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.

 

 



moment of clarity

I won't say the clouds parted and everything will be better from now on, because I've lived long enough to know that's not true, but I had a little bit of a breakthrough at class.

I've been trying to think about what I want NOW from my dancing--what's within my control over the next few months--and the thing that I keep coming back to is "performing".  I suppose the other side of that coin is "having fun".  Lately I've just been kind of slogging through my steps without much flair, and making the same mistakes over and over again.  Some time this afternoon I said "no more."  If I'm gonna make mistakes, I need them to be different ones so I feel like I'm making progress.

I want to really PERFORM my steps.  I want to have fun with them.  I want to tell the judge with my dancing "hey look, you're gonna see something".  But in order to do that, I need to a) actually know my steps, b) give them my all 100% of the time, and c) improve my stamina so I can do all of this.

How am I going to know my steps cold?  BORING PRACTICE
How am I going to accomplish sharper, more stylish steps?  BORING PRACTICE
How am I going to get better stamina so that I can maintain that style throughout the dance?  BORING PRACTICE

I know you're probably reading this thinking "well, duh."  And I don't know what to tell you, lol.  But it really feels like something clicked tonight.  I need to put in the work, and I'll see results.  In order to get to the fun part, I need to do the boring bits.  I feel like recently I've just been waiting for the fun part to jump me in a dark dance alley and all of a sudden I'll know my steps well enough to do them with panache.

I haven't been putting in the work lately.  I've just been going through the motions.

No more.

back to boot camp

...and boy am I sore.  New trainer, new location, new times & days.  I'm hoping this will be the boost I need to get over my malaise.  Lately I've been feeling kind of "stuck" in my dancing--or even like I'm regressing.  Want to pick teach's brain and see if there's anything I'm missing that needs improvement (I already have a laundry list of things I DO know).  Thanks to Mother's Day and a studio conflict there won't be much dance over the next two weeks.

My hard shoes feel like garbage.  I've been trying to break them in since the Oireachtas and they still don't feel good or comfortable.  Not sure if this means I need new shoes or just to spend a weekend dancing and bending the crap out of them.

Pushing through it.

we still in this

I'm in my zone I'm feeling it
Stop blowing my buzz quit killing it
So buy another round
They tried to shut us down
About an hour ago
But we still in this
Turn this sh*t up loud
And buy another round
They tried to shut us down
About an hour ago
But we still in this



I'm still here, and I won't stop until I reach my goals.



Another feis in the books

And no medals again.  At least it wasn't so crushing this time; I wasn't expecting anything so the disappointment wasn't as raw.  I totally blew it on Jockey, which was disappointing, since I feel that's my best chance for a medal.  I want to put some more practice into that dance and have it so smooth I could do it in my sleep, like I did around Oireachtas.  But I got through the rest of my dances and that's a big accomplishment.  When I got my results back, I was only one or two away from placing in three dances (including reel!!!) so I feel kind of encouraged.  ("Now we just need to get you off the floor and higher on your toes," TC said.)

I have to admit, just a week ago I was in such a bad place with dance that I wanted to quit.  I was flooded with negativity and felt like the activity I loved wasn't really loving me back.  Now I am tenatively sidling back up to it again, helped along by a good Sunday class and renewed commitment to figuring out the puzzle that is Irish dance.

I've got a lot of knots to work out in the studio.  I have a new feis in June, and then I have the whole summer to work on new choreography and drilling good habits.  I'm looking forward to it.

Feis recap

Okay, so the feis went...not so well.  Once I got my results back, I saw I was pretty much dead last in almost everything except light jig.  Ouch.  The hard shoe I wasn't so surprised about because I was sliding all over the stage and basically lost my concentration.  On the bright side, my hair and makeup looked great (did the side bun since I had to use the bun wig in some fashion), I'm getting my dress altered to fit better, and tomorrow is a brand new day.  Whoo!

Things to work on:
- cultivating focus and knowing my steps cold so that distractions won't faze me
- getting higher on my toes
- practicing my steps with my back to the mirror and focusing on how my body *feels* instead of using my sight to micro-correct
- stamina, stamina, stamina