April/May 2011

The last two months have been very busy with training and competition season! I love performing with my team-mates and seeing friends from other studios! I just finished my last competition and soon it's off to the Dance Awards in New York City! I am so excited!

On May 23-23 I attended the Monsters of Hip Hop Convention in Toronto. It was my first time at Monsters and I LOVED it! The faculty consisted of Rhapsody, Nappytabs, Luther Brown, JaQuel Knight and Tony Testa. In addition to the workshop classes, there was also an audition class, a freestyle battle, parent improv battle and a Club Stylz Showcase. Click on the video above to see highlights from the weekend!

There were so many talented and versatile dancers (even the parents rocked it!) - the freestyle battle with advanced room dancers was ridiculous! It was like watching a live taping of America's Best Dance Crew or seeing some of Ushers' dancers perform. I participated in the intermediate freestyle battle and won first place. My team mate Robin was third - yay Robin! The workshop was lots of fun and physically demanding. I was tired after Rhapsody's first class on Saturday morning!!! I feel a lot stronger  and confident in hip hop after attending this workshop - it was a great opportunity to learn from such talented dancers/choreographers.

Meeting Tony Testa was a highlight of the convention for me. He is the co-choreographer of Micheal Jackson's "This Is It" Tour. He performed in the faculty show on Sunday and brought the house down with his choreo to "Bad".  His class choreography was fun to do - he had us be cats, dogs, artists and scared football players all in one piece!

Another highlight was interviewing the funny and talented Tabitha D'Umo of Nappytabs. Click on the link above to see my interview with her! Nappytabs is famous for judging and choreography on "So You Think You Can Dance" but, they also have their own line of hip hop dancewear under the Nappytabs brand, are directors that work with many performing artists and work on other television shows like "Rock the Reception" and "ABDC". It was fun interviewing her even though I was TOTALLY nervous!!!

In the months ahead, I'll be writing about the first ever Dance Awards (the combined JUMP and NUVO Nationals). There will be a crazy amount of talent there.... I can't wait to experience it.  I will also be attending some new summer intensives and will share my experiences with you.

Thanks for checking my blog! See you next time on Move It With Maddie!