Site Stalkers
When I created this meme in 2019 and posted it to my Facebook page, my intent was to describe how persistent we dance moms were in scouring the sites to find upcoming competition and convention schedules. In the time of COVID-19, it has evolved into describing how we have become internet sleuths, finding closure updates, rescheduled and/or postponed events, refund policies, and virtual experience requirements. Our research skills can rival any detective’s!
Update: March 9, 2021
About a year ago, the entire world began shutting down because of the coronavirus pandemic. At first, we were led to believe that it might be only for two weeks (remember that?!). But after a short time, it became very obvious that the competition season we hoped to salvage was not meant to be.
Planning the Weekend
Now, dance competitions have resumed in some parts of the country, albeit with very distinct differences from those that we were used to. The term “block scheduling” is firmly planted in our collective vocabularies now, and it is extremely rare to find a competition that doesn’t use this new format (for more, read The Pros and Cons of Block Scheduling, Part 1 and Part 2).
One of block scheduling’s benefits is that, for the most part, your entire studio is done performing all of its numbers in about half a day (if that). As a result, we have more of our weekends to ourselves! Naturally, we dance families want to know which day we are scheduled for in advance so that we can get a better idea of what else we can possibly do that weekend. It’s no wonder that some of us (guilty as charged) are scouring the websites of upcoming competitions for our schedule.
Holding Our Breath
Aside from that, we have another reason for monitoring dance competition websites like an obsessed stalker. Through the past year, we have come to accept the reality that an event can be moved, postponed, or canceled altogether at any given moment. For example, a competition that we were scheduled to attend in New Jersey has now been moved to Pennsylvania with less than two weeks’ notice.
Don’t get me wrong – we are absolutely thrilled at the prospect of competing again, and would perform in an active volcano if that was the only opportunity we had. But for logistical purposes, we need the info as far ahead of time as we can possibly get our grubby little fingers on it. Many of us have work commitments, non-dance siblings to take care of, and other considerations that we need time to balance out somehow.
So yes, we just MIGHT be stalking those websites like a creepy basement dweller. It has more to do with being our family’s de facto organizer and coordinator, so being caught off guard is not something we often enjoy.
Thank the Lord for the internet and “refresh” button.
Work hard, have fun! – Danielle
