St. Michael-Albertville Dancers On Point at Masquerade Nationals

Nine dancers from St. Michael-Albertville wrapped up their team dance competition season with Masquerade Dance Nationals at the Burnsville Performing Arts Center last week.

The St. Michael girls were part of several Northland lines that earned five national titles.The girls, ranging in age from 6 through 15, all dance at Northland School of Dance in Champlin. The trophies they took home today filled the backseat of a large truck, and represented a year of hard work. 

The participants from STMA included Ashley Sammon (St. Michael-Albertville High School), previous  Haley Foucault (The St. Paul Conservatory for the Performing Arts), Kasey Dumonceaux (St. Michael-Albertville High School), Alyssa Ulrick (St. Michael-Albertville Middle School East), Hannah Peterson (St. Michael-Albertville Middle School East), Lauren Verhulst (St. Michael-Albertville Middle School East), Maddie Derbis (Big Woods Elementary) Lauren Dinh (St. Michael Elementary) and Becca Peterson (St. Michael Elementary).

What makes a dance national? To an extent it is much like any larger dance competition. It runs several days to a week long, at a major venue (e.g. River Centre, Convention Center, etc) and it draws teams from several states away. Doors open at 6:30 a.m., and teams take the stage generally around 8 a.m., competing often as late as 11 p.m.

At the end of the evening is the final awards presentation, and it is not unusual to be rolling your dance bags out to your car well after midnight - only to return a few hours later.

What makes the event a “national” is all the teams present had to attend a regional’s earlier in the year, and score high enough to be invited to the nationals.

This writer has two daughters that dance on competition lines and this is year seven of the competition circuit for us. My children are not yet on travel lines, where everything is ratcheted up a notch. Even with in state competitions – there is full docket of excitement. The work begins a few days before the actual competition commences, as that is when the schedule is typically posted. Due to late entries, studios are not given their competing days and times until right before the competition. Parents madly work to rearrange schedules, take time off work and pack the colossal amount of costumes and accessories that go with the sometimes eight or nine unique numbers per dancer. Just packing for these events is a feat in itself.

We arrive on site as doors open.  Girls and their moms immediately start pouring in, the competing dancers with the elaborate hair and make-up done, as they’ve been up since 4:00AM getting ready at home.  Once inside – each studio heads for their assigned dressing rooms. If you are fortunate, you have your own dressing room for just your studio. Typically though – you share space among competing studios. Sometimes all studios are sent to a cramped, communal location and the day becomes an exercise in diplomacy, patience and speed.

Teachers call lines to start warming up and rehearsing at 7 a.m. The girls are getting keyed up and the energy level starts to rise.  Some dancers use the railings of stairways as a ballet barre and stretch like ballerinas.  Others start doing back walkovers down narrow hallways to prepare. One teacher might arrive with a carrying tray of Caribou Coffee. They are instant heroes.  Attempts are made to run the dances but it is an inefficient rehearsal as spectators cut through your space to move throughout the building and some dance shoes are simply not designed to work well on carpeting (e.g. tap and pointe). Teachers give out last minute corrections and then send the girls back to the dressing room for final touches. 

Occasionally, the event runs ahead and teachers receive a frantic text message from back stage, “We are up in three numbers!" which sends the entire line running down the hall to the check-in area. It is frowned upon to miss your allotted time and many of the more prestigious competitions will deduct if you are not there to check-in when they expect to see you.

Staff with clipboards and headsets check in each team and the girls line up off to one side as they watch a performance or two before they go on stage. As their number is queued – they whisper, “Great job!” to the team leaving the stage, who breathlessly whisper back, “Thank you and good luck to you!”

The dancers line up behind their appointed curtains and as the music cues – they move out and take the floor.  From onstage, the audience appears a ball of white light and the dancers learn to perform tuning out flashing cameras, fog machines, strobe lights and chaos nearby behind the scenes.

If they are little ones – teachers are there to corral them right as they come off stage with hugs and high fives and “This way girls – this way!” It’s priceless to see little girls come off the stage feeling so excited they danced in front of such a big crowd. “Did you see me?  Did you see me?” they’ll run up and ask a proud Grandma and Grandpa.

“I don’t care about the $15 parking or the hard seats or the over-priced concession food, I so enjoy seeing my granddaughter up there I would do this every weekend.  In fact, I essentially do!” laughs dance Grandma Diane, from Blaine, who has a small station set up in the audience with blankets, her crafting bag, and a small cooler. It’s obvious she knows what 16 -hour days feel like, and she is ready.

Grandpa Dick sits nearby reading the paper, but adds from his seat, “She (his granddaughter) wins all kinds of big awards in New York every summer.  When I come to the local competitions, I know what the heck she is talking about when she calls all excited later this summer.  I even know what lyrical is now!”  (Tip: It’s a type of dance style between ballet and jazz.)

Back to the dressing room where the quick change skills come in. Mother’s fingers fly as they unwrap bun forms and extract three-inch hair pins while coaxing daughters to quickly change tights and shoes. Tutus are yanked up and rows of hooks and eyes are frantically latched up the dancer’s back.  Helper Moms touch up make up, change earrings and deal with the inevitable meltdowns that erupt from long days, no sleep and the rollercoaster of emotions the girls feel. Because dance is ultimately a subjective arena, a dancer can “nail it” as they say in the dance world, and still walk away with a trophy of the least desired color. In dance, everything comes down to the feeling of three judges.  Yet dance is ultimately a performance art, and the kids know if they captivated your attention for their few minutes on stage, they did their job and they did it well.

Every five or six hours during the day, the judging breaks for awards. The dancers flood the stage sitting with their studios – many waving large, decorated studio signs. Carpets are rolled out, tables covered with trophies are carried out and the judging panel comes up on stage with microphones. As theme music blares, judges toss out necklaces and Frisbees to the dancers and the crowd and make sure the ceremony is as exciting as possible.

As awards and placements are announced, the teams chap and cheer, supporting all the competitors. Parents watch from the audience, nervously awaiting their children's scores. You quickly learn who has the best whoop and holler in your repertoire of dance families.  The kids on stage make a drum roll with their hands on the stage floor, to hear the overall 10 highest scoring numbers of the day.  Trophies range from small plaques to ultimate achievement trophies that span over six feet high.

After awards, the dressing rooms clear out and the hallways are mobbed again with Dads moving props, moms rolling garment racks and girls hugging trophies or Kleenex – depending on how they feel about their results.

It can be a very exhilarating experience and most parents happily foot the bill, carry the load and spend hundreds of hours a year prepping for only minutes on stage.  Most would agree it is worth it for the “bust a button” feeling of pride families and friends feel watching their children do what they love.