Post-Worlds come-down

It's hard, being surrounded by amazing dancing for days on end and then returning to the "day job" with a bump. Nobody cares about slip jigs and globes and ceilis here. I have a head filled with inspiration and choreography and excitement, but no-one to share it with and a pile of real work to do. It's actually been a real shock to the system. But before I get on to that, some ridiculously talented little ones:



I need to sort this out in my own head, so here's where I am.

Ceili Written
I still think I could pass this today. Rather than doing endless practice exams, I recently decided to just type out all of the ceilis with figures and all of the more difficult other ceilis, without the book. I finally got round to "marking" it the other night, and it's not that bad. The ones that need work are:
High Cauled Cap - specifically second figure
The Three Tunes - full review
Trip to the Cottage - small review of the figures
Lannigan's Ball - middle section
So I'll review those over the next couple of days.

Music
I'm starting to get the odd 100% on this now when I practice by putting my iPod on shuffle. This too I think I could pass today.

Ceili Teaching
I'm just not getting the numbers in class to really give this a go. If I had to take the exam today then I'd give it my very best shot - I'm confident I'd get the movements in the correct order and most of them I think I could teach correctly, but I definitely need to somehow get more practice on this.

Solo Teaching
Obviously I do this twice a week now, but it's becoming a slight worry. I don't know what I'd do with a champ dancer as I haven't sorted out my own steps yet, and I'm wondering if I'd remember to pack everything in. You have to ask to see their steps, pick a suitable step instantly, demonstrate, teach, pick up on faults, lilt, correct...and then all of the things that people have told me about that aren't on the syllabus. Someone told me they did a few drills of a specific move in their exam. What?! Are we really expected to do that? Someone got told off for dancing along too much. Will I remember to leave them to it? I don't know, I'm obviously overthinking it but it just kills me not knowing exactly what's expected of me. Praying I get a beginner or primary dancer - I have steps coming out of my ears for those levels.

Solo Dancing
Left til last, as always. I dreamt (literally) a new reel step while I was in Dublin and tested that out last night. At first I thought it was too fast but after a few runs, it was getting into my legs and the right foot is OKish. Most of the left foot is ok apart from the start (very quick transition), and the big jump into little jump into entrechat at the end. It will come. So I now have two steps of a reel which will do me for the exam should I be given reel, and an old right-right one that I still can't let go of. Here's a run down:

Reel - three steps
Slip jig - nothing. I decided to scrap the one I had from my competitive days. It's nice, but not current and I want something fresh. I might use it as a base, however.
Heavy jig - I have three steps. One will definitely be used for jig, the other two may work better as steps for jig sets. They all need a lot of work - they're fine in socks or trainers, not so when I actually put heavies on.
Hornpipe - nothing. Not even anything to use as a base, and no ideas as yet. I don't want to have too much on the go at once so I'm leaving this until jig and slip are complete.

Traditional sets - three of the four learnt, with intentions to get Garden done as soon as possible.

Nine modern sets - continues to fill me with dread. Choreographing that much material seems like an impossible mountain to climb and if I'm to go with my target, I have about a year to do it. That actually doesn't sound like long enough to me. I do have those two jig steps mentioned above which can be used for steps, but hornpipe choreography is non-existant. I know I'll be going for some of the shorter sets on the list, but it's still no easy feat.


So there's me.

I'm at a loss as to how to get more people into my class and am considering moving everyone and joining an existing class, to be honest. Even dancing the ceilis through would be good preparation for the practical exam - I've got to find a class first, though. My fitness is dreadful and I've got several chronic injuries that are going to need looking at so I'm going to try and get some physio. I'm going to buy some type of floor covering so that I can practice heavies at home - there's not much room in the hallway but even treble drills would be progress. I need to get healthier, so after this Bank Holiday weekend, we're back on a health kick.

I will not allow myself to get discouraged. I will stay positive, I will work, and I WILL take this exam.

Excitement!

Oh! I just experienced a small but exciting moment of realisation. I know all the eight-hand ceilis!*

The excitement I'm feeling right now is a culmination of the last couple of weeks' work, and is the result of how my emotions towards dancing have done a complete turnaround during the same time. I'm right back where I should be. I love dancing again.

I don't suppose it ever fully went away. It was just disillusionment - more to do with external factors like my illness than the dancing itself. I was kept from dancing, and absence doesn't always make the heart grow fonder. In this case it made me angry at myself for not trying harder to fit dancing in, for how easily I let it slip away - however briefly. I won't be afforded that luxury when I have my own school and that responsibility for my dancers.

My dancers. Yes, I'll open a school. I'll be happiest with a small school. I've picked my colours already - in my mind, we already have a class dress and a little beginner's uniform. I've thought about how I'll structure it, where I'll hold my lessons. I'm actually daring to think about post-exam now, which isn't something I've ever allowed myself to do before. I'm beginning to feel a little confident that I'll pass.

I'm really good at the ceilis, the book-smarts. I've completely overdosed on Parades of Champions over the past couple of weeks - Southern England's, the NAFC belt, Canada. I wish the other regions would hurry up and have their Oireachtas already, so that I could watch their parades over and over. I've tried a few things. I don't think my own light dancing (or my attempts at teaching open dancers) would be so atrocious anymore. And I know I can get help with heavies, which has always been my weak point choreography-wise. Having said that, I even have ideas for beginner jigs and hornpipes. Like never before, I feel like I belong.

I'm back. Full of love for this ancient, glorious, silly, energetic, ridiculous, beautiful form of dance. How is that? Why does it refuse to let me go? Why is this the only hobby I continue to obsess about, out of all the others I've tried? It's the same for everyone, you know. There are very few people who manage to escape after they're sucked into Irish dancing. It makes everything understandable. Why we spend hours dancing on bloodied toes. Why we pay thousands for a dress. Why we'll fly abroad for lessons. Why the only websites on our favourites list are somehow concerned with jigs and reels.

There's only one thing I want to add, and it's the parade from the Southern England qualifiers. And I just want to draw your attention to one of my favourite slip jigs of all time, which begins at 06.50.



If, one day, by some miracle, I ever have a dancer like her, everything will have been worth it.





* For the eagle-eyed among you...I know I haven't typed up St Patrick's Day but I've been working on it for a little while and it's nearly there.