Date: March 10th, 11th, and 12th, 2011
Drink: Venti Quod Vanilla Latte at least all three times, the new Cocoa Cappuccino (tall), Grande Nonfat Chai Tea Latte
Food: can’t remember everything we ate each time (we had breakfast every morning there), but I did try the Salted Caramel Square once, and it’s really good
Every year, we travel down to Provo, UT, for the NDCA Amateur DanceSport National Championships. We’ve danced this competition eleven consecutive times. We were Youth National Champions in 2002 and were National Finalists a total of nine times! We taught couples of ours to the title of champion at least 5 times, and we’ve taught a countless number of national finalists. The competition is held on the BYU campus, in the university’s basketball stadium, and given the popularity of ballroom dancing in Utah, there is normally a huge crowd of enthusiastic onlookers. NDCA President Brian McDonald fondly calls this competition the “Blackpool of America”, a piece of prestige not lost upon the attendees of this fun competition.
There is just one big problem with holding a National Championships in Utah: this area is primarily Mormon, and ballroom dancers are primarily not. Now, understand that I have nothing against Mormons. I hold Mormons as some of my closest acquaintances; and, something I want to make very clear, I highly respect Mormons and their values. It’s just that I am very much not Mormon, and I find the Mormon rules and codes to be restrictive to the extreme. This coming from a Catholic! Because the competition is held on the BYU campus, all competitors are expected to adhere to BYU’s dress code, which is so difficult because of the restrictions that oftentimes we cannot wear our normal costumes and frequently must have costumes made specifically for that event. But this is something I can deal with. What I have a hard time with is their restriction on coffee (and alcohol, but that’s for another post). If there are two things the Catholic Church does not restrict, it’s coffee and alcohol.
![Orem, UT 2](https://starbuckproject.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/orem-ut-2.jpg?w=217&h=300)
outside the Orem, UT Starbucks
There is no Starbucks Café in Provo, Utah. There is a Starbucks stand tucked neatly away inside a Barnes and Noble, but it closes far too early for us late night dancers. And not only is there not a Starbucks Café, there is actually no café that I know of in Provo. So we have to hop in the car and drive about 10 minutes north to Orem, to University Mall, to go to Starbucks. The nicest thing is that it’s actually on the way if you’re driving into Provo from Salt Lake City, which we did our first day there. We went in, found a seat, opened up our computers to do some work and enjoyed our long awaited breakfast. We were starving and I was in a nasty mood from my experiences with Delta Airlines, which you can read about on my other blog here: http://korastoynova.wordpress.com/2011/03/11/the-horrors-of-delta-airlines/
No sooner had we started into our breakfast than I looked up and the saw the mother of one of our preteen students walk in the door with her eight-year-old son in tow. “Hey!” she greeted with a cheerier-than-9am smile. “If there’s any place to find you, it’d be here!”
“Yeah!” I jokingly replied. “But who’s the one with the gold card?”
She laughed as she got in line. “You know it! I’ve needed this all morning!”
She hadn’t even ordered when three judges from the competition walked in, one of whom we are lucky enough to call a good friend of ours. “Well, hello you two,” said the judge in his soft German accent.
“Time for some, coffee, huh?” Simeon replied with a grin.
“Yeah,” the judge replied with a sly smile, “we have to get our own because [Organizer] won’t provide it for us. You know how it is.”
And yes, I do. There’s no judgment in his voice. Neither is there any in our friendly roll of the eyes. We don’t blame Mormons for sticking to their principles. In fact, we respect them for it. But let’s face it – we need our coffee!
![Orem, UT](https://starbuckproject.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/orem-ut.jpg?w=300&h=202)
a beautiful view of the mountains behind Starbucks on that cloudless Thursday morning