Class report 3: thing's I've learned

1. Don't cook your post dance class pierogis and onions while still dressed for dance class. Onion smell does not wash out easily and boob sweat is gross enough, so you really don't want your sports bra to smell extra weird.

2. I might overheat less if I wore less layers. And if the dress code adopted by the rest of the class is any indication, no one will care if I wear shorts instead of old lady capris. Just, don't wear shorts as short as some of the teens - that is, with an inseam shorter then some pairs of underwear.

3. My stamina improves every week. My complete, death-like exhaustion post class remains consistent. This is. . . . good? Despite being able to maintain energy through class, I am still pushing myself hard, I guess?

4. The medium sized child who stares at me all the time (who I was terrified was going to turn into Demon Spawn 2; return of the nine-year old) actually smiled and talked to me for a minute today - and was following my lead in drills. So - yeah! Another tween who doesn't think I am a complete freak-show! I am winning them over, one Disney-channel-lovin'-heart at a time.

5. The trick to my second Novice LJ step is to remember that the heel is the directional lead, not the leap!!! Now just pull it up to speed and keep the bounce

6. Other LJ news, my directionals are good, nothing else to learn there, and my bounce is continuing to improve.

7. The five year old practicing LJ with me is basically my spirit animal, complete with exhausted sighs of 'oh, I need to sit down' 'ouch, my knee hurts' and 'here, let me just go practice by myself over in the corner'. Only she's cuter. Cause she's five. Though, I actually went the whole class with having to sit and breath, so neener-neener . . .


I think that's it for this week gang. I am beat, full of chicken sandwhich amazingness and about to veg out on the couch watching Love It or List It, while yelling at the TV like my Great Grandmother used to.

Slainte!
~Meara

PS. It's like I'm a real student now - finally got around to ordering a school jersey! Woot!

I Have Kidnapped myself; Unless you pay me a ransom in Red Bulls and a new wig you will never see me again.

OK – this one is going to be a big one!

Let me start this post of with some apologies; I am sorry I have been an absentee writer Since October –  what the feck is up with that, right? I’ll be lucky if any of you stuck around from that communications black out.

In a feeble attempt to justify myself, let me sum up the last 3 months:

• Broke Toe
• Finished planning a wedding , including dance classes of a non Irish variety
• Got Married (it was gorgeous and tons of fun in case anyone was wondering! No, we didn’t have any Irish Dance as I was the only dancer present and I was wearing a million pounds of Taffeta.We compensated by having DJ Ipod Shuffle play a selection of Dropkick Murphys, Pogues and Great Big Sea)
• Spent a week recovering from the wedding
• Spent the entire month of November at work, at work, trying to catch up from my week off
• Long weekend trip out of state for Thanksgiving
• Family in town for Saint Nicholas’s Day
• More Work Drama
• Baking a bajillion Christmas Cookies
• Family in town for Christmas

Which brings us to date. So, dear readers, please don’t think that you aren’t priority to me – you just aren’t priority that show up at my door demanding attention and baked goods!

But now that we have the random life updates done, on with the DANCE updates:

• Halloween Feis:  Ended up not going. See aforementioned broken toe. Of all derpitude, I didn’t break it while dancing. I broke it walking into my kitchen and slamming my foot against a chair leg. But, for the sake of my pride, can we say I broke it doing some kind of crazy awesome dance move? Yeah, let’s go with that. Anyway, it was almost healed up in time for the Feis (read; at least the swelling had gone down) but it was still pretty sore and hard to dance on. Between that, feeling the $ pinch from all those final wedding payments and only 2 people registered for the one dance I still need to place out of in AB2, I called it. Just wasn’t worth it. Not even for the promise of IKEA meatballs afterwards.
• Class in general; Have pretty much entirely transitioned to Monday night classes. This is a multi-purpose boon. First, I get to leave work 30 minutes early to get there. Second, It is only a 15 minute drive as apposed to 45 minutes. Third, it doesn’t waste a large chunk of my Saturday that I could be spending with my husband (Call me weird, but I kind of like him). Fourth, a certain child who shall continue to remain nameless and non-descript doesn’t come to this class. Yah for not having my self esteem shot to hell with one critical glance of a nine year old!
• Previous Dance Goals: I am now split between three levels. While this irritates me greatly, and makes stage assignments a bitch to navigate, I am still not going to complain. There was a time in my life when I thought I was never going to see Novice, none the less actually make it to Prizewinner in one dance (although I am still convinced that must have been some kind of fluke). I haven’t made any further progress on placing my Slip Jig or my SPD. Between holidays, and me having family commitments, I haven’t had much class time. I have started learning some of my Novice steps though, so I won’t feel like a complete spaz case still doing the easy steps all the time
• Future Dance goals: Register for North Coast and Possibly West Virginia.  Focus on SJ and SPD to finally kick Advanced Beginner’s ass to the curb. Finish learning other Novice steps so I can start placing them as well. Start getting comfortable with new Hornpipe speed and finish learning other novice steps so I can eventually start actually competing in Prizewinner because . . . .
• Maybe I should have mentioned this first and foremost; I BOUGHT A SOLO DRESS!!!! *aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh*. Ok, so long story short, I happened to find a listing for a used dress that was in my price range (rare), actually a style/colour that I don’t hate (uncommon) and it was my EXACT measurements (a miraculous aligning of the moon). After confirming with my TC if it would be ok for me to go ahead and make a pre-emptive dress purchase, I went for it. It arrived in the mail a few days before the wedding. Best. Wedding. Present. EVER.  Obviously, I can only wear it for my one prizewinner dance (which I am not going to be competing in for a while), but there is something very surreal about actually owning a dress. Again . . . things I thought would never happen. It’s not my “dream” solo dress, but it’s my first, and that is amazing. 
• Final thoughts: (a la Jerry Springer, but with out hitting people with chairs) Despite all the great
  things that have happened over the past 3 months, it’s been a struggle. I’ve been having a hard time really pushing myself to make it to classes. I guess it’s winter hibernation mode or something, but I want to just go home shove an obscene amount of carbs into my pie-hole and snuggle with the husband. Energy has been nil. I’ve been fighting a lot of the “I suck at everything’ thoughts. And it’s true, I am still fairly sucky at Dance. I am not naturally gifted or talented for it. But if you can win Championships on desire, determination and sheer stupid stubbornness, I will someday bring home a big trophy – might not be til I am 90 years old, but hot damn I will chug my Metamucil, strap on my heavies and kick some butt. 

