Final Week in LA

I can’t believe that our final week in LA got so crazy that I didn’t have any time to update what was happening. It was truly one of the most hectic but most rewarding weeks ever.

We spent Sunday morning with a photographer updating our headshots. It was so exciting working with a photographer that knows how to capture movement so beautifully and really knows what he wants for shot locations. I’m really happy with the pictures that he took.

After our photoshoot, we had our music video wardrobes checked, headed off for a quick lunch (where else…Ralph’s!) and then headed to an immigration seminar headed by Kevin Levine.

Fact is…it’s not easy to get a work visa in the States. You have to be able to document your talent, have a job, and have someone file a petition for you, which is usually your agency. Only one problem – it’s hard to book a job without a visa. Vicious circle? It is doable, it’s just difficult.

Once we finished with the immigration seminar, we headed to Burbank for a financial seminar by Michael Coleman from WFG. I found his talk really informative. He didn’t try to gear the information towards dancers – he geared the information towards people who want to be wealthy in life, and that should pertain to everyone. He makes saving money seem so simple.

We rushed back into LA to get changed to go to Universal City Walk for a bit of sightseeing and dinner. It was nice because we got there when it was still light and stayed there until it was dark, so we got to see all the lights turn on. It reminds me of Vegas…not as flashy but there are lots of neon lights everywhere. We managed to have a good dinner (with a party of 21!) at the Hard Rock Cafe and ended up running into Ricky Bell from Bell Biv Devoe.

We started early again the next morning for our marketing seminar with Menina. I can’t even start to explain how in awe I am of this lady. She doesn’t let anything stand in her way of what she wants and she is so incredibly successful. Her seminar was a really unique look at how self-promotion can book you more jobs than anything else. It makes sense – why do people have PR people? They want someone to say nice things about them. Why not just have the confidence and say the nice things about yourself? Then you can save that money and just…shamelessly promote. With that being said…my website should launch in the next few months :).

That afternoon we headed out for rehearsals and an agency showcase for MDA at IDA. Basically all we had to do was perform the number from the music video and then freestyle. I don’t freestyle…and it was a hot mess. I guess I know what I need to work on…….

We had time for a quick lunch before we headed to class. Almost directly under IDA is a little convenience store that sells quick meals (sandwiches, sushi, etc.). By this point, I was craving sushi, and the most ‘normal’ sushi I could find was brown rice salmon…stuff.

I know California’s all into the healthy eating and brown rice is supposed to be healthier than white rice…..but yuck. Way to ruin my craving and to make me sad.

We took our last class at Millennium. Most of the girls took a heels class with Shirlene Quigley. It’s way harder than it sounds. I guess the class is normally pretty small, since they fit in a studio with a maximum capacity of 20. Since there were probably 15 from our tour that took the class…..let’s just say the studio was packed. It was super fun though and a really good experience.

That night we got to go to a private screening of a new movie, C.L.A.S.S.. It was written and produced by Menina’s fiance, Sheldon, who also had a pretty major role in the movie. I’m really not one for thriller movies, and I screamed way more than I should have. I also generally don’t believe it when movies say they’re going to have a ‘twist’. Twists are predictable, and therefore boring. Not this movie…..it was the most messed up twist I have ever seen. It was a confusing, thought-provoking movie, but we got everything cleared up by the cast and crew Q&A. They plan to still reshoot some scenes and fix some stuff up so it should all be clear by the time it premieres.

It was a late night and we hadn’t eaten yet…..so all of the Canadians and Australians headed for our first In-N-Out experience ever.

So good. You don’t even understand. They have 3 items on their menu – a burger, a cheeseburger, and a double double (2 patties/2 pieces of cheese). Then they have the usual fries, fountain drinks, and milk shakes. That’s all you need to make fantastic food and be super successful. No joke.

Wednesday morning started super early so we could get out to Culver City Studios to watch a taping of Don’t Forget the Lyrics. I’m not a Don’t Forget the Lyrics fan to begin with, but everything’s different live, right? Right.

Except sometimes…different means worse.

First of all, the taping was 4 hours long. How could that be? They tape 4 episodes back to back. 4 hours of listening to people karaoke and forget lyrics. Seriously.

