I'm still alive!

It's been a while since my last update. I have to admit, I haven't been doing much work really. Mostly worrying about NINE set dances. But I have done small amounts of revision which is better than nothing - let's not forget I haven't actually applied for the exam yet, so it's not like I'm slacking.

1) Past Papers
This is usually when I'm bored at work - obviously I only know 15 dances so I can't accurately gauge my progress (for example, most of the ten-pointers are 8-hands, of which I know only one), but I do tend to get close to full marks for what I attempt. I also know bits and bobs about dances I haven't learned yet; e.g. if the question is "which dances have a stamp and clap", then I know it's HCC but also The Three Tunes, even though I haven't learned that one yet.

2) The Cup of Knowledge
I'm very pleased with myself on this one. I have a straightforward cup for work (it's a smaller cup) and a more in-depth one for at home (it's a pint cup). Inside the cup are pieces of paper (each is 1/16th of an A4 page) with a prompter written on it. If the one I pull out simply has the name of a dance, then I have to name all the movements and give the formation, music notes, type of dance etc. Then others will say "Describe..." and I have to identify and describe the movement in full - for example "Describe the fourth and fifth movement of the Rakes of Mallow". Then there are music ones, asking me to list 2/4 sets, or jig sets with a 16 bar set, etc etc. Finally I have teasers like "name all ceilis named after a place in Ireland", "name all ceilis danced to a tune of the same name", "list all ceilis which include the rising step". So I pull a few out of the cup, write down all my answers, and then mark my work. I'm not doing too badly.

I'm just getting myself quite worked up about all the solo dancing. I've never really choreographed much for heavies and I can't remember many of my own steps. We only do lights in class so I'm not going to get any heavies help there, but that's what I need more help on. Ceili I can do alone; I've already had interest from a few people who want to learn ceilis. And heavy steps to teach, too; for some reason I never learned baby jigs or hornpipes - I kind of got fast tracked onto the harder stuff since I'd done show dancing in heavies before I started learning competition dances. Oh, it's all arse about face. I wish it had been different.