Slainte, team!


PS. I want a “old person” ID bumper sticker. Has any one found one in existence, or should I just trot out my poor to craptastic graphic design skills and just make my own?

Once more, with feeling . . . .

So today was day 2 of the double header weekend of Feis-doom.

Having done this exact same weekend last year, I am starting to notice a trend. I always do better on day 1 while expecting to do not so well, then expect better from myself on day 2 and fall just a teensy bit short.

That being said, I am pleased with today's results, even though I still wish they could have been better.

I didn't place at all on my slip jig, so it, along with Saint Patrick's day are the last 2 things I have left in Advanced Beginner. I am still waiting to see judges comments to find out how far I was from placing. I will be honest - I am kind of disappointed. I thought I danced pretty well in this today. Toes were pointed, kicks were high, legs were straight. The only thing I can think of was that I didn't have a lot of "bounce" today. Venue didn't allow outside food or drink, and while I accidentally smuggled in my can of red bull (I didn't have room in my regular dance bag, so I had shoved it in my dress bag, which they didn't search) I didn't want to run the risk of getting kicked out of venue/disqualified for disregarding that particular rule. Asking me to be bouncy with out giving me the requisite 80mg of caffeine doesn't seem like a good idea. So, I guess I will really, reaaaally need to focus on Slip Jig over summer session at class and hopefully place out at my one summer feis.

Also did not place in my novice Light Jig. I think this had very little to do with my execution, and mostly to do with the fact that the competition was fairly large and the other dancers executed their slightly more novice-level dances just as well. Not too sad about that. I mean, While it would be a real feather in the cap to place out of 2 of my novice dances without learning a single novice step, I have no delusions of grandeur.

So, the hornpipe that got me FIRST yesterday got me a fifth today. Again, not actually too disappointed by this. The fact that I tied for fifth with 2 other girls out of a total of 20 competitors is still nothing to scoff at. If I had never gotten that first yesterday, I would be blown away by a fifth, so I chose to be still happy with this score. I mean, let's be realistic. I was up against twice as many dancers and I still got a medal. I still scored better then 14 other dancers. That thought just blows me away.

However, The highlight of the day was my Treble Jig. Twice in one weekend I have the jaw-dropping, heart racing, mind numbing, unbelievable experience of seeing my competitor number written up in First place. I was convinced I wasn't going to get much in it. I had the unpleasant experience of finishing my Slip Jig and having to literally RUN all the way back to my camp in the nose-bleed section of the stadium seating to grab my hard shoes and be back in time for Treble Jig. I had banked on there being 3 competitions between my SJ and my TJ. But one of the competitions had 0 competetors, and the others only had 2 or 3, so really, I had NO time. So, I was already a little breathless but I danced as best as I could. Timing felt a little off, but I managed to keep with it and. . . . well, I guess I did better then I thought.

This weekend was the boost I needed. Spring has been rough and I have once again gone through the agonizing thought that maybe I should just give up. I will probably always have those doubts, that stupid inner voice telling me to quit. But my hardware tells me otherwise . ..

 

Every award is a pat on the back. Every award is encouragement. Every award is at least one impartial voice saying "YOU DON'T SUCK!". And everyone I get makes me want more. So, I will get more, come hell or high water. 

But for now, I am going to sit back, watch a Rocky marathon with my ever patient and loving fiance, while cuddling my medals and eating ice cream.

Good night all, happy memorial day and happy feising!

Weekend:

Day 1: 4th AB Slip Jig, 3rd AB Treble Jig, 1st Novice Hornpipe

Day 2: 5th Novice Hornpipe, 1st AB Treble Jig