radio city music hall - SICK!

o.k. i need to explain. when the idea of going to new york to participate in a national competition was given to us, we were not very excited. we felt like, if we are spending the money to go to new york, who wants to be stuck all day in dance classes and all night competing? we would feel robbed to be in new york and not be able to BE in new york. kathy bunker, the girls director would say, "but you will be dancing at radio city music hall, you can tell your grandchildren about it". and we would say, "big deal. my grandkids won't care". (to ourselves of course). so, when it became apparent that we were really going to do this, we had to adjust our attitudes a little (maybe a lot) and started praying that we would be able to do a little (maybe a lot of) dancing and a little tourist-ing. it turned out that we had plenty of time for both. actually, no one was ready to leave when it was time to come home, but then it's always good to be left wanting more, right?

soooo, saturday the 7th of july was the night of the "jump broadway finale"! sadie had a call time of 7:30 am because she was preforming one of her numbers for the big show that night. they met in the lobby at 6:45 (i was still sleeping), got a little breakfast, something for lunch and some snacks, and off they went. because of tight security, once a dancer checked in she would not be able to leave until after the show was over at 11 pm that evening. (megan brought her some dinner when she came!) do the math, sadie was there for 12 1/2 hours before the show began. megan's call time was 12 noon (eight hours early), and hailey's was 1:00 (seven hours early). during that time, sadie's group got one, yes one shot at rehearsing their number on the stage, megan's group (all the senior dancers) did a hip hop number they had learned, probably 300 girls, hailey's group (the junior dancers) did a "thriller" number, probably 300 girls as well, and they both were in the closing number with all the girls who participated (@900). the rest of the time, they watched the preparations that were going on.

i'm still wondering to myself if it is worth spending an entire day watching and waiting for this big chance to dance at "radio city music hall". i was getting texts from hailey about how bored she was (no, she doesn't have text messaging, she just thought that would pass the time a little!) anyway, it's time for the big show, i arrive, get a little play book (you know, like you get at a play with the acts listed and the actors and actresses), and there are my girls names hailey bunker, megan bunker and sadie bunker in it. the hall is huge, the atmosphere energized, and i finally begin to get what a "big deal" this really is! the show starts, (all the parents had to buy tickets to get in so we had assigned seats) and i can hear all the dancers, seated on the second level, start screaming in their excitement! i start to get it a little more. then the curtains go up, the set, the live band, the hugeness of the stage, and it finally dawns on me, my daughters are getting a chance to dance on "broadway"!

well, it was a great night. hailey, as a zombie in thriller, came down my aisle (i had the end seat) and then up on stage right in front of me, so i could see her dance the whole time. megan had a front spot during the hip-hop dance (for a while) and i could see her. (really a miracle since there were so many girls dancing!) sadie's group was great, and i am so grateful they were able to participate. about half way through i sent megan a text that said, this is soooo cool. are you having fun? she wrote back, i don't want it to end. boy were we wrong in the beginning. dancing at radio city music hall...priceless!