Then, it was freezing in the studios. Like enough that you probably could have kept steaks in there for a week, cooked them up, and you still wouldn’t get food poisoning.

Then, since it’s not a live taping…they retape whatever they don’t like. So it was 4 hours of Don’t Forget the Lyrics, rewinding to rewatch certain parts, and then freezing our asses off.

Only good thing was we got to have a dance off with another crew that was there. We were pretty scared as to how things would turn out. Sure, we had our music video dance and we were just going to do it to whatever music came on…we were also wearing pretty little dresses and flats. Plus, they said they were a dance crew, and not to be stereotypical….but they were a bunch of black people. We were going to get our asses kicked.

Except we didn’t. We sucked it up and did a really good job with what we had. By the time they had to come up, they all stood at the back of the stage really awkwardly. Every so often one person would come out from the group, do some really small thing, and run back to everyone else. The pre-show guy made a comment that there was one guy standing behind all the girls and he wasn’t dancing. One of the girls danced over to him to try to get to come out and dance……….and then she managed to dance right off the stage.

We took a quick stop off for lunch at California Chicken Kitchen and then off to Edge for our last 2 classes. I made the smart move of eating an entire giant chicken caesar wrap before class and drinking a lot of Coke. My stomach was hard since I had eaten so much…and then I danced for 3 hours. Then the Coke made me thirsty…so I drank more Coke. Then I ran out of Coke so I drank water. All the liquids made my food expand in my stomach. I didn’t feel so hot by the end of those classes.

I ended up taking both jazz funk classes with Kevin Maher and Tony Czar. They were both so different but both so amazing. Kevin’s choreography was all about doing the lyrics to the song in sign language but still grooving at the same time. It was quite the brain workout but a really fantastic piece of choreography. Tony’s class was all about getting into the character of a hot, spoiled brat. Completely different vibe but super fun. And as an added bonus…Edge didn’t smell quite as much like feet.

I didn’t end up eating dinner since I was so full of wrap still, and we headed out to our last rehearsal before the shoot.

We headed out for Orange County at 7AM for the video shoot on Wednesday. It was a long day. We ended up being on set until 9PM. We were supposed to be off set at 7PM, go back to the hotel, take a quick shower, and head out to Avalon for Carnival. We didn’t finish until 9PM, so we headed straight to Carnival in whatever we were wearing.

The shoot location was fantastic. It was a little club in San Juan Capistrano, but with fog machines, good lighting, lasers, and a bunch of wonderful people, it was so much fun. Can’t wait to see how the actual video turns out.

Carnival was the most amazing experience. This month’s event featured a storyline instead of just separate choreographies, so it was like a mini play. Fantastic dancers, fantastic choreography…we were just super tired. We didn’t finish there until 2AM.

Problem was, we still hadn’t eaten dinner. We went to find an In-N-Out, only to find out that they were closed. We ended up at Jerry’s Famous Deli just down the road from our hotel. At that time of the night, they only have one chef on duty. One chef to prepare 22 meals…….you can only imagine. We didn’t end up leaving until 4AM. That’s how you do a 21 hour day. Or if you’re our nutty 16 year olds…you just keep staying up to see if you can make it to 24!

Our last day was supposed to be a ‘sleep in’ day. But really, when you go to sleep after 4AM, nothing counts as sleeping in. We had a good chat with 3 people who have made a professional dance career for themselves in LA. It was really interesting to hear things from 3 different perspectives – one came straight from high school into the dance industry, one went to college for dance, and one went to college for marketing. I feel like I fall in the latter category since I’m finishing my degree next year. It makes me feel a lot better to know that a degree doesn’t have to stop you from making it in the dance world, but that it helps mature you and prepare you for the dog-eat-dog world out there.

We went to the Grove for lunch at the Farmer’s Market. It’s a cute little outdoor food court with all types of selections. I ended up with a tostada salad – shrimp, lettuce, guacamole, and a taco bowl. I just picked out my tomatoes and salsa :). Before we left for the live taping of So You Think You Can Dance, we ran into a lady who wanted us to do our dance for her in the middle of the street with no music. Less than half the group wanted to do it so we ended up not, but we played with her little dog.

