A year on...

It's my blog's first birthday today. That also means I've been studying for this exam for roughly one year. So where was I twelve months ago? I was here. I'd got two ceilis - Walls and Rakes - and one traditional set under my belt. Where am I today? Well, I nearly died - so not particularly far given the time that's elapsed. I've learned all the ceilis, although it took me about 7 months to do so. I've done a fair few past papers and I think I've passed them all. I'm pretty certain that I'd pass if I took the written exam for real today. Music included - that's ticking over. I now know three of the four trad sets, and apparently knowing Job is good prep for learning Garden, so I'm certain I'll know all four of them very soon.

Back then, I was taking a weekly class where we mostly did middle-level soft shoe steps and the odd ceili. That class folded over the summer, and I didn't dance again (due to illness and after effects) until I started my own class in January. That's a big thing for me - I started my own class. I'm fed up with it because people aren't committing, but we persevere. These things take a while to build up. Soon after the class started, I began work on my solo steps, for the practical dancing section. I thought I could fall back on the steps I'd danced the last time I competed, but they were woefully out of date and, as the years had taken their toll, were completely unsuitable.

I've choreographed myself a new reel and heavy jig step; just one of each. I struggle with practical choreography and tend to complete a step in my head before attempting to dance it, which doesn't always work. But, I do have a full complement of beginner dances to teach in my classes, and in the exam should I need to. I'm branching out into primary level steps now too.

The one thing I haven't touched, is the open sets. NINE. The mere thought of it is exhausting. There's no point in me tackling sets before I even have a full jig and hornpipe so it will be a while longer yet. Luckily I have good friends who are willing to share their choreography with me so the burden isn't quite so great, but I'm still hugely daunted by this and if anything puts me off, it's going to be the sets.

I'm struggling with injury at the moment - both my Achilles are really angry with me. I've got freeze gel and tubigrip up to my knees on both legs, and last Thursday after class I could barely walk. I can't do anything except just keep going and hoping they won't get worse.

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Last week I set myself some challenges for the week which I'll review now:

Wednesday - review new slip jig step, test out heavy jig step. Video record if possible. DONE! The slip jig step works a treat and R is getting to grips with it. The jig step needs polishing as I was off time on about the 6th-7th bars, but it's a pretty step.

Thursday - attempt Job set. Done on Friday instead, but I figured it out and I feel I know it sufficiently well enough to call it "complete". Obviously I will continue to polish.

Sunday - review Job set, attempt hornpipe. Not quite! I did the hornpipe on Saturday. Even so! That's the last beginner dance complete.

Monday - get to class early to work on bicycles, Job, jig and hornpipe. This was the first time I'd danced Job in shoes and it's getting there. I'm just such a child - whenever I actually make one of the heel clicks, I get so excited that I forget to actually continue dancing! Needs tidying. The jig is nearly there too, on the right foot at least. I've tightened up the timing so it's not so ragged, but I think I'm going to take out a travelling move and replace with some rhythm so that I don't knock myself off time. I then spent ages drilling back trebles and things on my MUCH weaker left foot and saw a slight bit of progress. I started on bicycles using the "two chairs" method. That will take a long long while to get, and I need to improve my core strength a great deal in order to get myself up in the air. The one thing I didn't do was work on the beginner hornpipe.

So where does that leave me for this week?

Tonight - nothing, I really should rest my legs. Perhaps I'll try some choreography in my head as I have the office to myself all day. Oh, I know what I'll do. Some core strength/Pilates exercises.
Wednesday - I can't arrive early or stay after Wednesday classes as the caretaker locks the hall before and afterwards, so this one will always be tricky and completely dependent on who turns up to class. Hopefully I'll be able to review Job and jig.
Thursday - review Job and jig, if I can walk.
Weekend - come up with a half step to complete my primary slip jig. If possible get the shoes on and just drill things on my left foot - back trebles, toe-over-toes, the stamp combination. Continue with strength exercises - core as well as foot and ankle.

I'm leaving Garden until I can be taught in person again so hopefully towards the end of the month. I can't really work on bicycles anywhere but the Monday class as I don't have access to any chairs, can you believe! We genuinely don't have any suitable chairs in our house. I'm continuing writing out all the hard ceilis and should finish sometime this week. Other than that all I can do is what I do every day - scour YouTube for clips and soak in as much dancing as possible for inspiration.

Apologies for the essay-style update. I really can't believe I've been on this road for a whole year.