Sunday 11th November
Remembrance Sunday. I stood in silence.
I think I managed about half an hour of practice today, which is shocking. I couldn't move my legs, I just couldn't. The hornpipe has been through further fixes and I went through Piper and Rodney which are typically the ones I forget at some point.
At home, wallowing in a hot bath as I couldn't face an iced one, I just resigned myself to the fact that I'm not going to pass, and what's more I'm going to fail badly. I'm going to fail outright because how on earth can I scrape above 50% on dancing? It was pitiful, honestly. All over the place.
Well feck it, it's too late now so I'll just do the bloody thing and laugh about it afterwards.
Praying for:
Reel - jig - White Blankets - Miss Brown's - Rub the Bag - St Patrick's Day - Garden of Daisies.
And also praying to teach:
Girls prelim jig - girls prelim/open reel - any ceili I've actually taught before.
Oh God. Four days of nightmares ahead.
Monday, 12 November 2012
Five.
Saturday 10th November
Danced. Too much pain. Most of the session was fixing my hornpipe, because it just wasn't working and I would have looked ridiculous struggling over steps that simple. So, it's changed, it's still fairly simple but at least I can do it and at least it works.
Ballsed-up Rodney's multiple times.
I had to call it a day when my foot felt broken - I knew it wasn't broken, but I'm not taking risks this close to the exam.
Bad dress rehearsal?
Oh, I also need a strap replaced on the heavy shoes because I'm convinced it's going to wear through.
At the end of practice I realised, this time next week it is OVER. Can't wait.
Danced. Too much pain. Most of the session was fixing my hornpipe, because it just wasn't working and I would have looked ridiculous struggling over steps that simple. So, it's changed, it's still fairly simple but at least I can do it and at least it works.
Ballsed-up Rodney's multiple times.
I had to call it a day when my foot felt broken - I knew it wasn't broken, but I'm not taking risks this close to the exam.
Bad dress rehearsal?
Oh, I also need a strap replaced on the heavy shoes because I'm convinced it's going to wear through.
At the end of practice I realised, this time next week it is OVER. Can't wait.
Friday, 9 November 2012
Seven.
Thursday 8th November
There was no way I could dance today. I could barely walk. I had to content myself with a massage and while that's not particularly thrilling, I didn't want to miss a day out of my countdown.
There was no way I could dance today. I could barely walk. I had to content myself with a massage and while that's not particularly thrilling, I didn't want to miss a day out of my countdown.
Wednesday, 7 November 2012
Eight.
Wednesday 7th November
Practice session live blogging, haha.
I am so heavy. Very few parts of my lower extremities don't ache.
Warm up done, ended up on wrong foot in Blackbird.
Just. Did. A. Whole. Planxty. In. Shoes. And it was o-k. Surprised myself with the strength of the sound in places but messed up a few times, not horrifically or enough to make me stop though.
I'm so dead, so heavy. Thighs, calves on fire, shins complaining, arches SCREAMING. Well, I've been at work and driving all day, I'm stiff. At the exam it'll be morning, well rested hopefully, nice long, slow, gentle warm up.
I think Rodney's is sticking in my head now.
Why is it I can hit clicks on a Monday but not a Wednesday?
Not every class is going to be amazing I guess.
I hurt.
Practice session live blogging, haha.
I am so heavy. Very few parts of my lower extremities don't ache.
Warm up done, ended up on wrong foot in Blackbird.
Just. Did. A. Whole. Planxty. In. Shoes. And it was o-k. Surprised myself with the strength of the sound in places but messed up a few times, not horrifically or enough to make me stop though.
I'm so dead, so heavy. Thighs, calves on fire, shins complaining, arches SCREAMING. Well, I've been at work and driving all day, I'm stiff. At the exam it'll be morning, well rested hopefully, nice long, slow, gentle warm up.
I think Rodney's is sticking in my head now.
Why is it I can hit clicks on a Monday but not a Wednesday?
Not every class is going to be amazing I guess.
I hurt.
Tuesday, 6 November 2012
Nine.
Tuesday 6th November
Sorted the hornpipe. That's it then, I now have every single dance prepared and choreographed. Home straight.
Sorted the hornpipe. That's it then, I now have every single dance prepared and choreographed. Home straight.
Ten.
Monday 5th November
So, this is the real countdown.
At class last night I worked my arse off, I really did. More Rodney run-throughs, even in shoes I think, and that's going ok. Fixed the start so I don't have a 1/4 of a bar where I'm kinda bopping on the spot waiting for the music.
