Youth Conference

in the Heartland. It happened. Emily's first youth conference was a big one. You can read about it here in the Church News. Seven stakes participated and the preparation was daunting. Emily tried out to be a featured dancer last fall. She thought she wanted to be a lyrical dancer but as it turned out she was cast as a featured 30's and 50's swing dancer. That meant dancing with a partner (definition: a boy) and boatloads of practices so when they performed they were impressive. They started practicing in March and we eventually were making weekly trips to Norman so she could get use to being jumped over, flipped over, swung around, swung under and swung over. It was intense. When her friends finally saw the dance they feared for her good health. The bruises have since faded.

Each stake performed two dances. One glimpse of the lederhosen and I am thinking they stole your pants Geoff!

Maybe Eric will come home from Mexico with a hat. Ole'.


Emily's friend Nicole is second in on the left with the blonde ponytail. They are drummers with out their drums. They played sticks, lids and buckets. It was so cool.

A scene from the show "Oklahoma."

Here is Emily's 30's dance, she is on the left side in red, partnered with the guy in Khaki.

You can not talk about Oklahoma history without mentioning the Indians. They should have rolled out a rain dance.

The Bali dancers

and their awesome backdrop.

Emily's friend Dionne was a featured lyrical dancer. She is in the back row second from the right. Marisa and Marissa from the ward were both in the orchestra and Lanae was a vocal soloist. The Jenks ward girls were an impressive bunch.

Our stake danced the 50's swing and a country line dance. Not very exotic but lots of fun. Emily was also a featured dancer for the 50's swing and is up on stage. The performance was presented at the University of Oklahoma. I imagine Emily will remember this experience for awhile.

I would add the video but it is a work in progress.