World Hoop Dance Championships....it's a doozy!

I guess I'd better first thank Ben...it was hard for him to arrange his schedule so he could come with me to Arizona, and then he drove the whole way there and back...plus sat at the competition all day and helped with Charley! He is amazing! I have the best Husband! And also Thank you Brooktynn and Ryan. We stayed at their house, it was perfect, they literally lived 2 minutes away from the competition site! And then they stayed all day with us, and helped with Charley....which she absolutely loved...she adores her aunt and uncle (mainly Ryan...it is quite funny her little obsession with him!). And also Terri Goedel. Terri is my good friend Erin's dad! Erin could come to compete this year, but her dad has come for the last 13 of the 19 years. He helped me with all my million questions and introduced me to all the right people.

I was at a meeting with all the judges at 8:00am on Saturday. Then Grand Entry was at 9:30am. Charley danced in Grand Entry with me. while we were waiting she saw everyone with their hoops and started trying to copy everything they were doing...it was so cute.



After Grand Entry they asked all the dancers to leave except the Tiny Tots. Then they introduced the judges, the MC, the Arena Director and the drum groups. At that point Charley was already done dancing and wanted to go play. So I spent most of her little dance chasing her back to the arena. She danced for a little bit, but got mad and threw a hoop, and it landed on the forehead of another little kid!...It wasn't good for them to take 15 minutes to introduce everyone before hand...



They started the competition with the Youth (6-12 year olds). They were amazing. I couldn't believe it....I was thinking maybe I could hang with these little kids! Then they went on to the Teen division (13-17 year olds). And they were so creative...kids were break dancing and doing cart wheels. I was really impressed. Then it was the Adult Division (18-40 years of age). There were only 3 girls in my group, and the rest guys. I tried not to watch, but it was too hard. Ben kept saying ..."did you see that!?" referring to all the cool things they were doing.

When I was on deck I went to the drum group that would be singing for me and told them I was 4 months pregnant and I needed a slower song. They laughed at me and told me I was crazy for dancing while pregnant!



My dance went fine. We were on a time limit, and decided that I wasn't going to do my whole routine. Most people weren't. I eased up and got less nervous after my first hoop, and things went great....I made all of my formations and didn't drop a hoop. I think I was pretty graceful dancing and then I almost fell!....not so graceful anymore!..heehee....I had placed all of my hoops on the ground and signaled the drum that I was done and continued to dance while they finished the song...and as the song was ending I was dancing right by my hoops and stepped on my hoops as I was stopping....and almost fell....when that happened you could hear everyone gasp! I just laughed and collected my things and went off!...I didn't fall, but it was really funny!...of course I got points taken off for that!

When my division was done dancing they had our scores posted within five minutes. (they had been tallying while everyone was dancing.) I was pretty pleased with my scores. Of the 5 categories my scores matched all of the top dancers...except the speed category. I knew me dancing slow would cost me some points, but I didn't realize that I would lose so many. I got 28 out of 50 points, and everyone else got in the 40's. I was 16 points from the top 10, and if I had just danced a little faster, and not tripped at the end, I would have made it to the finals. I ended up tied for 12th place, and 2nd of the females!

I wasn't upset or disappointed with the scores. I learned a lot from this trip. It has always been a goal to compete and I did it. I had people come up to me after I danced and told me how beautiful my dancing was, and even when I wasn't wearing my regalia I had people come tell me how great I was. It just made me fell good, and know that I don't suck and am actually pretty good. I am hoping to go next year, when I am not pregnant!

I'll post a video later!