USA Tap Team 2008
The blog

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Final results from Riesa, Germany:
   2nd place, Small Group
       “Musical Chairs”
   4th place, Male Solo
       “Ain’t Nothing Wrong with that”
   6th place, Duo
       "Oh, Lover"   
 

On Saturday, December 6th and Sunday, December 7th (it was just one big blur...)
We were able to sleep in until 8am, which was much appreciated as we are all very exhausted!  After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we boarded the shuttle to the arena once again this time with all of the costumes and chairs.  Upon arriving at the arena, the “ironing crew” of Deb, Mary and Terri took over, pressing each costume so that the kids looked perfect on stage.  It’s amazing what a travel iron, a plug adaptor and a bottle of water can do.  Mary Lemoine was today’s official photographer as the batteries on Steve’s camera died.

The numbers that competed today in the semi-finals were: Jon’s solo, Jon and Lauren’s duet. Jon, Lauren and Hannah’s trio and the small group “Musical Chairs”.  After a very eventful, exciting and demanding afternoon we were pleased to report that 3 of our numbers progressed to the finals:

      Jon’s solo- he will be one of 6 males competing

      Jon and Lauren’s duet- they will be 1 of 6 duets performing

      Musical Chairs- will be 1 of 6 small groups performing

To be chosen to be one of the final group of 6 numbers was a huge success as the talent that we had seen WAS amazing…..

This evening is going to be stressful, yet exciting.  The kids are starting to feel some of the pressure but have had a dinner break, plenty of water and played a game of “Monkey in the Middle” to take the edge off.  The parents are much more stressed..and now we know why Lisa doesn’t do this every year!  We’ll keep you posted on tonight’s results- stay tuned…

6:30pm- The parents were admitted into the arena to find seats.  The entire USA team sat together and with flags waving, loud clapping, cheering, and chants of “USA” we were a very patriotic group. 

7:00pm- The last “Parade of Nations’ began amidst fireworks, music and a packed arena.  Much to our surprise this event was a “huge happening” here in Riesa and the locals had come out in full force to watch the amazing tap dancers perform!

Jon and Lauren’s duet performed first; they did a great job ..after the scores were in they placed 6^th in the category!!.

Next came “Musical Chairs”- each time they performed it there was something different thrown in, whether planned or not; it always seemed to amuse the crowd and the judges. We were happy to hear that German children play musical chairs so we were assured that the judges would understand the dance.  After coming forward to receive their scores, the group had won a silver medal!  They stood on the podium and cried as they watched the American flag being raised along with the 2 Swiss teams that took Gold and Bronze. We can’t begin to describe the feeling we had as we watched our kids stand there and so proudly represent their country!  It is certainly an experience they will never forget.  To have won a silver medal (2^nd place) out of 25 small groups has made us realize once again how wonderful the choreography and dancing were at this competition!

It was finally time for Jon to do his solo; he came out onto the stage and caught the audience’s attention immediately.  With the USA cheering section in full force it seemed to spur him on; as he left the dance floor he turned towards us and Lisa and raised his hand to let us know how excited he was.  It was hard to see as everyone was crying ( I told you it was an emotional night each time the kids took the stage!).  The 6 males lined up to get their scores and it was quickly apparent that a Swiss dancer had taken the gold medal as he got all perfect scores of 1 from each judge. Jon’s scores put him into 4^th place!  We were so proud of him!  The talent in each category was truly amazing; our kids did more than hold their own!

We boarded the shuttle for our hotel for the last time and returned to the hotel at approximately 11:45pm.  After a quick final packing we all met downstairs in the lobby and celebrated with a bottle of champagne; all 14 of us had just enough for a sip and a toast to our amazing adventure.  We presented Lisa with a “USA Beanie-baby Bear” to commemorate our trip and then placed another “USA Beanie-baby Bear” in the hotel's collection case in the lobby.  They have things there from all over the world, the hotel owner was very willing to unlock the doors and have the kids place the bear anywhere they wanted inside the cabinet; we have pictures of our little bear sitting there as a reminder of our trip to Riesa and our success!

As we only had several hours until we had to get up for the 5am shuttle to the airport, most of us chose to stay downstairs and prolong the celebration.  The English Tap team joined us and we exchanged our USA pins for English flags.  E-mail addresses were exchanged, stories told and we left with many new friends.  It was so nice to see the kids supporting each other; they made friends from many nations this week and proudly wear the pins that they have traded on their jackets as reminders of this.

The hotel owner had breakfast ready for us at 4:30am as promised; this is even after staying up with us most of the night and making omelets for the hungry dancers!  We were very impressed with her willingness to provide us with whatever we needed.  Our 5am shuttle didn’t arrive until 5:30am but we were soon on our way to the airport to begin our long flight home.  The kids slept wherever and whenever they could; on airport benches, the floor and then finally on the 9 hour flight from Munich to Washington DC..

Steve Desmond and Mary Lemoine are to be commended for the many amazing pictures that they captured while we were there.  The pictures will be posted soon so watch for them!  We also want to thank Vicki Puza-Allen for coordinating all of our travel plans and finding our quaint hotel- we loved it!

Lisa, we couldn’t have done this without you; your constant support, encouragement and love for these kids was so evident; the impact that you and this trip has had on their lives is immeasurable!  We love you!

