a look back

This weekend feels like a happy dream.

Figures were up first on feis day, and in 15&O we had five two-hand teams, two four-hands, and an eight-hand.  I was on a two-hand with my sister and a four-hand team.  I felt good about how we all danced and had zero expectations--and we had a great time doing it.  Watching the eight hand from the back of the room, everyone was all smiles.  I didn't even think to check the results until I had a set of parents hurrying up to me

We had completely swept the figures.

I was floored.  (Sis's helpful remark: "We're good, get over it" when I expressed my surprise.)  My school took 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the two-hands, 1st and 2nd in the four-hands, and won the eight-hand.  Even the little girls' ceili did well: 1st in four-hand, 1st and 3rd in two-hand.  Before I get too excited I have to remind myself that this is kid stuff.  We're training to win the regionals and compete at Worlds, not win feises.  But it's awesome to have that kind of positive feedback, to know that your hard work is paying off, and especially on our first outing.

My goal for solos was to have fun. My comps were huge so I knew I didn't have a great chance of placing, so "have fun" it was.  I grinned and showed off my steps the best I could and even though I knew I probably wasn't going to medal, I was so pleased about teams the rest of the day could go horribly as far as I was concerned.

Personal results recap: 3rd place in 2-hand, 2nd place in 4-hand, 5th place in traditional set (probably would have placed higher if I didn't mess up in the set).  And when I got my results back I was one away from placing in everything else.  Other people might find that frustrating, but it reminded me of something...

A year ago on the drive back from Kansas City I was talking to my sister, wondering if maybe, just maybe, I could come back and dance solos.  It seemed like a crazy proposition at the time.  And a year later, I came back with medals and a hunger for more.  Maybe next Kansas City feis I'll be in Prelims.  With everything that's happened this year, that dream doesn't seem so crazy anymore.

Whenever I get frustrated with myself for not progressing fast enough, I have to take stock.  I only thought of going back to solo competition a year ago.  My first limited competition back was in November 2012 (only light jig, single jig and trad set).  I didn't return to competition with a full slate of dances until March of this year.  At my feis in March I was placing second to last.  I am making progress, even though I might not always be able to see it.

Prelims by this time next year--a stretch, but achievable.
Oireachtas goals: I want to represent my school well in any teams I end up on and I want to win my traditional set competition.  Not place, outright win.

It's possible.  It all is.

95 days of sweat, practice and focus to go.

stuff to work on

Another week, another dance class weekend in the books.  My body is smarting.  Still need to get used to this new "dancing two days in a row" thing.  I'll get to the bad parts of the weekend first before I get to the good bits so we can end on a positive note.

The bad: I'm having a difficult time keeping up in ceili.  It's not that I'm being lazy; it's just that I physically can't do it right now.  And that makes me so, so sad.  I have a heart condition that's making it difficult to build stamina and I'm going to talk it over with my family doc in a week and a half to see what can be done about it.  I was basically told "your heart beats really fast and there isn't really a good reason why".  I need a better fix besides "here, take these pills".

The good: learned a new treble reel step that was ~choreographed for me~ by a classmade and it is AWESOME.  It's also hard to wrap my head around, much less do, but I WILL CONQUER IT.  I'm registered for a novice/PW treble reel in Kansas City so it's giving me some motivation to get it in my head.

I've also decided to switch sets; Jockey is different but I haven't placed well with it so I learned Job of Journeywork instead.  I think I've been taught the lead approximately five times in the past 10 years but have never learned the set, so that was cool.  It's easy but has some tricky parts and I'm absolutely nailing the rhythm.  I just have to do it approximately ten million times before KC now!

Acheiving the (Semi) Impossible

First, read this: http://irishdanceteacher.wordpress.com/2010/12/15/achieving-the-semi-impossible/

My sis filled this out about this time last year so I figure this would be a good way to organize my thoughts about my goals.

1. Write down what you want. The best cross I'm physically able to give.  Strong, easy carriage.  Stamina for days.  Better lift.  To be a real competitor--the kind of dancer that comes on stage and impresses people.  Competing in solos at the 2014 Oireachtas.
 
2. Technical progress: Learning new and more difficult material.  Being consistent with my cross/turnout in class.  Keep dancing even though I feel like my legs are going to give out--it's the only way I'm going to improve my stamina.  Trying out new moves that I normally eschew in class (bicycles, birdies, etc)

Mental improvement: Knowing my steps cold so that I can perform them for the judges and have fun with them.  Confidence that I'm giving my best every time I step on stage.  Smiles on stage.

