Mixing my metaphors here, it's tennis season!
We recently tackled the Sixteen Hand Reel at class for the first time. Really enjoyed it. It's actually not a difficult dance at all, it's just the sheer number of people to keep track of. The actual movements are simple enough and the first four movements of the body are just hop 234567 back 23 back 23, lather rinse repeat. No Olive videos on YouTube but this group go through the body after the first figure:
I wish this was an option for competition. It would be a good bridge between ceilis and figure dances as well, getting kids used to moving around 15 other people and staying in line. If there was a 16 hand jig as well then it could be its own competition. Actually, I'd LOVE to make up my own ceili. How do you get them ARF-approved? ;)
Seriously though, I can't be making up ceilis when I've not finished my set dances yet. I've done a fair amount of practising my current sets in my shoes, and apart from turnout and the occasional memory lapse they're not too bad. I just need to remember that actually only one of my jigs starts with bounce treble up swing up - seems like every time I dance any jig I do the opening of my Fiddler step without thinking.
I haven't tackled any written practice in a while but I'm still confident on this so no worries. The worry is only practising once a week in heavies, but genuinely most weeks it's all I can manage. 171 days to go. That's 24 weeks or so. 24 heavy practises will NOT pass me this TCRG exam. Step it up.
Tuesday, 29 May 2012
Saturday, 5 May 2012
Happy dancer
I feel very proud of myself today. I've done exactly what I said I was going to do yesterday - I've practised, And I've practised a lot, for me. Around 11am I began a steady warm-up, working through various exercises and warming up each part of my feet that gives me trouble, particularly the achilles. I had a nice little routine going there which would be ideal for a champ class, something they could do at home and at a feis too. I stretched, I bounced, I did some weights as well to ensure my upper body wasn't woefully neglected.
I ran Blue Eyed time after time. It's not perfect, but it's progress. I need faster feet at the end. But I know the choreography works and I like the steps.
I ran my one jig step a few times. God it was woeful on the left foot. I did a little shuffle at one point and shouted out loud "WHAT was that?!" But then I started dancing it stronger, really dancing it, and it was beginning to work and I was beginning to get it on time.
Rub the Bag - I thought, just blast it. I read over my steps to review and thought I'd just give it a go. I LOVE this set. I feel foolish for disliking it, I feel a bit sorry for it. I'm really pleased with the steps and fixed the ending so it fits. I end up on a different foot each time at the very end but they (the examiners) won't know that. It's 100% my own work, no input from a single soul, and I'm really really proud of it. I'm not dancing it perfectly but I'm not overly concerned with that, my TCRG exam is not tomorrow.
I won't pretend I danced flat out for hours on end. I've been dancing on and off, mostly off, for about three hours. I was breathing heavily after one step, I'm out of shape. I knew that. It will all help though won't it? Each time I will get a little closer because I vow to not let myself stop until at least something, at least ONE thing, is better. If you make a small improvement every single practice, then over time they will add up to a big improvement. This is elementary stuff, why did I not realise this earlier, when I was - you know - a DANCER?!
It's only half past two at the moment. I don't want to call it a day. I want to keep getting up and doing a bit more here and there. But I want to be able to dance tomorrow, and currently the balls of my feet are burning.
The day is young. I could throw in another past paper and a music quiz, I can finish reading the autobiography, I can watch clips on Youtube for inspiration, I could do some work with my Jean Butler dvd...and still have time to cook my dinner and have a relaxing evening :)
Yes, a happy dancer indeed. A happy candidate indeed. Cheers, MF. Worked a small miracle there, so you did.
I ran Blue Eyed time after time. It's not perfect, but it's progress. I need faster feet at the end. But I know the choreography works and I like the steps.
I ran my one jig step a few times. God it was woeful on the left foot. I did a little shuffle at one point and shouted out loud "WHAT was that?!" But then I started dancing it stronger, really dancing it, and it was beginning to work and I was beginning to get it on time.
Rub the Bag - I thought, just blast it. I read over my steps to review and thought I'd just give it a go. I LOVE this set. I feel foolish for disliking it, I feel a bit sorry for it. I'm really pleased with the steps and fixed the ending so it fits. I end up on a different foot each time at the very end but they (the examiners) won't know that. It's 100% my own work, no input from a single soul, and I'm really really proud of it. I'm not dancing it perfectly but I'm not overly concerned with that, my TCRG exam is not tomorrow.
I won't pretend I danced flat out for hours on end. I've been dancing on and off, mostly off, for about three hours. I was breathing heavily after one step, I'm out of shape. I knew that. It will all help though won't it? Each time I will get a little closer because I vow to not let myself stop until at least something, at least ONE thing, is better. If you make a small improvement every single practice, then over time they will add up to a big improvement. This is elementary stuff, why did I not realise this earlier, when I was - you know - a DANCER?!
It's only half past two at the moment. I don't want to call it a day. I want to keep getting up and doing a bit more here and there. But I want to be able to dance tomorrow, and currently the balls of my feet are burning.