I than ran through every single set dance, some more than once, some in shoes and some not depending on how much my feet were complaining. I was hitting clicks, even donkeys, I felt like I was turning my feet out, it was ok. I was having minimal breaks so I feel like my stamina's better, it was good.
Also ran through Garden and Job a few times, did my new reel step and few times and surprised myself with the height of my kick, did my two jig steps and one hornpipe - in short, pretty near killed myself.
I think in conclusion, as long as I don't blank (as I was doing consistently on Piper), I'll get more than 50%. If I really really pull it out of the bag, I think I might even stand a chance of passing.
Today: make up hornpipe step. Got a germ of an idea, we'll see how we go.
So, this is the real countdown.
At class last night I worked my arse off, I really did. More Rodney run-throughs, even in shoes I think, and that's going ok. Fixed the start so I don't have a 1/4 of a bar where I'm kinda bopping on the spot waiting for the music.
I than ran through every single set dance, some more than once, some in shoes and some not depending on how much my feet were complaining. I was hitting clicks, even donkeys, I felt like I was turning my feet out, it was ok. I was having minimal breaks so I feel like my stamina's better, it was good.
Also ran through Garden and Job a few times, did my new reel step and few times and surprised myself with the height of my kick, did my two jig steps and one hornpipe - in short, pretty near killed myself.
I think in conclusion, as long as I don't blank (as I was doing consistently on Piper), I'll get more than 50%. If I really really pull it out of the bag, I think I might even stand a chance of passing.
Today: make up hornpipe step. Got a germ of an idea, we'll see how we go.
Sunday, 4 November 2012
Sets
Right then, all sets are done. Rodney's was choreographed in my head over a wine on Friday night and practised on Saturday - it's working ok. Just a case of remembering now. Hurry the Jug and Piper are both working and again with Piper, it's just a memory thing. I was doing it in shoes on Monday night and kept getting confused, not least because my iPod earphone kept slipping out. Can you sweat from your ears?!
I was practising Garden on Saturday too and tried to visualise three stony-faced examiners watching me. Effed it up about five times in a row, terrific. I have no idea whether the nerves are going to ruin everything for me. I was trying to style it out and keep dancing as I know I have to keep going at all costs, but it's still a huge drop in points and practically unforgivable in a trad.
I can't practise as much as I want to because of this damn leg. Left lower calf feels like it's going to snap. I'm just not brave enough to push through too much, so it's only going to be another 4 or 5 sessions over the next 10 days (it's in 11 days I think but not counting today). Eek, not sure I'll even be able to manage that, thinking about it.
To do list:
Dance Planxty and Rodney's properly - dance the shit out of all of them, really.
Fix hornpipe step for solo section. Can't believe I'm not ready on this yet.
Think about teaching steps. I already know I'm probably going to use my Miss Brown's step as a jig step for teaching, but no idea on hornpipe - particularly a boy's hornpipe.
I was practising Garden on Saturday too and tried to visualise three stony-faced examiners watching me. Effed it up about five times in a row, terrific. I have no idea whether the nerves are going to ruin everything for me. I was trying to style it out and keep dancing as I know I have to keep going at all costs, but it's still a huge drop in points and practically unforgivable in a trad.
I can't practise as much as I want to because of this damn leg. Left lower calf feels like it's going to snap. I'm just not brave enough to push through too much, so it's only going to be another 4 or 5 sessions over the next 10 days (it's in 11 days I think but not counting today). Eek, not sure I'll even be able to manage that, thinking about it.
To do list:
Dance Planxty and Rodney's properly - dance the shit out of all of them, really.
Fix hornpipe step for solo section. Can't believe I'm not ready on this yet.
Think about teaching steps. I already know I'm probably going to use my Miss Brown's step as a jig step for teaching, but no idea on hornpipe - particularly a boy's hornpipe.
Thursday, 1 November 2012
Writtens
I'm probably going to do daily updates at the moment, even though I've temporarily set the blog on private for my own sanity. It's two weeks today. Last night I wanted to go and practice, but my legs were still very sore from Monday night and I'm paranoid about injuring myself too badly to dance at all. Plus I was at work late, then the journey home was horrible due to torrential rain so bad I could barely see the road markings, and it was miserable, and so I thought I'd put my brand new dining table and chairs to good use and set myself up for a written session.
I'm a bit worried in that I steam through past ceili papers and usually get them done within an hour, including distractions like chatting to the husband or getting up to get a drink or checking Facebook or whatever.
To save time I was marking my paper while doing a music quiz, and I got 97% on the paper and 100% on the music. My version of the music quiz is longer as well, I can fit 30 lines on my paper so I do 30 tunes on shuffle. If I don't get 100% on the real music exam and 90%+ on the ceili, I'll be disappointed, honestly.
