J's 2 dance solos were on Sunday morning. Early. J has never been a morning person and whenever competitions scheduled her before 11am I knew she'd be tired and not stretched enough. We had a great year of solos being held after 5pm, which J feels is her best time of day. So, with both her dance solos scheduled before 9:15am this time, I was concerned for her. We got her dressed at mom's, she threw her team gear on and we were out the door before 8am. We got a panicked phone call when we were 1/2-way there that the comp was running 1/2 hour early and J would be on in 8 numbers (about 20 minutes). Ugh, now not only was J going on at 8:30am instead, but we were really late.

We got there in time, ran to the dressing room, did a last minute costume pinning, makeup-touchup, and hairspray and her coach whisked her off to get backstage. I was a mental mess. I felt bad about being late and having to rush and I just hoped she was in a confident mood today. They called her on stage and she performed beautifully - but to me, it's always beautiful since I have no full understanding about technique or what the judges look for. The teachers, studio owner, and parents came up to me afterwards and said it was the best they've ever seen it. I couldn't even hear much of what was being said as we only had 3 minutes to get changed for J's next dance.

Awards were at 10:30 and the first thing they announce are the judges choice awards. These are for choreography, precision, showmanship, and fabulous feet. They called out J for the precision award! Precision (i.e. technique) has always been the one area she gets point off on.

Then....


for J's Jazz Solo Age 11, (there were 4 in her category)....


she got her adjudication award....


and...


she....


got...





!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Her first Platinum (highest award given) for a solo. What an amazing way to end the season! It was surreal to see and hear our studio screaming and cheering. I was in shock, B was all teary-eyed and J was beaming. She has reached a personal goal and I know it felt good. And out of all the junior solos in all categories, she placed 2nd - five-tenths of a point away from 1st place. She was up there on a cloud, it seemed.