The day is young. I could throw in another past paper and a music quiz, I can finish reading the autobiography, I can watch clips on Youtube for inspiration, I could do some work with my Jean Butler dvd...and still have time to cook my dinner and have a relaxing evening :)
Yes, a happy dancer indeed. A happy candidate indeed. Cheers, MF. Worked a small miracle there, so you did.
Lord of the Dance
So I'm reading his autobiography, so help me god. I've generally been decidedly anti-Flatley, but this has been a bit of an eye-opener.
First, because it made me feel so god-damn guilty for not practising this evening. And absolutely determined to practise all bloody day tomorrow. His work ethic is utterly infectious - anybody reading the book would be motivated to get up and practise, even if they didn't even do Irish dancing. It'd inspire a footballer to go and drill penalties or something; a pianist to go and drill scales. He worked hard and look where he got, look where we all could end up. If I lose this motivation I'm going to be so pissed off at myself which is really why I'm writing this.
Second, because it confirmed everything I'd ever heard first-hand. Over the years I've known, danced with, and been taught by women who've danced in his shows. Let's just leave it there and say it's all true, what they said.
Just before the book got to Eurovision night, I put it down and picked up my phone. I opened Youtube and I searched for the first ever performance of Riverdance. And from the moment Katie McWotsit first opened her mouth it was as much as I could do to keep from crying. Here's a girl who took up dancing post-Riverdance without ever having seen Riverdance. I've seen it tonnes of times since of course, but tonight I think I actually saw it for the first time. How I would have seen it if I'd been a dancer back in 1994, with 15 years experience, wondering what the hell was going on. And for the first time I actually really appreciated it. I've criticised the swag, the bravado, the Trinity-style "I did this first and the world of Irish dancing owes me big time". I still think a lot of it's overexaggerated, dancing didn't necessarily need a saviour and it could really have been anybody, but my god it was good stuff.
It wasn't technically brilliant stuff; the dancers were capable of much more. Today's Riverdancers and LOTDers are capable of much much more than the show's choreography asks of them. But it's crowd pleasing, it makes old hands cry. Most dancers know all the steps off by heart but sitting down to watch it, seeing it in a new way, it makes me appreciate what he did.
The book asserts that he invented heel clicks, that no Irish dancer had ever raised their arms. Okay love, if that makes you happy, believe it. It still grates that he felt like he was too good for competition style dancing, that he wasn't comfortable not diluting it with arm movements - the lack of which completely makes it what it is. It grates that I'm now saying he brought us on.
He's not the greatest Irish dancer of all time. He's not the greatest Irish dancer of HIS time. But by god he's the cleverest. He made it by arrogantly thinking he was better than it was. He made it by adding elements to it and changing it from what it always was, day to day, in every church hall in Ireland. But was anybody else really going to do all that? I said above it could have been anybody - well, in the Eurovision it could have been. Right place, right time. Regardless of the book it was Moya Doherty's idea and she could have hired anybody. Colm O'Se. Anybody. But in fairness, it probably wouldn't then have continued for well over a decade.
The style of the shows grates. Why do men not do reels? Why is every big number the same formula? Song, girls light shoe, male solo, group hard shoe? Why do both shows follow the same pattern - group number, song, girls, boys, etc etc etc? Why is it that the shows that branch out and dispense with that formula, are doomed? Why are both troupes still doing exactly the same numbers nearly 20 years on?
Show dancing in Irish dancing isn't perfect. And I feel fairly confident in saying that your Prodijigs, your TapTronics...they're amazing, but they're not actually going to change the game the way Flatley did. It's been done, it can't be redone. I'm sure people pre-Riverdance felt similar, but I wouldn't want those groups to change the game as far as competitive dancing is concerned. The music needs to stay traditional at the very least; if that changes then we really do become parodies of ourselves. We really need to keep the arms by our sides; if that changes then I am 100% out, it will most definitely cease to be Irish dancing. But there's always a place for show dancing, and I for one am quite excited about where Prodijig, TapTronic, hell...even the Flatster himself, are going to take it.
I hope I'm still involved to see the next stage.
First, because it made me feel so god-damn guilty for not practising this evening. And absolutely determined to practise all bloody day tomorrow. His work ethic is utterly infectious - anybody reading the book would be motivated to get up and practise, even if they didn't even do Irish dancing. It'd inspire a footballer to go and drill penalties or something; a pianist to go and drill scales. He worked hard and look where he got, look where we all could end up. If I lose this motivation I'm going to be so pissed off at myself which is really why I'm writing this.
Second, because it confirmed everything I'd ever heard first-hand. Over the years I've known, danced with, and been taught by women who've danced in his shows. Let's just leave it there and say it's all true, what they said.
Just before the book got to Eurovision night, I put it down and picked up my phone. I opened Youtube and I searched for the first ever performance of Riverdance. And from the moment Katie McWotsit first opened her mouth it was as much as I could do to keep from crying. Here's a girl who took up dancing post-Riverdance without ever having seen Riverdance. I've seen it tonnes of times since of course, but tonight I think I actually saw it for the first time. How I would have seen it if I'd been a dancer back in 1994, with 15 years experience, wondering what the hell was going on. And for the first time I actually really appreciated it. I've criticised the swag, the bravado, the Trinity-style "I did this first and the world of Irish dancing owes me big time". I still think a lot of it's overexaggerated, dancing didn't necessarily need a saviour and it could really have been anybody, but my god it was good stuff.
