Competition Preparation

Well, this year has passed me by much quicker than expected... Turns out our first competition this year will be July 10th & 11th - so we're a little behind schedule since we were thinking our first competition would be August 19th & 20th... but that's OK. The July competition will be a great warm-up for the bigger event.

We have finally settled on music - I felt a little indecisive this year, but am happy with the results. I finished editing all the music last night and we should be ready to go. Choreography is mostly planned - we'll need a few little tweaks once I really start working with the dogs to the music, but that is very normal.

So, here are our song selections for 2009:

Shelby Advanced Musical Freestyle - Mary Poppins Medley
Shelby ProStars Heelwork To Music - Once Upon A December
Roxie Intermediate Sassy Senior - Jalouise
Roxie ProStars Musical Freestyle - No Air
Pixie Novice Musical Freestyle - She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy
Pixie Beginner Heelwork To Music - Pixie Dust
Bonnie Junior Level 1 - Lovebug (with my niece Megan)
Pixie & Bonnie Beginner Pairs - Let's Get Together (with my niece Megan)
Roxie & Tilly Novice Pairs - Pirates of the Carribean (with our friend Laura)
Shelby & Pixie Beginner Brace - Hot Honey Rag
Shelby & Roxie Intermediate Brace - Riverdance
Beagle Team - Cotton Eye Joe


The costumes are done for most of them... just need to put a few finishing touches on a couple.

I'm really looking forward to having my niece Megan stay with me again this summer. She'll be going with me to the July competition and will be dancing with Bonnie. She danced with Nellie last year and had a really good time. Unfortunately, Nellie had a stroke earlier this year and isn't up to dancing anymore - so she's going to give it a shot with Bonnie. Below is a link to their practice routine...




I also managed to talk a couple of my beagle friends into doing a team routine with me - so Michael & Rose, Elizabeth & Jewel, Susan & Dash, and Me & Pixie will all be dancing to Cotton Eye Joe... We thought about doing the routine to "Hound Dog" - but that just seemed too obvious!

I'm still on the lookout for something I can use as a chimney for Shelby's routine - about 12" tall, about 20" square, that won't tip over when she jumps on it, is strong enough for her to spin on, and that I can paint to look like brick. Apparently, these are in high demand because they seem to be sold out everywhere...

But - it looks like it is shaping up to be another busy freestyle year... We'll keep you posted!