We went to Purdue this weekend so Dorothy could participate in the "Twirler For A Day" program the Purdue Bands & Orchestra hosted. There was a clinic in the morning, then the kids got to perform at halftime of a women's basketball game. It was very cute, and despite her initial reservations, she ended up having a lot of fun.
After checking in, the girls met up in a big circle to talk a bit while waiting for everyone to get checked in and set up. Dorothy was a bit intimidated to go over to the circle, because most everyone was much older than her. I had to walk over with her, but she was willing to sit down next to another girl her age, who had also been at the football version of this event about a year and a half ago. The girls seemed to sort of remember each other, and I think it helped Dorothy to "know" someone else there who was little.
All of the twirlers at the event; including the Purdue Twirlers. They wore the same shirts as the kids during the clinic, then changed when it was time to perform at halftime.
I made this block P hair clip for her to wear for this performance. The Purdue twirlers all wear something similar, and I thought she would like matching the older girls. Everyone else loved it, and she got lots of comments on it, but Dorothy was pretty unimpressed with my handiwork. When I added the rhinestones (which are much more sparkly than the photo would suggest) I worried that it might be too over the top. When we showed up to check in, Dorothy was downright understated compared to most of the other twirlers. I think we hit the right balance of looking put together and professional, without going too far.
Warming up as a group. You can see one of the Purdue twirlers behind her and the block P they wear. Dorothy's is smaller, and I put it on the other side of her head.
They broke them up by age for the clinic, and the Purdue twirlers walked around to help and see what the girls could do. Here, she's showing off her thumb flips for the Golden Girl.
They were just trying to get the youngest ones to do some thumb flips, when Dorothy announced, "I can do aerials!" and proceeded to ignore their thumb flip request, and went straight to the higher tosses. She even tried a few one turns, even though she hasn't ever caught one yet.
One of the Purdue twirlers asked if she could do her aerial with her arms down, and Dorothy informed her that he teacher told her to do them with her arms up. What Dorothy doesn't quite understand is that while her teacher did tell her that, it was for a specific part of the team routine she is in. The rest of the team is doing a complicated exchange that Dorothy isn't quite ready for, so she is in front, doing an aerial. Her teacher told her to put her arms up, just as a way to have clean placement; it's not to be an all the time thing. However, after I heard her say that, I figured she was fine, and we left. Dorothy had asked me to stay for a bit at the start of the clinic, but she seemed to pretty comfortable at that point.
She can do it with her arms down though.
Waiting to go out on the floor at halftime.
The ending pose, with everybody. She's above the "EA" in "Keady Court."
After the performance, with the Girl in Black. Dorothy was tired, and ready to sit down and have lunch. She wasn't too interested in having her picture taken, but I wanted at least one photo, and made her choose one Purdue twirler to have her photo with. The Girl in Black was the only one she would consider, even though we had to wait a bit to have a turn. I couldn't get out of her why, but we were both happy, so it worked out fine.
The video of her portion of the halftime show was too large to upload here, so
here is a link to the video on youtube. I do wish there had been more actual twirling in her portion of the routine, but it hard to kindergarten and first grade girls much quickly. Based on what I saw in the early portion of the clinic, most of the other girls in her group were very new to twirling or hadn't twirled at all before the clinic.
Overall, it was a very fun day. If Dorothy sticks with twirling, and Purdue keeps offering these opportunities, it will be fun to see her really twirling out there.
