Hey all!

We are heading to Disneyland this summer for the Spotlight Nationals. We have only done one Nationals before and it was pretty much in our back yard a few years ago, so we are a little rusty on the Nationals circuit. So my question is....

How do you keep you dances/dancers fresh for Nationals?
What do you do to get the team pumped up holding their own against some incredible competition?

We are having a company slumber party after a rehearsal this summer, but what else can I do?

Do you embelish costumes, change choreography? What do you do?

Thanks in advance!!!

You definately want to make sure your students stay dancing through the Summer. Don't let them have time off after recital-they will break after nationals. Luckily our nationals is the week right after recital so we don't have to worry about that too much. Also, schedule reheral times for your students while they are in Disney, even if its in the hotel lobby or something. We always had to practice while we were there. Try to arrange a team event while you are there as well, so that you can continue to enourage them with working together. Its just very important that they dont' get lazy. How many weeks do you have between Recital and Nationals??

We have 3 weeks between end of year classes and Nationals, and I do have them booked with rehearsals. I am still waiting on the Nationals schedule because we do want to plan a park day, a swim time and a group dinner. We are only bringing 13 dances, so I hope that we can get some full days off together!

It sounds like you have it pretty well together. Good luck to your team and i hope you guys have a great time!!

Hire an acting coach and have her work on the emotions and intent of the pieces. The kids love it and it will improve their interpretation immensely.

hmmm...in this small town I AM the acting coach. But that has me thinking of some new stuff to do with them, so thanks!!!

We have only done Nationals a few times ourselves, but we do try to make it special for those girls going. We do "add" to the costumes to make them more special or rearrange the choreography to account for their increased skill level since the dances were choreographed a year ago at this point. Good luck!