Cedar Valley Ballroom Showcase - Craiger & Taya

 

After competing Syllabus for 6 hours, we spend an additional 8 hours watching the showcase dances.  Both Craiger & Taya's teams performed several times.  Taya performed twice & so did Craiger.

I actually got some team photos for these from their dance coach & they are darling:

Taya - JV Samba

Taya - JV Rhumba

Craiger - Varsity Disco

Craiger - Varsity Jive

First we had Taya's team compete in the Latin competition doing the Samba!

Then we had their team compete in Rhumba.

Craiger always enjoys doing his Disco.

And Craiger's Jive has gotten really really good as well.

Their high school did an amazing job at this competition.  This was considered the "State Championship" which means a LOT when you place high.  We had 2 first place finishes!

The Varsity team won several awards:

Latin/Rhythm Showdance (Tango) - 1st Place

Standard/Smooth Showdance (Cha Cha) - 1st Place

Large Group Showcase (Disco) - 3rd Place

Swing Showdance (Jive) - 3rd Place

Cabaret Showdance - 4th Place

The JV team did really well too:

Large Group Showdance (Rhumba) - 3rd Place

Standard/Smooth Showdance (Waltz) - 4th Place

Latin/Rhythm Showdance (Samba) - 5th Place

Cedar Valley - Youth Syllabus - Craiger & Taya

Ballroom syllubus can be quite interesting to watch.  They just throw a bunch of couples onto the dance floors with numbers on their back & watch them dance for 30 seconds.  Each time it's a different style of dance & they do it in heats. . . about 25 couples per heat.  Once all the heats dance, the eliminate a bunch of couples & do round 2 of the same style dance with the couples that made it to the next round.  These eliminations continue until there are 3 top couples.  This was Taya & Craiger's first time ever doing syllabus & they were terrified.  They learned choreography for 30 seconds of a style & just rehearse those same steps over & over & over again.  You never know how you will do because sometimes you're up against all your friends in a heat & sometimes you're the only one from your school in a heat.  Both kids did great for a first time.  I'm very proud of them.

Craiger - Latin Syllabus (Samba/Rhumba Combo): He made it 2 rounds!!!

Samba: Round 1

Rhumba: Round 1

Samba: Round 2

Rhumba: Round 2

Taya - Newcomer Triple Swing: They made it 2 rounds!

Triple Swing Round 1:

Triple Swing Round 2:

Craiger - Cha Cha Syllabus - They made it 2 rounds!!!!

Cha Cha: Round 1

Cha Cha: Round 2

For some reason I didn't get any pictures of Taya's waltz syllabus, but I did get a video.  They only made it the first round on this one.

Taya - Waltz Syllabus

And finally Craiger finished strong making it 2 rounds into Syllabus Foxtrot.

Craiger - Foxtrot Syllabus

Foxtrot: Round 1

Foxtrot: Round 2

After about 6 full hours of syllabus competitions (YES, it's SO LONG), it was time for the showpieces which are my favorite & where our high school really shines.

I am so proud of both Taya & Craiger for learning something new & extremely hard & for giving it their all.  They did a great job.