And to the 6 dancers- Lauren, Hannah, Stephanie, Sarah, Janelle and Jon- words can’t begin to express how very proud we are of your accomplishments and how well you represented your studio, your teacher and your country.  You are truly the “USA Tap Team”

We have ordered a video of the finals so once that is delivered from Germany we’ll make sure anyone that is interested has an opportunity to view it.  It was truly an amazing night- I don’t think that any of us had any idea just how “Big” this was!  I hope our stories have helped you understand some of the experiences we shared…it was definitely “an adventure of a lifetime”


On Friday, December 5
The day dawned bright and early with breakfast at 6:30am and a shuttle ride to the arena at 6:45am and 7:15am (for those who wanted an extra few minutes of sleep). We had 4 numbers performing today:

“Oh, Lover”- duet with Jon and Lauren

“Can’t Stop”- trio with Jon, Lauren and Hannah

“Musical Chairs”- small group with Jon, Lauren, Hannah, Janelle, Sarah and Stephanie

“Ain’t Nothing Wrong with that”- Jon’s solo

All 4 numbers successfully made it to the semi-finals which will be held tomorrow(Saturday) am.  If they make the cut in the semi-finals then they will compete in the finals, held tomorrow(Saturday) evening!  We’ve got our fingers crossed!  Lisa is doing some last minute tweaking so the dances will be even better than before!

Upon our return to the hotel this evening we all decided that we wanted to try an Italian restaurant that several parents had suggested to us.  After walking for approximately an hour looking for the restaurant (remember almost no one speaks English here!) we decided to return to our usual place about 5 minutes away!  The kids all decided to try apple strudel for dessert!

Our hotel owner met us as we returned this evening to inform us that we are being picked up by shuttle bus at 5am on Sunday(for all of you at home that is Saturday @ 11pm ET) for our return flight home!  As they normally serve breakfast from 6am-10am she very graciously offered to provide breakfast at 4:30am so that we would not leave without having eaten!  They are very accommodating here; if they don’t understand what we are trying to say, we ask for the “book” which is an English/German dictionary.  This has helped us out many times!

If any of our numbers make it into the finals tomorrow evening then we expect that we may not get back to our hotel until approx 1am; we may not even go to bed at all!

On Thursday, December 4

The dancers along with Lisa headed to the arena to watch and support their fellow USA teammates(Junior division).  The parents boarded a train once again for Dresden; the trip was much easier this time as we knew how to navigate the train system and the city.  We returned to the Christmas market to purchase a few more souvenirs as well as do some additional sight seeing.  Steve Desmond became the official photographer of the USA team as we toured many sites in the city, including a church built in 1541, a medieval market and an opera house.  We even encountered “living statues” on the streets of Dresden ( see the pictures, coming later ).

We boarded the return train to Riesa and arrived at the arena to see the whole USA team march in the “Parade of Nations”.  It was a very exhilarating and emotional moment to see all the dancers march out onto stage carrying the American flag!  Once the parade was completed we walked back to our hotel for a brief break before meeting up again for dinner.

At 7:30pm we all accompanied Lauren back to the arena as she was performing her solo along with 28 other female dancers.  Lauren looked like a beautiful Spanish dancer as she performed her solo to “Malaguena”.  She did a wonderful job and we are very proud of her!  There were 3 female soloists from the USA who performed and 2 of them made it through to the semi-finals which will be held Saturday.

It was a very long and emotional day for all of us; we took the shuttle bus back to the hotel, decided upon a 6am wake up call and then went to bed.

On Wednesday, December 3

We met at 7 AM for breakfast after taking quick showers.  For breakfast we had an assortment of sliced meats, boiled eggs, different types of breads and rolls, butter, jams, juices, coffee and tea.  We then walked to the train station in Riesa and proceeded to have a lengthy conversation with the woman at the counter as we tried to explain that we wanted "round-trip" tickets to Dresden.  We were finally able to get our tickets and boarded a beautiful modern train that took us to Dresden in less than 30 minutes.  Trains are a major form of transportation here!

What a day of shopping we had at the Christmas Markets!  There was something for everyone...Wooden ornaments, wool hats, scarves, mittens, socks just to name a few.  There was also many different foods to try - Bratwurst sausages on a roll with mustard, potato pancakes, mushrooms with cream sauce, roasted chestnuts and last but not least the "Gluhwein", a hot spiced wine served in commemorative mugs.

After a long and fruitful day of shopping, sight-seeing, and exploring Dresden we boarded our train to head back "home" to Riesa.  We all had a brief respite when we got back to the hotel and then met for dinner.  On the way to the restaurant, Jon brought out a "Bop-it" game, much to the delight of the rest of the team, and much to the dismay of Lisa.  This game had been smuggled onto the plane as Lisa told numerous stories of another trip to Europe with 3 other dancers.  We're hoping that it brings us as much good luck as it did the last 3 who brought it to Germany!

We enjoyed a delicious dinner and then Lisa and the Tap Team members walked to the arena to do the final paperwork, turn in the music, and get an updated schedule for the next 3 days.  Bedtime was set for 11 PM as the team is headed to the arena in the AM to support the junior members of the USA team.  The parents are heading back to Dresden for another fun-filled morning and will then meet up with everyone at the Arena for the 4 PM "Presentation fo the Nations", where we'll get to see the entire USA team together for the first time.  

Stay tuned for more updates from Riesa as our adventure continues.....