The Newest AJHS Majorette Is...

Sooooooo PROUD of my baby girl! She worked so hard, and it paid off!

You are looking at the newest members of the 2011-2012 AJHS Majorettes!

There are 15 of them total.

Aren't they the prettiest group of girls?!

The "7th" Grade Majorettes...At least that's what they'll be next year.

Five out of six of them have all been taking lessons together for the last year or so from the baton "guru" in a nearby town...It paid off!

Calling Daddy to tell him the good news!

Getting a hug from last year's Captain, Aly.

Calling Nana!

Annaleigh and her bestest best friend talking to their Daddies! I'm so proud that BOTH of them made it! Her mother was rooting for Annaleigh just as much as her own daughter.

I think that a major reason for Annaleigh's success is due to this precious young lady, Miss Jill. She helped Annaleigh during the week of tryouts and tweeked her routine to give her just the right amount of spunk and sass!! What makes you think she knows anything about twirling?? Well, she just graduated from the University of Alabama, and while she was there, she was a Crimsonette!! Now, if you're not from the South, you might not understand this, but here, these girls are celebrities!! They're the closest thing to royalty that you can get!

The Name Game

The weekend after Mother's Day is always our annual dance revue, this year called "The Name Game."  It revolved around songs with names in the title, and as usual, it was very cute! This made Annaleigh's 9th Revue!

We had an all-day rehearsal on Saturday (and by all day, I really mean it...from about 8:45 until about 3:30!), then we had two shows on Sunday afternoon. Mind you that Jason had guard drill all weekend, so Alden had to hang out with a LOT of girls ALL weekend!

Our first dance was baton and we danced to the song "Johnny B Good." Although Annaleigh had done really well catching her baton in practice, especially her one-turn, we had a few misses on stage. What made it so funny was the look on her face! She took it all in stride and was really able to laugh at herself. THAT is what's really important!

Future majorettes...

Annaleigh is in the center here, #17...yes, that's her graduation year!

Here's the group photo at the end.

Next was pointe. Annaleigh's class danced with some younger, regular ballet students. It was a LOT of girls in a short amount of stage space, but they all did really well and it was very sweet. They danced to "Hey Jude." This is the first year where the pointe was really obvious! Last year was pre-pointe and they weren't really ready to go up on their toes, but this year they did, and it was really beautiful.

Next was regular ballet danced to a number called "Daniel." The girls all looked really pretty and graceful.

This was at the Awards Ceremony right before the Intermission. Annaleigh received her nine-year trophy. If she keeps at this, she will have been dancing 15 years at her senior show!! What a goal to work toward! Now, how much money will I have spent by them?!??

The next number was Jazz danced to "Gloria." It was really one of my favorites because she is so spunky!

I included this one, although blurry, because I never get any action shots of her. We can't use flash photography during the show (some poor dancer might careen off the stage), so action shots are almost impossible! But this one was very pretty, despite the poor quality!

Another cute group shot. She's the one with her hand up.

Lastly was competition! We've seen this number numerous times, but it was still precious! These are our little rockers dancing to "Your Mama Don't Dance....And Your Daddy Don't Rock-N-Roll!

The LAST of our SIX costumes was the finale number where they wore their recital tshirts. This was the obligatory picture after the show.

This one is because she just can't take all those cute pics without throwing some goofy ones in there too!

And where was my little man during all this estrogen-fest, you ask? Asleep on Nana...where else?

Dancing the Weekend Away

Annaleigh has been dancing with the same studio for 9 years, but this year, we joined the Competition Team in addition to regular dance classes. Right now, she takes baton (gearing up for majorette tryouts next year), jazz, ballet, pointe, and the competition class. These are our dance pics this year...or at least some of them. We have never had this many costume changes! She is wearing a total of 6 different outfits if you count the finale! That also has varying hairstyles associated, so I will be a very busy dance mom come recital day!

Jazz - Dancing to "Gloria"

Competition - Dancing to "Your Mama Don't Dance"

Waiting at the photography studio...These are the pointe costumes.

Regular ballet costume

Annaleigh and friend have danced together in the exact same classes for 8 of the last 9 years!

The lady at the studio always makes cookies for picture day each year! How sweet! These girls are getting a bit delirious from all the waiting! These can take several hours!!!

Now they have lost it!

Competition has included 2 weekends of dance at the beautiful Alabama Theater in Birmingham, and this past weekend we were at the Roy Acuff Theater in Nashville. Yes, that is the same weekend that Nashville received 13 inches of rain and the whole city is flooded. There were several deaths also associated with this flash flooding. We were some of the lucky ones who did actually make it home in time and weren't stuck there in the city. We did see some terrible conditions, though. From what I understand now, the very place we were performing is now under water! All of the area around the Grand Old Opry as well as Opry Mills Mall is under water! It was still a fun weekend despite feeling like a duck the entire time!

All the girls wait on stage for awards...

Annaleigh got to get up and receive their GOLD award!

The "Rockers" Group

The "Rockers" and their long-time dance teacher, Mrs. Dana.

Annaleigh and the trophy

 

Dancing the Weekend Away

My daughter, Annaleigh, has been dancing at the same studio for 9 years. Now, she is only 11, so you do the math. Dance has brought so many things to our otherwise calm household. From the time she was very small, I could tell that dancing really brought out her personality. My dad was the first to notice this, since he actually took her to dance much of the time. At times, I wish we could put some of that personality back! But alas, we are stuck with a vibrant, bubbly, booty-shaking girl.It seems that there is never a shortage of laughter in our house, and often, it leads to "stop dancing like that!!" We take it all in stride. At least I do. Hubby is another story, but I digress.

This year marked a first for us. Competition Dance...a whole other monster full of weekend hotel stays, lots of fancy warmups and matching attire, as well as a whole other level of spending money! Dance Convention was this past weekend.This is where the students learn under other master teachers. There was jazz, hip-hop, ballet...you get the picture. All day Saturday. All day Sunday. Since I am expecting, this is wearing on me, so some dear mothers who found out I was asleep in my car in the parking garage (very safe, I know) came to my rescue and sent me home early Sunday, promising to return my DD safely to me.

Here is a picture of Annaleigh at the blessed event. Hopefully in a few weeks I can update with some pics of the official competition (they are performing a punk rock number) complete with full crazy hair and makeup.