07/07/2007
North American Nationals - 2nd Place!
I am one happy camper today! Yesterday my team and I competed in the Adult women's 8-hand ceili competition at the North American Nationals, and we came in 2nd place!!! We couldn't believe it, especially as we saw some other teams there who were really great also. We put the team together around April or so, and we learned the dance from scratch. It's been a long road, trying to get everyone to dance the same, considering there was a wide range of experience and skill level among our group. Still, it worked out really well.
We danced at about 10:45 am, but didn't get the award til about 4:15 pm. It was a long wait, and the awards ceremony took forever, especially as there were enormous numbers of kids teams, so you got announcements like, "Alright, girls Under-13 8-Hand ceili competition.... In 17th place, we have........ team number [whatever] from [and then you can't hear the announcer from the over the din of 2000 teenage girls screaming at the top of their lungs...]" Then you have to wait for the team to come up and get their 17th place medals and pose for pictures and the audience to quiet down a bit so that the announcer can continue, "Aaaaaaaand in *16th* place, we have..." etc etc etc. Wow that took a long time. The awards ceremony started at 2:30-ish and like I said, we didn't get our awards til about 4:15, and even then it wasn't quite over, as they still had to hand out awards for dance drama.
It really was an interesting experience, especially for my dad, who had never been to a feis before, never mind the nationals. Fortunately he came on ceili day, so the full psychedelic-ness of Solo dresses and costumes never quite hit him!
Anyway, I'm glad I took the day off work, and glad I did this, even though there were moments along the way where I was questioning my sanity in doing all this.
The fruits of my (and the team's) labour!
16:10 Posted in Irish Dancing | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
02/23/2006
My feet hurt but this is fun!
I went to a second Irish dance class this week, to make up for one that I missed at the beginning of the term. Last Monday's class was softshoe, which I typically find more exhausting than hardshoe. The next day, on Tuesday, I actually didn't feel that sore, so I took it upon myself to do some strengthening exercises for my feet and ankles. Bad move. Wednesday (yesterday), I was very sore, and I had dance class that night! Today I'm walking around kind of flat-footed and granny-like because all the muscles in the arches of my feet hurt, and I've bruised the toenails on both my big toes, which is quite painful at the moment. Still, it was worth it. I love irish dance! I think what's causing the problems is that both my hardshoes and softshoes are probably about a half size too small. You kind of have to eyeball it when you buy shoes, because they stretch as you break them in. I think I eyeballed it just a bit too small this time around! ;-) (Last time, they were both way too big, in the order of 1 to 1.5 sizes too big...)
Anyway, like I said, despite the problems, it's great to be back in dance class. I'm re-learning all the steps I used to know, which are actually coming back surprisingly fast. I can't wait to learn new dances!
Oh, and I decided the Feis in two weeks is a no-go. I might as well not spend $60 when I have no dress, a shaky memory of the dances, no stamina (yet!), and no other adults likely to be dancing with me. :-) Next time, I might give it a shot!
14:30 Posted in Irish Dancing | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
02/21/2006
To dance, or not to dance...
Well, I just got back from Irish Dance class, which was fun (ooh, I'm going to be sore tomorrow). I asked my teacher whether adults compete around here, and got handed a flyer for the school feis, which is pretty much the first I'd heard of it. (For you non-dancers, an irish dance competition is called a feis, pronounced "fesh". And the plural is feisanna, not feises.) Anyway, so that would be good practice! When I heard about the feis, I thought, hey, here's my chance to prove that adults actually CAN dance at a competitive level. However, there are two hitches as far as my situation goes.
1. The feis is in 2 weeks, so I need to learn/remember all this school's steps (6 dances' worth + the treble reel, possibly, to make 7) in, well, 2 weeks. This might be tricky, as I've only had 2 classes since coming back. Also, I hadn't danced at all between mid-November and mid-February, and classes for adults are only once a week for an hour (kids usually have more than one class a week, and usually for longer than an hour). In other words, I'm kind of out of shape and having memory problems!
2. There are no adult categories. Usually when this happens at a feis, adults can drop down to the oldest kids category available. This is usually 16 & over, 18 & over if we're lucky. At this feis, it's a whopping 13 & over. I'd be competing against kids half my age, even though I'm on the young side when compared to other adults in my class. This otta be interesting. The parents will likely be up in arms if I win anything...! (Which, chances are, won't happen anyway given hitch #1. ;-))
Still, it's appealing. :-) I told you I might be crazy, deep down inside!
Oh, and the other problem is, I have to decide in the next 2 days, or I incur a late fee. I'm not sure what I'll decide. Any input is welcome!
00:35 Posted in Irish Dancing | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
02/14/2006
Back to Irish Dancing... Thank Goodness!
Well, last night I went to my first Irish dance class here in Ottawa, and it was great. I'd forgotten how much I like dancing! Even better, it happened to be hardshoe night - a whole hour of hardshoe! Woohoo! I like hardshoe because it's where I can make lots of noise. :-) The only downside to hardshoes is that they are, well, hard, so that if you miss clicking your heels, for example, you click a heel against an anklebone and it REALLY hurts! But in this case, no bruised anklebones, only one blister, and life's good! I guess next week will be softshoe night. Anyway, it feels great to be doing this kind of exercise again!
22:40 Posted in Irish Dancing | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this