2024 Solo Dance Camp by Charlotte Manfield
Hi! My name is Charlotte Manfield and I’ll be blogging about my experience at the 2024 Solo Ice Dance Camp in Allen, Texas! I’m so grateful to be competing in my fourth year of solo dance for this season and I’m looking forward to telling you guys all about the camp!
Friday, February 16, 2024
This morning, I woke up at 5:30 a.m. to quickly pack up the rest of my things before we left for the airport. We left at 6:00 and got to Baltimore/Washington International Airport by around 7:30. Luckily, the TSA line wasn’t long, and it only took a couple of minutes to get through. Since we had some spare time, we grabbed a coffee from Starbucks and headed to our gate. I watched some YouTube and Netflix for about an hour and then talked to some of my friends going to the camp and on the same flight as me. At around 9:40 we boarded the plane and took off. We bought wifi on the plane so that I could tune into the International Solo Dance Seminar while we were flying, and at about 2:00 p.m. we touched down. From the Dallas Fort Worth Airport, we took an Uber to get to our hotel which is situated next to the rink.
We spent a little time in our hotel room and then grabbed some lunch as well as ran to Target to get some good breakfasts for the next few days. When we got back, I changed and went to the rink to have my first private lesson with Kyle Stevenson. It was amazing and from 6:40 to 7:10 p.m. we worked a lot on my free dance. Directly after this, we decided to walk around and find a good place for dinner. There was a restaurant named Cheddar’s that looked super interesting so we decided to go there to see how the food was. They gave us these amazing croissants with honey butter as an appetizer on the house, and for an entree, I ordered salmon on rice with a house salad. It was absolutely delicious and I knew we’d be coming back there again soon. We got back to the hotel and I met up with some of my friends I hadn’t seen for a long time in the lobby before heading to bed at 9:00. Today was an exciting day I’m so happy to be here at camp and I’m looking forward to sharing this experience with you guys!
~ Charlotte
Saturday, February 17, 2024
This morning, I woke up at 7:00 am to prepare for my first class. On the way to the rink at 8:00, I stopped by Armor Coffe Co. with my parents to get some of the best coffee I’d waited a year for, and we happily enjoyed it while watching the other levels doing their first classes on the ice. At 8:30, I warmed up a bit and laced up my skates, getting ready for our spin class. From 9:00 to 9:30 we had spins and it was so cool to see everyone again and have a fun time. After spins, we headed to the concourse for our rhythm dance update class from 9:40 to 10:10 and our international solo dance presentation from 10:10 to 10:40. Both of these talks gave us amazing information and we left to go do off-ice stroking at another place on the concourse from 11:30 to 12:00 pm. This class helped me so much, especially in being aware of my posture through movements, and we moved on to lunch upstairs. My parents went out to lunch at a cute restaurant while I was eating mine at the rink and took some pictures of the little quotes they had all over the walls to send to me. I chatted with my friends while eating my lunch and watching other groups, and at 12:50 we all went back downstairs to a meeting room for our athletic fortitude class until 1:20.
From there, we all ran back upstairs for our Intro to 80s dance class with Kyle from 1:30 to 2:30 and it was so incredible. Everyone was having such a great time and we all were able to get into the movements and style, hyping up whoever was on the floor dancing. It was truly an amazing class and after that, we had a long break until our ice grooves class. In the meantime, I got some coffee and went back to Cheddar’s with my family for some dinner in which I ordered salmon yet again, though this time with some corn on the side. It was delicious and I got back to the rink at 7:00 pm for class. We took our annual senior camp photo and then Joel taught us this super entertaining dance to “Texas Hold ‘Em” by Beyoncé which was definitely a highlight of my day. I went back to the hotel at 7:40 and ended up hanging out with a bunch of my friends until we all had to leave around 9:00 pm. I went back to my room, took a shower, and did some skincare before heading off to bed at 10:00 so I could get some good rest for tomorrow morning.
Goodnight!
~ Charlotte
Sunday, February 18, 2024
Today I woke up at 7:00 am and got ready to go to the rink. My parents and I both ordered coffee from Armor on the app, and my dad went out to grab it and brought it back while we were getting our things together. I ate a banana for breakfast, and after that, we went to the rink at 8:30 and I had my coffee while watching the kids on the ice. Our first class of the day started at 9:10 and we had fun going over edge elements until 9:40. Next was off-ice dance with Kyle from 10:10 to 11:10 and this was equally as amazing as the 80s class we did with him. After dance, we laced up our skates and got on the ice from 11:50 to 12:30 for our pattern dance class. Here, we did our pattern dance type step sequence as well as our choreographic rhythm sequence which was exciting. We had lunch after this from 12:35 to 1:05 and then went to the meeting room for a choreo elements class at 1:15. This class was super cool as they played videos of different types of unique choreo elements that I’d never seen before. That ended at 1:55 and we headed off to our important rules update on the concourse from 2:10 to 2:40.
Afterwards, we went to our GOEs and components meeting which was with the junior group so I was able to see some more of my friends. This class was so interesting as we were shown everything there is to know about how GOEs and components work. When the class ended at 3:20 we had a little break in which I talked with my friends until 4:10. At 4:10, everyone at the camp rushed to the stands to get a group camp picture in our Solo Ice Dance Camp shirts and then at 4:20, we had some off ice conditioning. I then went back to the hotel with some of my friends and we all got ready in our rooms to go to dinner. My parents had made a huge reservation for like 30 people and once everyone in our group was ready, we walked from our hotel over to Kelly’s. Two of my friends and I both ordered birria tacos and we all got Shirley temples as well. We made so many fun memories there and the parents and friends all had such a wonderful time. After dinner, we all went back to the hotel and chilled together before leaving at 8:30 to go to bed. Back at my room, I did some skincare, took another shower, and went to bed at 10:00 pm. Today was such a fun day and I’m excited for my one on one tomorrow!
~ Charlotte
Monday, February 19, 2024
This morning I woke up at 8:00 am to get ready for the day. At 9:00, I went over to Armor with my parents and got some iced coffee. I headed to the rink afterward and watched some of my friends doing their one on ones until I had my first class of the day, ankle mobility and stability. It started at 10:45 and ended at 11:15, and from there I went to the next class, functional range conditioning from 11:30 to 12:00. Both classes were great and after them, I grabbed another coffee from Armor before my one on one. When I came back from the rink, I laced up my skates and from 1:00 to 1:30, I had my one on one and my coach was able to be there with me too! It was so amazing to have this opportunity and I had so much fun and learned a lot about my programs and what to work on with them, as competition season is coming up soon.
After my one on one, a couple of my friends and I went to a frozen yogurt place and got some frozen yogurt. We sat and chatted for a bit and then I headed back to the rink for my private lesson with Kyle Stevenson. The lesson went wonderfully and my parents and I quickly went back to the hotel to collect our luggage and check out. From there, we got an Uber to the Dallas Fort Worth Airport. We went through TSA, found our gate and then I found my friend who was on the same flight as me. We got some orange chicken and chow mein together for dinner and then boarded our plane for our flight at 6:45 pm. The flight was smooth and we touched down at the Baltimore/Washington International Airport at 9:30 pm. We had about an hour-and-a-half drive back to our house, and as soon as I got home at 11:00 ish, I fell right asleep. Camp this year was so exciting and informative and I can’t wait to go again next year! See you soon!
~ Charlotte