Outward Manifestation of Achievement: Those coveted firsts in prizewinner that will propel me to prelims.  Outright winning the traditional set competition at the Oireachtas this year.  Moving up to the champs class, starting prelim in 2014.

3. From there, hone or consolidate your list (ie what can you work on right now?) Giving my all in class every time.  Being aware of cross every time I dance.  Improving stamina

4/5 Plan how you're going to get there. 
NO STOPPING in ceili or class.
Cross every moment of every dance until it just becomes second nature.
Occasional private lessons with Anna
Stretching and strengthening with therabands and body weight at home
Doing boot camp to improve general fitness
Eating foods that will nourish my body instead of fight with it

7. Make some sort of chart or log.  (This journal, plus I'm printing out a calendar and I'm going to get little checklist stickers for each at-home stretching and boot camp session I do.)

8. TELL YOURSELF YOU CAN DO THIS.  Practice saying "I can do this" to myself before every time I might find difficult.

making the most of my time

I've reminded myself that I need to stop messing around in class.  It's hard when I've just done two hours of ceili to do much of anything in my solo class, but the only way my stamina is going to improve is if I get off my butt and dance.  Teach is starting to have us do three steps to help bolster our stamina, and I died exactly two and a quarter steps into my treble jig.

Three feises left in 2013 and then it's the big dance, the oireachtas.  My goal for 2014 is to move into the champ class and get those two elusive firsts that will propel me to preliminary championships.  But it starts here and now, with boring drills, with dancing that ceili all-out every time, doing that hornpipe one more time even though my body is screaming to just lay down in the middle of the floor in the studio.

Stamina helps:
- dancing all-out, every time, multiple times, in class
- eating foods that give my body a boost of energy before class
- doing my Maniac DVDs 3 times a week

MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TIME.

you ever have one of those dance classes

...where you're just OFF?  Yeah, that was yesterday.  So funny to come down so hard from a "mountaintop experience" like medaling in the feis and just feeling like you can't get anything right.  I think part of it is the fact that I don't know how to overcross, especially with the aforementioned THIGHS! but I've got the summer to work on it.

I also have enough experience to know that a bad day is just that, a DAY, and I'll survive.  That's a relief.



austin feis!

 

 

As you can tell, Austin was pretty good to me.  :)  3 4ths and a 3rd.  And I really wasn't expecting much from this feis at all, as I got REALLY sick the Thursday class before and wasn't able to work through some of the trouble spots I wanted.  I also had a mini-meltdown in-between my hard and soft shoe but Sis was able to talk me down.  So glad, because I ended up getting 4th in treble jig.  Skipped hornpipe because I'm not 100% in that dance yet, and I felt like I nailed Jockey, but ended up getting nada and a "timing" comment from the judge.  "Er, there was nothing wrong with your timing in that dance," The Teach told me.  "S/he doesn't know what they're talking about."  I was glad he confirmed that because if anything is my problem, it is definitely not timing/rhythm.  Oh well!

 

Most of the other comments I got were about cross, so I guess I know what I need to work on.  I'm not sue HOW MUCH I can work on that because THIGHS, but I'll give it a shot.  :)

 

 

The ceili team is coming along too, although I haven't discussed that much.  One of the adults helping us work on our lines and movements recorded our dancing.  I watched myself doing ceili and surprisingly didn't want to quit immediately afterwards, haha.  I definitely found some things I didn't know I was doing that need improvement, but I feel encouraged rather than discouraged about it.  :)  Teach is starting new classes on Saturdays, which I am thrilled about because I have no life.  Between dance 3x a week and bootcamp at least 2x a week, I am going to be one busy bee.

 

 

And now, summer!  Hoping it'll be full of new choreography, private lessons, practice with the team and fun breakthroughs.

feis in 5 days

Eeep.

My treble jig is coming together and I'm back to feeling comfortable about Jockey.  Soft shoe is good, even with a small change to my reel lead.  Hornpipe is a mess but I'm at peace with that.  I can at least get through it.

I asked the Teach to give me the number one thing to focus on right now, and he said "lift".  Wouldn't have thought of that on my own, so that's some food for thought.

Looking forward to the summer, and the prospect of more classes to help me perfect my craft.  I'm going to really push myself and hopefully learn some new choreography so I'll be fresh and ready for the fall feis season.