unnecessarily early (12pm) and ended up talking with my dad
for an hour or so. the kids were supposed to arrive ar 1:30pm, but they all came late. *facepalm facepalm facepalm* CHILDREN PLEASE. in the end, they did
fine which is all that really matters, right?

afterwards, we finally had some time to spare and could actually eat dinner. ms. lillian (remember the super intense teacher from day
zero? yeah, her) recommended us go to the anaheim packing district because we’re hardly ever in the area. it was basically like a super high-end hipster two-story food court, which is awesome.

my mom, as well as alana and her family, ended up eating at this ramen place. jessica and i shared an iced green tea (which is as good as it sounds), but
ended up actually eating at the kettle bar. their main dish was this cajun pan roast curry bowl with snow crab, shrimp, and lobster. so we got
that and a starter salmon salad, and shared both. IT WAS SO GOOD. overall, very satisfied with everything! <333

day four: monday, may 25th, 2015

monday was the busiest day because everyone else (apprx 20 ppl including myself) competed. you know what sucks? waking up at 5am for a dance competition. seriously, the sun isn’t even up. the actual time i was supposed to compete was 8am and 9am (two
solos), but i need to do my hair, makeup, check out of the hotel, drive, warmup, change, try out the stage… UGH. did i ever mention how much i hate mondays
and mornings? because i do.

i ended up performing fine, which is always a relief.
i just wanted to finally eat because i was starving.* the youngins began competing at 10am, and it continued on (with breaks in between) until
4pm. the results were quite successful: i got overall first place in the senior solo division and ballet category + pointe category; the young ones got
(mostly) first place on their solos and such. i’m so proud of our studio! <333

*this post is mostly me complaining about lack of sleep & food. SORRY.

my dad’s flight was due to arrive at 5pm, which was perfect timing; we could all go to dinner together! a few of the competitors, their family, and my
family decided to eat at a buffet. TONIGHT WE FEAST. i ate mostly sushi and sashimi because i love fish. when i got home, i plopped on the bed and promptly
slept for fifteen hours. and the weekend was (finally) over.

– alexandra