So You Think You Can Dance has a much smaller audience than they make it look like on TV. Still by far my favourite taping we’ve done. We got to perform our entire number, music and all (with Jordan singing!) at the pre-show. It was such an amazing experience…and the fact that we were on the So You Think You Can Dance stage just made it that much more incredible. The live show itself is so much better than what you see on TV. You just appreciate everything the dancers do just a little bit more.

We stopped for a quick dinner at California Pizza Kitchen in Hollywood/Highlands but it was an hour line up for tables, so we ended up at The French Crepe Co. We had a quick bite to eat and then headed off to groove night with the Groovaloos at Debbie Reynolds.

Groove night isn’t really a class. It’s more time for people to use an open studio and practice what they need to. We got some good lessons in popping and locking, went over some of the choreography we’d learned over the 2 weeks, did a bit of breaking…and just had so much fun.

We ended off the night with another movie night, but we were so tired that I don’t think we even had a chance to really take it all in. We watched Kick Ass until about 3AM…and I left early to pack. It was really tough packing up that hotel room. It had been our home for the past 2 weeks and it really was starting to feel like home. It was tougher just knowing that it meant we were all going home, the group was splitting up…and that I would be going back to work.

Part of the group left the next morning at 10:30. It was rough and a little emotional. The group really bonded over the 2 weeks (I guess for some it was only 1) and it was like tearing a family apart. There were 7 of us heading to the airport later that afternoon, so we headed to check out and to get lunch.

I was the only one left on our side of the hotel, so I headed over to find everyone else, only to find Jordan and Hannah racing down from the elevator. Apparently she had read her flight information wrong, so her flight was at 2:55 and she was landing at 6:55…not leaving LA at 6:55. Once we got her on a taxi, we headed out to Baja Fresh for some lunch and back to the pool for our last hour of LA sunshine.

We left the hotel at 3PM. We were almost at the airport when one of the girls, Kim, realized that she left her passport at the hotel. Matters only got worse when they couldn’t find her passport and she had no idea where it was, and her friend that was flying with her, Jodie, had to leave that night since there was no room on the later flight for both of them. They finally sorted out and flew her through Seattle, where her mom was going to pick her up and drive her across the border using her driver’s license.

Spent the last few hours at LAX with Alicia, Maria, and Jordan. It was tough leaving Jordan at the airport, since our flight was in an hour but he still had 4 hours to wait on his own.

We were lucky and our flight landed half an hour early, which is incredible considering the flight is only 2 hours and 45 minutes long. It was nice to touch down but it’s really nothing compared to LA.

The Hollywood Summer Tour was the most amazing experience I have ever had. Classes in LA really pushed me to not dance in the mirror anymore. Classes are so big that you don’t have a chance to, and if you start relying on the mirror, you get lost and it’s way worse that way. I think more than anything else, LA has mentally prepared me to continue improving what I love the most. I think I hit a point where I didn’t have much further to improve because of the way I was approaching dance. I’m a calculated person…I’m an engineer. That’s what I do. I didn’t know how to take risks when I danced. Watching some of the dancers in LA made me realize that I need to refine my own style and do things my way. Sometimes that might mean falling on my ass, quite literally, but it can only make you stronger for next time.

I think the one thing this job really taught me is that ‘growing up’ doesn’t mean going to school and getting a job you don’t like. School has really been a great experience. I learned to work harder than I ever have, juggle commitments, and I’ve met some of the best friends I have ever had. But something in the back of my head was telling me that this what growing up feels like. We have fun and we live until we’re 18 when we graduate from high school, and then we work our asses off to make lots of money at a job we don’t really care that much about so that we can live.

Putting it words shows how nonsensical that really is. There are so many people I’ve met at university that are so happy in their faculties and are so happy to go out to the workforce because they love what they do. Maybe engineering isn’t right for me. So what is? I find it hard to sit still for a 9-5 job. I like walking around in sweatpants. I like to be social.

The one thing that has made me happy for so long is all I’ve ever wanted to do. It’s possible to build a lifestyle off of dance. This is what I want to do with the rest of my life. I’ve had people tell me that I’m in it for the fame. If I really wanted fame, I’d be going into acting. Dancers get left in the background all the time. We get paid lower than actors do. But we do it because we love what we do.

