And that’s a wrap, eleven cities on the tour of his life. As a Season XI Collective member he traveled the country, trained with some of the best in the industry, met hundreds of dancers and inspired many, learned how to work behind the scenes and on the stage, made mistakes and navigated the corrections, dealt with disappointment, experienced what good workplace culture can be, and in the words of Erica Sobol “Created space for others to shine.” New Orleans was his last regional city on the Find Your Way tour. A smaller city in terms of team attendance but a lot of solo dancers traveling for the experience, one last time before Nationals.
Lucas’ last time with black car service. Working backstage running competition, I love seeing him interact with the younger dancers. He always laughs with them. The best hype man, he always gets the crowd dancing and celebrating. He is having the best time of his life and he does his best to make others feel the same. While I didn’t get to go to all eleven cities, I went to many of them and all of them always brought at least one dance mom and friend with whom I could share the experience. New Orleans turns a dance convention into a mini vacation with countless sites and delicious meals. And when you get to celebrate someone’s birthday, the weekend is all the more special. Tobias Ellehammer taught a fast, complex hip hop combo. Many of the dancers were struggling to pick up the choreography. He reminded them all that it’s the energy that counts and to use the safety of the classroom to explore, learn and have fun. He selected dancers to dance one round with him. He selected dancers based on their energy, not just skill alone. Penny was struggling to keep up with the pace of the choreography but her energy shined through and caught his attention.