Talent On Parade National Finals - Des Moines, IA

This weekend was the Talent On Parade National Finals at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, IA. If you ever have 7 1/2 hours to spare and want to ride in the car with virtually NOTHING at all to look at, point the car west and take a trip to Des Moines. I've heard it's a boring ride and that is an understatement. Luckily, we broke up the drive out there by leaving Thursday night after my softball game and stopping about half-way for the night in Princeton, IL. The following morning we took a quick dip in the pool and headed out for the rest of the way to Des Moines.

While the drive wasn't that fun, the competition was pretty cool. There were groups from a bunch of different states and it was fun to watch the different routines (I think Nathan just likes looking at all the girls!) Luckilly, Allison performed all three of her dances on Saturday. Her group was the first of the day doing The Shoop Shoop Song (tap). Then she had a break and did Hey Daddy (jazz). A couple hours later, they did Scooby Dooby Doo. The girls did a GREAT job and performed each of the songs better than they ever have. Perfect time to nail it! They received an Elite Top First ranking (based on scores) for each of them which is pretty impressive. In terms of awards they did great too. The Shoop Shoop Song took 2nd place in the large group category (behind another BLDC routine done by kids in the next older age bracket). Hey Daddy took 5th place in the line group (larger than a large group). Plus, the judges give out "special" awards for whatever they feel like... The Shoop Shoop Song won one judges "Tu-Tu Cute Award". By about 6pm all the awards were presented and we headed back to the hotel for some pizza and swimming.

I must say I'm extremely proud of Allison and the way she's thrown herself into dance this year. She was a bit nervous during the first competition (and who wouldn't be when on stage in front of a crowd of about 1,000 people, judges sitting right in front of the stage, TV cameras, etc?). By the time Nationals came around she was like an old pro. She was clearly just having fun and enjoying herself and it really showed. And of course I let her know just how proud I was...

Heidi & Allison at the entrance.
Prior to the first dance of the day...
Stretching with the other BLDC dancers in the early morning...