That year, my friend Danielle Esposito came in first and I got a second. Like this year, I had just stepped up into a new age group then too (guest star, 11-13), as an 11 year old and was intimidated by the awesome dance of the 13 year olds. I went back and looked at a post I wrote in 2014 when I attended Hollywood Connection as an 11 year old. I did not expect that I would be good enough to compete with older dancers who have had many more years of training. I was overwhelmed.Īs a 15 year old dancer, I am now one of the youngest of the Producer (Senior) group – 14-19 year old dancers. I am happy to say that five of my dances were given Titanium scores at Hollywood Connection. It is the highest award that the judges give for dances. One of my goals for the year is to get a double platinum or Titanium score (perfect or nearly perfect score). If you know my mom and dad or my mentor Liz Imperio, they are into strategic planning and goal setting. On a personal level, I accomplished one of my goals for this year as a dancer. It worked out great! They loved it and she won! I had no clue how the judges would react to the dancer I helped train do perform the choreography that I created. Watching your choreography on stage for the first time is a completely different experience. This led to me choreographing a hip-hop solo for a 12 year old dancer, and assistant choreographer to our production hip-hop dance. DPAC has allowed me teach 5 classes a week at the studio. This year was an entirely new set of firsts for me. I am so thankful for the encouragement and opportunity to do what I love. This core group was teaching there back in 2012-2014 when our studio first introduced me to them. ![]() I can gratefully say that those many weekends of working with Executive Director Kimberly Rhinelander, Executive Director and Agent Bill Bohl, Jazz teacher Lindsley Allen, Lyrical Mitchel Federal, Jazz Funk Brooklyn Jai, Musical Theater Bonnie Story, Tap Jason Kalish, and Hip Hop Gigi Torres shaped by love of dance and introduced me to the industry as a professional dancer. As Icon of the Year, I spent a year touring with them as their DOTY. ![]() In so many ways, going back to Hollywood Connection was like a family reunion. They were my first agents, and sent me out on my first auditions as a 10 year old, launching my professional dance career. Hollywood Connection is also owned in part by my first talent agency, MTA. Hollywood Connection was the convention that awarded me my first National Dancer of the Year Award in 2012, an award they call Icon of the Year. I am pretty sure that Hollywood Connection was the first competition that I ever went to. It was the first time that Dellos Performing Arts Center (DPAC) has returned to HC since 2014. Hollywood Connection in Burbank was fantastic this year.
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