Mackenzie the Swimmer, Alyssa the Dancer!

Last weekend we had the opportunity to attend my niece Mackenzie's annual synchronized swimming water show, the weather was perfect and we had great seats!   Mackenzie has been a competing member of the Arizona Aqua Stars swim team since she was in elementary school, she toils in the pool with her teammates many hours a week during competiton season and has won many awards for her efforts, the annual watershow is our yearly opportunity to see her strut her stuff! I wish I was better at capturing the quick acrobatics and amazing synchronized movements her team executes in the pool check out some of the photo albums my cousin Dana( her mom) usually has posted in her blog sidebar albums to see what these gals can do!  I was able to get a couple cute pictures of Mackenzie on the day of the performance with Alyssa and her college Roomate Riley and Mackenzie's other little cousin Katie, and a good picture of Michael with Mackenzie too. The costumes these swimmers wear are amazing as well sparkly and shimmering truly amazing... a tribute to all the moms to pitch in to do all the beadwork( I am talking bout you Dana!)   

One of the things Alyssa had asked me to do for her over spring break was take some action photos of her dancing to attach to her 2009/2010 NAU dance team audition packet. I was happy to do it, but a bit nervous since photos capturing lots of movement have never been my specialty! I did have a location in mind though. The last few times I had been to down town Mesa I had taken note of very cool surfaces on the exterior walls of some of the historic downtown buildings, and cool paint colors as well!  We settled on a wall with a brick and plaster finish that looked cool behind the pictures and I got a few picture that weren't blurry yeah! I wish I hadn't clipped off her fingers in this leap photo, but it was the best leaping one we took so we went with it!  Here are a couple more of my favorites of my favorite dancer we took that day.

Comments

[judy in carefree]

Great pics, Tena!

[Trish]

Great photos!

[Susan M.]

Oh to be that young and "fluid." We often forget what our bodies can do. Great job capturing those moments. She must really work hard to maintain that nimbleness. Beautiful job Tena. Congrats to Alyssa for all her hard work! Keep it up!

[Paulette Sarsfield]

I love that You are sharing... I think the new syncro gear is hilarious!(you know, back in the day I could ballet around a little in the pool myself...that was WAY back in the day) Alyssa must love what she does, the pics are amazing... Happy day & not too many sleeps now!!!!

[Dana]

That wall is a great back drop....of course Alyssa could make anything look good!:)

[Mackenzie M.]

ahh i love the pics of your daughter dancing!! the color of her shirt works super well with the background!! she is gorgeous!! i wish my mom was as creative and fun as you are haha. my mom's an elementary school principal up here in nebraska and hardly ever has time for anything outside of school.

[Therese]

Those are some amazing dance photos. I had not noticed you cut her fingers off in the photo. I thought that shot was perfect. Once I read about the fingers getting cut I looked at it again and it almost makes it look like she's hanging from the top of the photo. Very cute!

[Angie Lucas]

WOW! I wish I could do that. She's incredible...and so are your pics!

[LenaS]

Is that last photo real? Can someone really bend their legs in directions like that? LOL! I zoned in on the shadow in the first picture--it's just as cool as your daughter! Can you let me know where pics were taken please? i might be able to persuade my son to do some pics for me before he is too old. Also, i got some of your kits at SE sale this weekend but they have no instructions...email me won't you? Thanks.

[Jeanette]

Wow, that is quite a jump Alyssa is making. I wish I could be so limber!!

[Cameron]

Great photos, Tena! Alyssa and her beautiful leaps make a lovely model against that great backdrop! :)

[Kelli]

Great photos of Alyssa! She is a knock out. Enjoy the summer with her chick. :)