If it can go wrong, it will...

Ours was an interesting weekend.  After months of training and rehearsing, this weekend was the long-awaited Youth America Grand Prix Ballet Competition.  We packed our bags and set out for the regional competition in Denver.  The flight was on time.  Our seats were fine.  None of our luggage got lost...  That was the end of the smooth ride...

YAGP is a well respected international competition with regional events in the USA as well as in Italy, Mexico, Japan, and Brazil. I knew that The Princess had her work cut out for her.  After all, most of the other dancers have probably been studying ballet for years.  With only about five months of real training, she was certainly at a disadvantage. 

Of course, I thought her disadvantage would be limited to her lack of proper training.  As it turned out, that was the least of our problems!  During each of her solo classical variations her music quit.  Other dancers had musical malfunctions as well, but having problems with both pieces was very trying.  HRH handled it like a pro, but it really shook her confidence.

Later, on the evening before we were checking out, the power went out in our hotel.  We slept through several hours of power-free quiet, only to awaken to a dark hotel.  I made the mistake of jumping in the shower and washing my hair...  Big mistake!  No blow dryer!  I got to spend the cold, windy, Colorado winter morning with wet hair.  Joy.  And if the frozen ears weren't discomfort enough, I got to endure the hideous hair for the remainder of the afternoon.

I do have to admit, however, that it was a bit of a novel experience.  We opened our room door to find glow sticks carefully placed in the hallway outside each room door.  The stairwells were similarly lit, with glow sticks on every other stair tread.  Breakfast was tasty and (surprisingly) warm.  A buffet (undoubtedly cooked on a gas stove) was kept warm with assorted chaffing dishes heated by Sterno cans.  Each dish was illuminated by additional glow sticks and the tables were all candlelit.  It did make us smile!

After our morning and early afternoon in the cold, we were lucky enough to catch a break.  To our good fortune, the kind woman at the Denver Double Tree North took pity on us.  Feeling bad that we had checked out, despite having nowhere to go, with wet hair and make-up that was applied in the dark, she offered us a room for the remainder of our wait. 

The room was a suite, complete with kitchenette and king sized bed.  We snacked on hot, Double Tree chocolate chip cookies, and popped popcorn in the provided microwave, and sipped steaming mugs of hot chocolate.  The best part is that our kind hostess provided the room to us free of charge.

So, for the rocky weekend, we had a satisfactory ending.  HRH took second in the Contemporary category, and first in the Ensemble category.  Our studio took the Best School award, and our choreographer won the Best Choreographer award.  We got to fix our hair and makeup, and lounge in a comfortable suite...  I guess it wasn't so bad after all...