Coming back to Vancouver with this type of attitude has changed my dancing. I’ve taken 3 classes since I’ve come home – tap, contemporary jazz, and hip hop. It’s the first time that teachers haven’t just looked at me and said, “yeah, you’re a good dancer.” I’ve been told that I’m a beautiful dancer and been chased across a studio to be told, “that was AWESOME.” I don’t really think that my technique improved that much in LA. I think it taught me to pick up choreography faster by learning to rely on my brain rather than what those around me do.

…I think I need to stop rambling now, actually. Back to reality.

Sketchy Alleys = Deals……..Obviously

We spent the morning out in LA’s fashion district. It’s basically a sketch part of downtown LA where they sell all sorts of clothes and random electronics for pretty cheap prices. The only problem is they sell you clothes but you can’t try them on. The prices weren’t as cheap as I expected them to be…I was expecting really really low prices but they were pretty comparable to Forever 21. So….we left the Alley and headed out to Santa Monica Beach and 3rd Street Promenade.

And since I saved all my money, I bought a top from Forever 21. Santa Monica Beach is really nice, and since it’s in a richer area than Venice Beach, it’s got a different…personality about it. We spent a bit of time eating nachos and quesadillas on the beach, then headed back to the hotel to get ready for rehearsal.

I napped so much today it’s not even funny, but I was really tired.

The music video is really coming together. It’s exciting to see everything finally starting to take shape, spacing and all. Now it just needs a bit of cleaning and off to shoot!

Photoshoot tomorrow and then immigration and financial seminars. Then off to Universal City Walk for dinner and sightseeing!

So Tired……..

Yesterday was kind of our last do nothing day of the tour. But instead of doing nothing….we took a taxi out to Edge for Kyle Hanagami’s jazz funk class. I probably need to learn about twice as fast and move my body a lot faster…but it was good choreography and he’s a really good teacher. We came back and spent an hour by the pool before going to meet the new people for orientation.

As far as we can tell, this week is going to be way more jam packed than the last. I think we’re pretty much on the go from about 8AM-10PM everyday.

Other than that, we had music video rehearsal last night. I was definitely feeling a bit off…but I grabbed some soup on the way home and then just went to sleep.

Now we’re off to shopping in the fashion district and then to Santa Monica Beach and 3rd Street Promenade…and then back to music video rehearsals again.

Beverly Hills…That’s Where I Want to Be

Today we got to drive through Beverly Hills and look at the mansions and homes up there. I find it super amusing since all of LA has no drainage system for the rain, but Beverly Hills has a drainage system. I guess that’s what you get when you have money.

After that we went for a quick walk on Rodeo Drive. It’s one of those things that you need to see when you come to LA but…that’s about it. It’s full of expensive stores and…really nothing else.

We hit Melrose after that. It’s a nice little shopping area with a lot of different fairly inexpensive clothing shops. The only catch is that most of the stuff that they sell here they sell in the “Fashion District”…aka “The Alley” for way cheaper. The only difference is that Melrose is a little less sketch. We head to The Alley on Saturday so we’ll see how that goes. I ended up buying a pretty cheap costume bra for the music video…I like it better than the one I brought with me.

We were going to head home to get some dinner before class, but then…our van broke down. We sun tanned in front of somebody’s house for an hour waiting for Menina’s fiance to come check out what the problem was. It took him a while to get to us…then to realize that the only problem was the van was out of gas. The gas readings don’t work properly in the van, so it only reads 3/4 full when it’s a full tank and 1/4 full when it’s completely empty. Apparently it needs to be filled up every 350 miles…and it was at 375.

We finally got back to the hotel and grabbed a quick snack before heading off to Debbie Reynold’s again. I took a really good jazz funk class with Ramon Baynes. I think it’s the first time since I’ve been here that I actually got the whole choreography and had no problems remembering it. It was really nice to be able to do that. But then……..

When we signed in for Ramon’s class, they wouldn’t let us sign in for our second class of the night. Most of us wanted to take Lyle Beniga’s hip hop. The only thing is that Lyle is super super super popular around here. By the time we got out of our class, we could barely squish down the hallway since everyone was lined up outside our studio for his class, then we could barely get down to the lineup to sign in since everyone was there…..then they told us the class was full since you had to get there earlier to sign in. All of us who wanted to take the class were a little choked – we were there early enough, they just wouldn’t let us sign in. We were lucky and since we were with our group they let us overfill the class by a few people.