After that I tried to choreograph some Rodney but it just wasn't working - I'll try again tonight.
The other night the husband said "I'm proud of you for how hard you're working on this."
:)
I'm a bit worried in that I steam through past ceili papers and usually get them done within an hour, including distractions like chatting to the husband or getting up to get a drink or checking Facebook or whatever.
To save time I was marking my paper while doing a music quiz, and I got 97% on the paper and 100% on the music. My version of the music quiz is longer as well, I can fit 30 lines on my paper so I do 30 tunes on shuffle. If I don't get 100% on the real music exam and 90%+ on the ceili, I'll be disappointed, honestly.
After that I tried to choreograph some Rodney but it just wasn't working - I'll try again tonight.
The other night the husband said "I'm proud of you for how hard you're working on this."
:)
Wednesday, 31 October 2012
What hurts?
Stolen from another dance blogger - a catalogue of my current ailments.
- Right calf muscle: stiff and sore
- Left calf muscle, specifically lower calf into achilles: honestly felt for a second that I'd torn it on Monday night. Very tight and painful when walking. Quite concerned about this and may give it an extra day's rest. The left achilles has been the most problematic for months.
- Shins: Heavens to goodness, they are on fire again. Even to the touch, and I'm sure one of them is so hurt it's bruised. It doesn't go all the way up to the knee, quite, but just above the ankle it's not even confined to the shin. It's like a thick ring of fire, three inches of hell all the way around. Complete disaster zone.
- Quads: Clearly a result of doing mostly heavies, stamping and banging.
On-off problems include the following list of horrors (fitting since it's Hallowe'en).
- Arches: Yes, still. But only ever while I'm dancing. The pain is sometimes unbearable in light shoes, generally unbearable in heavy shoes, but often completely absent when dancing in socks alone. I dance in heavies until I can't bear it anymore, rip them off, walk around to loosen them, and dance a few steps in socks. That seems to alleviate the problem but even daily arch-support-wearing isn't helping.
- Foot thing: On the top of the right foot, bony bit just below the smaller 3 toes. Yesterday I was getting occasional stabbing pains there, lasting 30 seconds. Not triggered by movement and I was fine to weight-bear. Completely gone now.
- Left big toe: Sprained this one so often that any time I attempt pointe work it freezes/jams and I can't stand on tiptoe/demi-pointe without sickling outwards anymore. So I'm just avoiding pointe until the exam. When I was competing I tried the same tack, only to forget to actually go up en pointe when I was on stage. Genius.
- Lung/rib pain: Let's not go there.
- Very centre of left thigh/pelvic join. Let's seriously not go there.
I hope you appreciate everything I'm doing for you, Irish dancing. I love you. Y u no love me back?
- Right calf muscle: stiff and sore
- Left calf muscle, specifically lower calf into achilles: honestly felt for a second that I'd torn it on Monday night. Very tight and painful when walking. Quite concerned about this and may give it an extra day's rest. The left achilles has been the most problematic for months.
- Shins: Heavens to goodness, they are on fire again. Even to the touch, and I'm sure one of them is so hurt it's bruised. It doesn't go all the way up to the knee, quite, but just above the ankle it's not even confined to the shin. It's like a thick ring of fire, three inches of hell all the way around. Complete disaster zone.
- Quads: Clearly a result of doing mostly heavies, stamping and banging.
On-off problems include the following list of horrors (fitting since it's Hallowe'en).
- Arches: Yes, still. But only ever while I'm dancing. The pain is sometimes unbearable in light shoes, generally unbearable in heavy shoes, but often completely absent when dancing in socks alone. I dance in heavies until I can't bear it anymore, rip them off, walk around to loosen them, and dance a few steps in socks. That seems to alleviate the problem but even daily arch-support-wearing isn't helping.
- Foot thing: On the top of the right foot, bony bit just below the smaller 3 toes. Yesterday I was getting occasional stabbing pains there, lasting 30 seconds. Not triggered by movement and I was fine to weight-bear. Completely gone now.
- Left big toe: Sprained this one so often that any time I attempt pointe work it freezes/jams and I can't stand on tiptoe/demi-pointe without sickling outwards anymore. So I'm just avoiding pointe until the exam. When I was competing I tried the same tack, only to forget to actually go up en pointe when I was on stage. Genius.
- Lung/rib pain: Let's not go there.
- Very centre of left thigh/pelvic join. Let's seriously not go there.
I hope you appreciate everything I'm doing for you, Irish dancing. I love you. Y u no love me back?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)