Maria also entertained tonight- sang 'Gorgeous'.
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One difference tonight was a fitness production number featuring ALL contestants in their fitness outfits.
It was ALOT of dance! The girls were breathing hard afterwards! :)
They had two great gymnast guys that also danced and tumbled.
Fitness competition began. They bring 6 contestants out on stage at a time.
When all 6 are finished, the next 6 come out on stage.
Sydney's body was amazing (again, I'm unbiased ;) so, take this as FACT!)
She did a good job on her fitness routine. It is quite obvious that those girls with some dance background have an advantage in this category b/c the 'routine' takes some coordination and body rhythmn. I have no doubt if Syd had had an opportunity to work on her 'routine' with someone prior to coming to MAOT or even sometime this week, she would have had it better, but for some people, these things just don't come as natural.
In MY opinion... and I'm not trying to make excuses for Sydney not winning fitness tonight... the outfits they have them wearing really equalize the 'playing field' quite a bit. To me, you hide a big portion of showing off your fitness by covering up your abs and shoulders. I think Sydney would have had a better shot at winning tonight had the contestants been in aerobic wear. Additionally, I'm not sure what this 'routine' is supposed to show or prove? It doesn't really show 'fitness' at all, it shows coordination-- but, can't you be fit and not necessarily coordinated? LOL... sorry, off my soapbox!
Syd looked great regardless, so I'm sure she got some high points!
The girl (CA) that won was VERY thin. She was (IMO)just skinny. In her bio that they read, she does ballet and volleyball and seems very active... so her heart be 'fit', but IMO, her body was not the one that looked the most fit... not much tone AT ALL.
However, with that said, I thought CA had a strong gown last night, so maybe the judges were trying to make up some scores?? who knows?! I'm just guessing b/c she was not on my radar for fitness tonight!
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Talent-- I definitely had ARK up there!
I also had KY as a top contender.
They were both dancers.
KY was a jazz dance, very animated and entertaining... good technique and choreography.
ARK was a tap dancer. She started off with music, but shortly after it began, she went acapello--- no music, just taps!! She was incredible and very entertaining... VERY clear taps! She had incredible tap mics, so you heard her every move... really really neat!
The music never came back on, she just tapped and had great rhythmn!
I was not at all surprised ARK won talent. She deserved it!
But now, we have 2 strong tap dancers as talent wins... hope they like SINGERS tomorrow night! lol :)
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EG and OSQ:
I personally LOVED TN and OK gowns, but was not impressed with their OSQ answers. I felt they both struggled a bit to get their words out and were not as eloquent speakers as some of the others.
TN gown was a metallic mix... kind of a purplish metallic as an overall 'skirt' with a silver metallic 'sheath' (hard to explain), but I liked it! And she modeled it very well. They style was kind of like Molly's at Miss America, but with metallic material... she opened up the overall like Molly did when she modeled. (does that help?)
OK gown was a red large floral skirt with a solid beaded bust. It was striking, but I can see how it would be hit or miss with some people (in other words, some might not like it, but i did!).
I had NC, VA and UT as my top overall EG/OSQ contenders. I thought their gowns were very pretty.
NC was a melon/coral color. (It was a Sherri Hill I believe bc I think I've seen it before, but don't quote me!) It was another overlay skirt, but all one color with just rhinestoned spaghetti straps. I thought the color just popped and really liked her modeling.
VA was a rich light blue, strapless with a V neckline and a rhinestone broach of sorts at the bust area. Again, hard to explain, but very pretty!
UT was another light blue, cap sleeve, high neck... solid bead top and just blue (no beading) bottom... another overlay type of skirt. (I must like those, huh?!) It was very unique, but I thought she pulled it off well!
All 3 of these girls had excellent answers!
The girl that won (N Dakota) wore a white strapless gown. I didn't think it was anything special, but DID like her answer! So, I guess the answers are really weighing in on the scores for this combined category... which is GREAT for SYD!!! Since she also won this category, maybe that means they really liked her interview too?!?! :)
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ok, now for the BEST part of the show!!!
THE PRINCESS PRODUCTION NUMBER!!! lol
The Nat'l Princesses were announced one by one tonight as they paraded across the stage (so cute!). THEN... they performed a dance routine to "Pumpin' Up the Party Now"!! It was precious and of course Texas had the cutest princesses up there! :)
Megan Miller (our very own) was the lead singer in this number... it was very cool! She did extremely well and looked great!
LOVED this number!!! (and no, it's not b/c my daughter was in it!... yea right!)
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I have several pics and videos that I will ATTEMPT to post of today!
Wish me luck!
(moderator, I may need help with the videos, I've never done that before!)
And I apologize that my rinky-dink camara cannot zoom in or get as clear of pictures as Jim's or some others, but hey! it's something to see, right?!
I hope you enjoy!