That class was the hardest thing….EVER. I couldn’t remember what moves came next and where I was supposed to go, and even if I could….I don’t think my body has ever been able to move the way his does. But he’s amazing to watch!

We came back to the hotel and went grocery shopping for some snacks. Once we heated up dinner, we headed upstairs to watch “She’s Out of Your League” with everyone else. Super funny, super ridiculous romantic comedy, but what else do you watch at midnight? You need something slightly brainless.

We technically have free time until 5 today while we wait for everyone else to get here, but Jessica, Ashley, Hannah, Megan, & I are heading to Edge to take Kyle Hanagami’s class. I guess after that we have orientation with the new people and off to music video rehearsal again! Good times.

MY BRAIN IS FRIED

We got to sleep in today and we had some time at the pool. Usually when you start a day at the pool and don’t leave until 4:30PM, it’s a nice relaxing day.

WRONG.

We had music video rehearsal from 5-7. I’m not the fastest person to pick up choreography but I didn’t do too badly. Rehearsal was at Nappytabs Studio which is a really cute little purple studio attached to their store with all their merchandise.

After that, we had a quick half hour break and headed to hip hop classes with Marty Kudelka and Chris Robinson and Mike Riccio. Marty Kudelka’s class was SO FULL that I wasn’t sure if it was my sweat or if other people’s sweat was just settling on me. It was just absolutely disgusting. I really needed to pee so it made class really awkward. Chris Robinson and Mike Riccio’s class was good but by then my brain was so fried that I was getting worse and worse everytime we did it. I think all of us by that point were getting frustrated since our brains were just shutting down.

BUT when we left Millennium someone was saying that they saw Courtney Galiano watching class…and we saw her when we came out! She came over and said hi and took a picture with us. She’s super sweet and it was just such a fantastic experience.

So that’s our second celebrity sighting. A couple of days ago we saw Magic Johnson…he’s MASSIVE.

My brain is shot…I’ve lost all ability to write coherently.

Off for a scenic drive in Beverly Hills tomorrow and then onto Melrose for some shopping…then back to Debbie Reynolds for 2 more classes. I’ll try not to be too terrible.

Howie Mandel’s Head is Powdered…Constantly

Yesterday was a pretty long day. We headed out at 10:30 for class at Edge, which surprisingly didn’t smell like feet. It was probably because we were the second class of the morning so the smell hadn’t built up yet. I ended up taking contemporary jazz with Kitty McNamee. She was definitely a different teacher than I was used to. She felt almost like a yoga or pilates instructor during her warm up – she was really into ‘releasing all of your negative energy’ and ‘bringing in the positive energy’. Overall she was a really good teacher though. I just had problems following her choreography – she’s really into choreographing to beats that are non-existent in the music…none of us really knew what the timing was so we just guessed.

We came back and got ready for the America’s Got Talent taping. Rather…for some reason Megan & I thought that we were told that we didn’t have to be ready until 4, not that we had to be there at 4 so pick up was at 3. We ate a slow lunch and I was about to go shower just after 3 when someone came and started banging on our door. We literally had 2 minutes to throw on something to wear and run.

The taping was at the CBS Studios. They’re really particular about where they seat people – it seems pretty obvious that they split people up and put the pretty people/smartly dressed people front and centre where the cameras are always going to catch them. Someone caught they splitting up 3 girls…2 of the girls were really made up and 1 was a little on the heavier side and maybe didn’t spend as much time getting ready. The guy took the 2 girls and put them somewhere in the front and then he took their friend and was like, “And…we’ll just…put you back there…”.

The tapings themselves are more scripted than I expected them to be. It’s nice to see how things work but…it ruins the magic a little bit. They cue when you stand up and cheer, they pre-record a lot of stuff…I don’t know it’s really weird. And then at every 3 minute commercial break, wardrobe and make up comes rushing out to redo the judges’ make up and DELINT THEIR CLOTHING. How linty could their clothes get in 6 minutes?! Since I was sitting pretty much behind Howie Mandel’s head, all I could see was him getting his entire head powdered every commercial break.

