Day three.

The Dalles, OR to Coos Bay, OR

Today we were able to do a little sight seeing and vist the beautiful rose gardens in Portland, OR. This was such a pretty place and we had so much fun taking pictures and enjoying the flowers.
After that we drove to our venue and performed one show. Every once and a while after a show people will ask us if we ever get tired of our show because it is so exhausting...and our answer is, no way! There is never a dull moment dancing. With such an energetic group of dancers we all thrive off of eachothers energy and the audience's participation to get us through.


Stories and Experiences:

Kenzie Mitchell. (Incident #2)
"Once again, I had another incident in the rush of getting ready for Footloose. I accidentally put on Amalita's shoes and they were 3 sizes too small! (Ahhh!) So Amalitta had to wear my size 10 pair of shoes. It didnt hurt that bad until I started dancing. I think I brok my 7.5 of my toes and I still managed to keep a big ole' smile on my face. while I was in pain, I could hear Amalitta flopping around with my big shoes. Hopefully I never have to experience that again. These feet of mine are not made to fit in a size 7."

Kamrie Joy.
"So after our show I was helping pull up the floor. Then this young man, I presumed him to be about 10, came up and graciously gave the complement that we had done a wonderful show. I thanked him and asked him what his favorite dance was. He quickly replied, "Well mostly I was playing my DS." As he says this he proudly holds up his shiney red video game. Proof that he wasn't lying. It was pretty awesome. I then asked if he had a favorite of the ones he had watched, he thought for a moment and said, " Probably the last one". We had some good laughs when I explained my experience to Some of the girls while we were packing up."

Jeff Kern.
"We arrived at the church in the morning to depart on the bus for our next venue a few good hours away. When we arrived we found Cristian playing with a little kitten that was up in a tree. After a little while he watned to get the kitten out of the tree. So he asked me to climp the tree and get the kitten out of the tree.
So I climbed up and got the cat down though it did not want to. It wanted to stay in the tree instead."

Kelsey Black.
"Last night my dream finally came true when Sister Bone asked me, Kelsey Gwen Black, to open the curtain. Ever since I was a little girl dancing I always dreamed about opening the curtain to reveal the dancers on stage. What a responsibility! The show would only start once I pulled that cord. It was such a rush! I honestly thing that the show went so well because of my curtain opening. I'm actually just kidding. I did open the curtain last night but I never had a dream for opening it. I only opened it because I wasn't int he first dance. I was more than happy to help though! I love dance!"

Juan Hernandez.
"My arm hurt in Nampa. I hurt it bad the first show. Cristian and Ray gave me a blessing before the second show and it felt better. The End."

Jackie Price.
"I have always enjoyed the song "Grandma's feather bed" but last night, Elizabeth and I slept in the ultimate Grandma bed! When we got in the room we saw this beautiful bed. We laid on it and then noticed remote controls on the bed. We pushed buttons and found that each side could individually lift the head and/or feet and that you could get a vibration massage at your head or at your feet. There were five of us piled on the bed checking it out (and enjoying the massage!) Thanks so much to Susan and Chelsey and a special thanks to Grandma for being out of town and letting us sleep in her bed!"

Day One.

Rexburg to Nampa, ID.

Day one of our two week tour we were able to dance two shows in Nampa, ID. This was a great way to start our tour because our audience was very welcoming and inviting. During this stop on our journey we were able to meet many new friends and some were even able to reconnect with family.

We are so excited to visit The Dalles tomorrow and know that it will be a great show!
Look out The Dalles, here we come!

Stories and Experiences:

Rachel Withers.
had an experience with her home-stay family before leaving the venue. She had discovered that the sweet couple she was to stay with was actually her grandpa's cousin. Family! Rachel really enjoyed getting to visit with her family and hear the stories that they had to share about her grandfather.
 

Kenzie Mitchell.
"I had an interesting experience during our performance at the Nampa Civic Center. Girls, we all know that the change into Footloose is crazy fast! ( This is one of the dances we perform during the show) We pretty much have negative 2 seconds. I have 3 people getting me ready, it’s out of control! We put my shoes on and realized they were on backwards…
By the time we noticed it was too late to change them. So I went out and did my thang with my shoes on backwards. Hopefully no one noticed…Cough…Maybe i’ll just start wearing them backwards from here on out.
I love to Dance!”

Pictues:

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Day two.

Napma, ID to The Dalles, OR.

Today we were able to put on a show at The Dalles Wohtonka High School in The Dalles, ID. It was such an adventure and a sweaty experience for all of us! We also were blessed to do a workshop with the youth at a stake center. They had learned a routine for a dance festival that they had performed it at a week or two before our coming. In return we danced for them and then learned a fun line dance together to Jai Ho. We had so much fun making new friends.
We would also like to give a special Thank you to the members of the stake that designed and built an extension to go onto the High school stage so that we would have enough room for our performance that night. This sturdy extension was built over the orchestra pit and really helped us during the show.
Thank you!

