Summer Dance Recital
June 8, 2008
This weekend was the annual Summer dance recital for Suzanne and the kids and their Alma Dolores International Dance Studio. This is a two night performance of the all the kids and adults that have been working on dances since the end of the year show.
The first night is usually a fun, high energy performance where they pick some musical or theme and have small and large groups performing. Friday night, the theme was Dora the Explorer for the little kids (8 and under) and then Hair Spray for the older dancers.
Its a pretty long show at about 2 1/2 hours. I always get to sit in the audience by myself since everyone else is dancing. I love to watch the kids dance but I do get tired of the four year olds that kind of just stand there. Its great for their parents and family – I was there at one point. As usual the kids and Suzanne did great.
The second night is a more artistic night. You get the ballet, lyrical and contemporary type dancing. This year, they did the dances to the music of Cirque de Solei. They also added in the international dances (Irish, Mexican, Spanish, Middle East, etc) and they use appropriate music.
The second night was again about 2 1/2 hours and the kids did great. Sean had the Irish hard shoe going good and Savannah really got into her hip hop routine. I still think hip hop is her strongest dance genre, but Suzanne keeps pushing the other stuff. She really enjoys the Mexican folklorico and Spanish Flamenco dancing too. Sean had limited dances this year because most of his time was spent with his 14 – 2 baseball team. He may try to sneak in a few more classes (like hip hop and break dancing) this summer, but football season is rapidly approaching.
I had hoped to post some pictures of the dance recital, but on the first night Suzanne had the camera set up wrong for the first half (yes, I should have checked her settings), plus I forgot the tripod which is really needed for the darkness of the theater. Then, I forgot the camera on the second night. Oh well, no pictures this year.
Next up for the dancers is the Showstopper National Dance Competition in Anaheim this coming July. Due to the all the vacations we are taking this year (Pechuls reunion in Mar, Klasen reunion in June, Grandmother’s 90th birthday in August, and our cruise in November), I will not be attending the competition.
Sean’s Team Loses Tough Scrimmage
June 5, 2008
Sorry to do another post about Sean’s baseball team, but quite frankly, it occupies a lot of our time right now. You will get a break from it with the Alma Dolores International Dance Studio Summer Recital coming up this Friday and Saturday. Sean will miss one baseball game because of that and that doesn’t exactly excite me.
Anyways, yesterday Sean’s team had a scrimmage against a regional travel team from Southeast Arizona. These kids have to try out for games, pay the coach and play all over the state. I say it was a scrimmage but it was essentially played like any normal game except for a few exceptions.
- It was agreed to play 9 innings – our games usually end at 6 innings
- Pitchers were limited to 3 innings
- All players batted – not just those in the field
This was the most enjoyable game of the season to watch. The other kids were bigger than our and I think they could be 1 year older. It was obvious they were well coached and organized. I had said in a preview post about this game, I didn’t expect our team to fare to well.
Despite coming out on the short side of a 6-5 loss, I was wrong. It was a close game and our kids hung with them the entire way. In fact, we outplayed them and probably should have one if not for one sloppy inning in the field.
Through the first six innings, both sides chipped away at the plate and scored a run here and there. They were up on us 4 – 3. In the seventh, we got sloppy in the field and made several errors on quite easy plays. The errors allowed them to score 2 runs and take the lead 6 – 3.
They took that 6 – 3 lead into the bottom of the ninth when we started a rally. With one out, we had runners on 1st and 3rd base. Our batter hit a looper to right field. The right fielder charged the ball hoping to catch it but it bounced in front of him and got by him. The runners easily scored and the batter ran to the third as the ball was relayed back to the infield. The coach had a tough decision on whether to hold the runner at third or try to have him score. It would have been a very close play with a good throw.
With only one out, I think the coach did the right thing and held the batter at third. It turns out the throw home was a bit wild and he would have scored, but playing the percentages was the right call. Unfortunately, the new two kids struck out and we stranded the tying run on third base.
It’s amazing how enjoyable (and faster) a game can be when both sides throw strikes and swing the bat. In too many of our games, the other side can’t pitch well and doesn’t like to swing the bat. That makes for long games. We usually end up mercy ruling them.
Hats off to the kids for playing a very good game against a very tough team. While it officially was a scrimmage, I still count it as a loss which makes Sean’s teams’ recored 14 – 2 this season. This game will only help with the state tournament coming up at the end of the month.
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