Overall, it was a really interesting show. Ronith is so terrible but I love him! And Hannibal…he already has an amazing voice but his ridiculousness just makes him…so watchable. If not, I think a singing act like his has been done before and could get a little boring.

Went to The Grove for dinner, a little outdoor shopping centre in LA. Bought a skirt and sweatshirt at Forever 21. Afterwards we went to Cheesecake Factory!!!! I’ve never been there before but I love it! I had a Monterrey Cheeseburger…so good. I got tiramisu cheesecake to go…it’s sitting in the fridge waiting for me to devour it.

We get a long day at the pool today and then we have a couple hours of rehearsals and then off to Millennium for classes with Marty Kudelka and Nick Bass and Misha! Should be fun :).

Venice Beach is the Strangest Place…Ever

We spent this morning/afternoon at Venice Beach. The beach itself is really nice – the water is pretty blue and the sand is actually not that coarse. The boardwalk is really a strange place though. The stores all sell medicinal marijuana and all sorts of other drugs and openly advertise it in their store fronts. Maybe I’m just not used to this type of culture.

There are all sorts of street performers and kiosks on the other side of the boardwalk. There are also a ton of people trying to get you to buy their homemade CDs hoping to catch a record deal. The vendors are really forward with you. I guess anything for a dollar.

Got some nice sun time and fell asleep on the beach for a bit. We left around 3:30 so that we could head to IDA tonight for some classes.

IDA has the nicest facilities I’ve seen in LA so far. The studio’s only a couple years old but it’s clean, well air conditioned, in a nice neighbourhood (in the Hollywood Highlands area!), and the classes aren’t too crowded. I took a pretty good old school hip hop class from 7-8, a waacking class from 8-9, and a ‘performance styles’ class from 9-10. The hip hop class was so much fun. It’s really a different style that I’m not used to. Waacking was ridiculous. The class was really full but it was really fun to try something new. Megan was so fantastic that the teacher ended up asking her to perform with her group this Friday and when they open for Flo-Rida. Since we’re on a set schedule she can’t but it was still really amazing. Performance styles ended up being kind of a girly R&B hip hop but it was a really small class so there was a lot of room to move which was really nice.

One class at Edge tomorrow and then off to the America’s Got Talent taping and then to The Grove for dinner! It should be good.

Disneyland is…Magic

Spent the morning rehearsing for Jordan Setacci’s new music video. It’s so much fun and there’s so much good choreography. We’re really going to have a blast shooting it.

Took a quick hour break for lunch and showers before heading off to Disneyland! Once again, LA traffic never ceases to amaze. We were at Disneyland just before 3.

Surprisingly, the lineups weren’t that long for a Summer Sunday. We caught quite a few good rides and managed to catch their afternoon Celebrate parade, their evening fireworks, and Fantasmic. There’s something about Disney that makes you feel like a little kid, regardless of how old you are. I really need to go back for a full week and just explore the park again…it’s got such a fantastic feel to it.

We just got back to the hotel at 2AM…and I am exhausted. Heading out early tomorrow morning for Venice Beach for some sun, shopping, and food, and then classes at IDA in the evening! Should hopefully be relaxing…

Edge Smells Like Stinky Feet

We got up this morning at 10 to grab some food before we headed to Edge Performing Arts Centre. We wandered across the street to Ralph’s to grab an early lunch. We got fantastic California turkey club sandwiches – turkey, lettuce, bacon, avocado, mayo, and honey mustard sauce on a ciabatta bun. They were way bigger than they looked – I ate half and was full enough to tackle my next 2 classes of the tour – hip hop and jazz.

Edge is on the 4th floor of the Television Centre building. You literally take an elevator up to the 4th floor and you’re in the studio. It smells like feet. I was standing in the main area waiting for class to start….and I got an overpowering smell of feet. I looked behind me and a girl had just taken off her runners and socks. So gross. Then I went into the studio…air conditioning only works so far. The studio was like feet in a sauna.

Megan & I were planning on taking hip hop and contemporary jazz…only to find out they had been canceled. We ended up taking a really hard jazz class with Malaya at 1. The warmup alone was hard enough to follow! We were taught probably a 30-45 second routine within 5 minutes and had to know it from there. I just made up a bunch of feet and pretended to kick my leg when I thought I was supposed to.