It wasn't technically brilliant stuff; the dancers were capable of much more. Today's Riverdancers and LOTDers are capable of much much more than the show's choreography asks of them. But it's crowd pleasing, it makes old hands cry. Most dancers know all the steps off by heart but sitting down to watch it, seeing it in a new way, it makes me appreciate what he did.
The book asserts that he invented heel clicks, that no Irish dancer had ever raised their arms. Okay love, if that makes you happy, believe it. It still grates that he felt like he was too good for competition style dancing, that he wasn't comfortable not diluting it with arm movements - the lack of which completely makes it what it is. It grates that I'm now saying he brought us on.
He's not the greatest Irish dancer of all time. He's not the greatest Irish dancer of HIS time. But by god he's the cleverest. He made it by arrogantly thinking he was better than it was. He made it by adding elements to it and changing it from what it always was, day to day, in every church hall in Ireland. But was anybody else really going to do all that? I said above it could have been anybody - well, in the Eurovision it could have been. Right place, right time. Regardless of the book it was Moya Doherty's idea and she could have hired anybody. Colm O'Se. Anybody. But in fairness, it probably wouldn't then have continued for well over a decade.
The style of the shows grates. Why do men not do reels? Why is every big number the same formula? Song, girls light shoe, male solo, group hard shoe? Why do both shows follow the same pattern - group number, song, girls, boys, etc etc etc? Why is it that the shows that branch out and dispense with that formula, are doomed? Why are both troupes still doing exactly the same numbers nearly 20 years on?
Show dancing in Irish dancing isn't perfect. And I feel fairly confident in saying that your Prodijigs, your TapTronics...they're amazing, but they're not actually going to change the game the way Flatley did. It's been done, it can't be redone. I'm sure people pre-Riverdance felt similar, but I wouldn't want those groups to change the game as far as competitive dancing is concerned. The music needs to stay traditional at the very least; if that changes then we really do become parodies of ourselves. We really need to keep the arms by our sides; if that changes then I am 100% out, it will most definitely cease to be Irish dancing. But there's always a place for show dancing, and I for one am quite excited about where Prodijig, TapTronic, hell...even the Flatster himself, are going to take it.
I hope I'm still involved to see the next stage.
Thursday, 3 May 2012
50 days goals part II
I've held back on this because I'm torn...I didn't achieve all my goals last time, so do I make fewer goals and go easy on myself, or do I make the same amount or more and just man up? Man up it is, so I'm going to set them and just get on with it. All I can do is keep chipping away.
I'm bored of music as I get 100% practically every time, so I'll reduce that target. The dancing targets obviously remain. I just about squeezed in finishing my next two sets - in fact I did Rub the Bag on the 51st or 52nd day. But, it's done so I'm counting it. And despite my last post, I actually quite like it now!
A short pause for inspiration. So graceful and effortless. The young lady who shot and edited this is also very clever indeed. [edit - I tried to make the picture a link but it wouldn't let me. Try this link].
So. Goals.
1 - Practise in heavies at least once per week.
2 - Run through at least one traditional set a week - as a warm up for the above?
3 - Choreograph two more set dances, one of each.
4 - Complete at least 5 music quizzes (that's one every 10 days).
5 - Continue past papers - 5-10 in the next 50 days.
I said the same before, but I think that's doable. It HAS to be doable, for it has to be done.
I'm bored of music as I get 100% practically every time, so I'll reduce that target. The dancing targets obviously remain. I just about squeezed in finishing my next two sets - in fact I did Rub the Bag on the 51st or 52nd day. But, it's done so I'm counting it. And despite my last post, I actually quite like it now!
A short pause for inspiration. So graceful and effortless. The young lady who shot and edited this is also very clever indeed. [edit - I tried to make the picture a link but it wouldn't let me. Try this link].
So. Goals.
1 - Practise in heavies at least once per week.
2 - Run through at least one traditional set a week - as a warm up for the above?
3 - Choreograph two more set dances, one of each.
4 - Complete at least 5 music quizzes (that's one every 10 days).
5 - Continue past papers - 5-10 in the next 50 days.
I said the same before, but I think that's doable. It HAS to be doable, for it has to be done.
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Rub the Bag...
...til it's nice and shiny, was the way I remember the tune. Was. The way I remember the tune now is the most frustrating piece of music ever. I'm just completely stuck. I have loads of ideas of what to put in the set, but they don't fit, so I'm shelving them and revisiting them for another set. But, I still have this one to do. Nothing goes! I don't want to start again but I'm not massively happy with what I've got at either 69 or 73.
What do other people do when they've got a set that's just not working? Scrap the choreography and start again? Scrap the whole thing and start a new dance? Sleep on it?
What do other people do when they've got a set that's just not working? Scrap the choreography and start again? Scrap the whole thing and start a new dance? Sleep on it?
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