Stories and Experiences:

Amanda Conley.
"We went to meet with our home-stays and proceeded to talk with and get to know them. In the process I found out that they had lived in Ben. Thinking there would be no way, but that I would ask, I asked if they knew the Bartley Family. The host Mom, Jill, said “You know the Bartley’s?” I replied, “Yes, they are my grandparents!” Jill said, “Your grandma is my best friend!”
Turned out they had lived in Bend with my grandparents for some time and had become great friends. We talked about my family and the different relationships we both shared. It was wonderful that of all the home-stays, I got to be with them that night. It was a wonderful experience to hear their conversion story and how they met my grandparents. Sometimes it feels like such a small world but Heavenly Father does have his hand in everything.”

Shaylee Wasden.
“So there I was chillin in the bathroom with Alissa and Bethani when all of a sudden Crash!( Boom.Bang.over the roof tops.) Glass and rocks and a vanilla scented candle shattered on the floor. All I could hear was the sound of the herd of turkeys in the background. Then I hear my host family (sister Arbon) ask if “everything is okay?” All the girls kinda look at each other and then I yell back a weak “yes…” Sister Bone comes around the corner to check it out and all I get is a chuckle followed by the famous Sister Bone look. Next comes Brother Bone and I get a smirk and a chuckles from him. Then my host family comes onto the scene and declares “That was a family heirloom!…from Wal-Mart.” My heart died a little bit and came back to life…Kinda. I just had rocks and vanilla candle and broken glass in my hands.”

Clint Smith. (Our wonderful Tech)
"The Dales High School Auditorium was a very interesting venue. I called the coordinator a week before to get the stage specs and technical data. I wanted to make sure that we had lighting for the stage extension that the members were building.
It was suggested that construction lights could be used, and someone could unplug, and plug in the lights between numbers. This mad me very worried about the venue.
When we arrived at the venue I started getting sound hooked up. First I found out that the Auditorium speakers were blown and could not be used. Our own speakers were set up on stage and wired to the balcony were the light controls were located. I spent a few minutes getting to know an unfamiliar light board.
The stage lights were in pretty bad shape. The dancers left to do a workshop with the youth and I stayed along with Raymond and Jeff to get things set up. We spent three hours fixing, coloring, and focusing lights. This was done in an unconventional way. We had to lower the lights, set them, raise them back up and check to see if we needed to do corrections. If corrections were needed, which was needed many times, the process was repeated.
Everything was set for the house to open, but right then one of the significant face lights, lamp burnt out. I had to quickly refocus the remaining few lights to compensate.
During the first number I had a bit of a glitch in the lighting console (learning curve), but other than that the show was great with the few resources we had to work with.
Thanks to those who helped me untangle and tape down wires, and to Michael Bone who helped with sound during the performance.”

Bethani Casper.
"Dora was at the workshop at the stake center. We were learning the Jai Ho Line dance and she was dancing right beside me. Once we had learned the dance Sister Bone started passing out t-shirts to some of the kids. Dora got really excited and said “I am going to get one of those!” I encouraged her to cheese it up and put some attitude into it. She worked it and got a t-shirt! I was so happy for her. Then at dinner she sat by me. I found out that she was 13 yrs. old and dances Ballet. she wants to go to either BYU or BYU-Idaho and major in dance. Se was excited to discover that BYU-Idaho has a great dance program and was anxious to look it up! That night at the show she sat right in front and I could see the excitement in her eyes as she watched the show. After the show she found me, and gave me a big hug and said “Thank you so much for coming.I have really liked everything we did today and the show was great!” I could tell that we had really made an impact to her and that she had been touched. Dora will always have a special place in my heart. It was hard to say goodbye, but I wish her the best!”

Megan Turner.
"Were leaving The Dalles High School with our home-stays, and she asked for our names. So we went down the line introducing ourselves… “Kenzie, Megan, Rachel…” in the back Kali was having issues with her bad “…and that one in the back is our special friend Kali” I told her We all laughed. but little did we know that our “special friend” wasn’t quite done being special yet.
Later that night we were all taking showers and such, and Kali went into the other bedroom to change. We didn't thing anything of it until we heard her say, “Rachel…you have to come let me out!” I got up to help and found something odd…no doorknob. After I stuck my finger in the hole, and Rachel tried using a credit card, we finally decided that we should probably wake up our host family. They came up saying “Oh yea…we forgot to tell you.” and pulled out a screwdriver. After about 5 minutes, we finally got her out! And before you ask…no we didn’t freak out, and yes we were laughing our pants off throughout the entire ordeal.”

pictures.

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One day till show time!

After each dancer having put in over 3,000 hours of work towards a stunning “Broadway” style show, it is time to hit the road. The Dance Alliance Dance Company, from Brigham Young University Idaho, consists of 36 talented dancers from all different genres, under the creative direction of Wendy Bone and Joy Watts. Preparation for the show started in January and now the dancers are about to embark on a two week tour to the Pacific Northwest. Cities include Nampa, ID, The Dalles, OR, Coos Bay, OR, Roseburg, OR, Central Point, OR, Grants Pass OR, Crescent City, CA, Eureka, CA, Redding, CA, Klamath Falls, OR, Bend, OR and Ontario, OR. After this exhausting, yet rewarding journey we will arrive back at Brigham Young University Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho. Forever to have memories of this wonderful journey written on our hearts.

We hope that you enjoy following us on this adventure, that we ourselves are so excited for. Over the course of these two weeks we are going to share with you, our friends and family, pictures, videos and experiences from the dancers themselves.

Thank you so much for your support! Wish us luck!

It’s Show time!