After jazz we took salsa with Desi Jevon. I haven’t been to salsa for probably over a year now. I really miss it. It was a really good class, and since I already have the basics, I actually got through the class and did a fairly decent job. I need to stop leading though. I guess it’s an instinct when you’re not a ballroom dancer.

Tonight we went to LA Live to wander around and to get dinner at Boca Restaurant at the Conga Room. We got really lucky since originally we were told that they wouldn’t take reservations. How do you get a group of 15 into a restaurant on a Saturday night with no reservations? We got there and they told us they would get us a table in 15 minutes. We ended up getting a private room in the club. The club is a salsa club owned by several celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, will.i.am, and my personal favourite, Jimmy Smits. MIGUEL PRADO ALL THE WAY.

Since The Conga Room is a club, anyone under 21 wasn’t allowed to go in. It was too bad since they were giving free salsa lessons and we had just taken our salsa class this morning. We were in for a surprise when the owner told us that we were allowed to join in for the lessons. It was super nice in there and just a lot of fun.

Dinner was really expensive but it was pretty good. Megan and I ended up splitting an entree of rice, prawns, and vegetables so it wasn’t too bad. After we finished, we were hanging out in the room adjacent to ours. I guess they use it for private parties. It had a great view of the Staples Centre and downtown LA. A DJ came in and started playing music for us so we really had our own private party.

Afterwards we wandered in downtown LA. It’s really not that busy there. Apparently it’s not really considered a place to ‘hang out’ since it’s more of a business district, but LA Live was built to try to bring more people into downtown. It reminds me a little of old Vegas – tons of buildings with lots of walking space in between and lots of bright lights.

LA traffic never stops. Ever. We headed out from LA Live around 11PM…and traffic was still terrible. We ran to the grocery store after we got home to grab some breakfast food since we have music video rehearsals tomorrow at 10. We grabbed some snack and lunch food too, since once we’re done that, we’re heading straight out to Disneyland! Good times…

Welcome to LA!

It’s so good to be here! I arrived at LAX around 11:30…no one told me the airport was massive and terribly labeled. I got so lost trying to find baggage claim…since the signs are only on one side of the signs – the side of the signs you see when you go the right way. You have to go down, and down, and down, and turn…and then you find baggage claim. I found my bag and was off to find the Tom Bradley terminal to get picked up.

Pick up was supposed to be at 1:30, but 6 of the 9 of us getting picked up were running behind, so we didn’t end up calling the shuttle until 2. The tour director, Menina, was told it would take 5 minutes to get a shuttle once she called it. It took closer to 30 minutes. We finally battled rush hour LA traffic (5 lane highway…bumper to bumper…absolutely NO movement) and got to the hotel by 4:30. We quickly set off to unpack and to get ready for orientation.

The week is so packed. We’re going to LA Live, Venice Beach, a live taping of America’s Got Talent, and Disneyland, on top of all of our classes and music video rehearsals. The group here is so amazing. Everyone is so fantastic and everyone gets along really well.

After orientation, we ended up going grocery shopping across the street at a Ralph’s. We don’t have a kitchen but we do have a microwave…time to get inventive with our meals. We bought salads from Ralph’s for dinner before heading off to Debbie Reynolds’ studio for ‘contemporary hip hop’ (which just turned out to be…hip hop) with Rob Rich.

Surprisingly I didn’t get my butt kicked as hard as I thought I would. Fantastic class with a fantastic atmosphere. The studio is so different from anything I’ve ever seen before (it almost looks like an office with hallways and doors…but the doors lead to studios). It’s really a unique look.

I also learned that Hollywood isn’t as glamorous as I thought it would be. Apparently Hollywood’s pretty sketch…and North Hollywood is for the people who can’t afford Hollywood. Most dancers…including the really successful choreographers, live in North Hollywood. Therefore, most of the dance studios are in North Hollywood. It kind of feels like the Surrey of Vancouver.

This is ridiculously incoherent…I can’t even think anymore. We’re heading out for a couple classes at The Edge tomorrow and then out to LA Live for some sightseeing and dinner! Should be some fun.

So far…I love LA.