Debrief

Time to debrief, I guess. Might as well make it my last post of the year.

It was a completely different experience. The interaction with the panel was different, the way I approached it was different. The main difference was that I was so much more nervous this time. Sick every morning, not a wink of sleep. Last time round I wasn't entertaining the thought that I might pass - all I wanted was to not fail outright, and maybe pick up some section passes. This time I really wanted to pass it for good.

The dancing was better than last time. I was really looking forward to dancing my jigs but in the first bar of the first step I fell off my toes and it threw me a bit meaning I didn't get in my fanciest bit and had to substitute with something else. Walked back to my place thinking "that's that failed, then." But then the track ended, and the next one that came on was my favourite jig of all time, a sign, so I thought no. Not failed. Still hope. Didn't make another mistake after that, bar another toes-related wobble in my hornpipe set. I got back to my room thinking, I'm not sure how that went. Anyone who's done this before will know what I mean when I say I've changed my mind about it several times since and I'm sure I will again, but I can only pray that I made up those two marks.

Teaching I think went well. It definitely went infinitely better than last time and I actually enjoyed it, but who can say if I did enough. The kids were awesome, I hope they enjoyed learning the ceilis possibly for the first time. I got an eight hand and a progressive, one reel and one jig, neither with a specific tune this time. I blipped once but put myself right the moment one of them asked how many bars the movement was. I felt like it was going well but at one point they were deep in discussion which obviously I couldn't hear and I can't decide whether it was good or bad. What I do know is that last time I came out and wept in my room while predicting 30% marks in the solo teaching - this time I bounced out. I just enjoyed teaching, being called a teacher. It felt comfortable. I hope I put that across.

Since then I thought I'd want a break from dancing but the opposite is true. Can't get enough. Last time it went badly and I just wanted to get away from it for a while - this time my legs are glad of the Christmas break but I'm raring to get back into it and will continue to do my solo practices too as I've got a list of things I want to work on so that I can be the best I possibly can be for my eventual dancers. So there'll be a to-do list early in the new year, but then we wait.

Three.

With three days to go last time round, it was my last class (I have an extra day this year as my exam starts Friday, not Thursday). Oh I feel so much better. That's not to say I'm not nervous, I'm horribly nervous! I can barely eat, I have a funny feeling in my chest, and I keep being sick. But I'm not AS nervous. It's a combination of having been there before, and being infinitely better prepared.

I finished my list - writing out each dance by movement. Absolutely no mistakes on that, everything was word-perfect. So the idea was that as I went through, I would identify movements where I was rusty on how to actually do them, and if I came across a dance where I thought "God I hope I don't get this" then I'd revise that in full. You know what, there isn't much I want to go over. That panics me because I don't want to be complacent and waste the time I have left.

So it's revision tonight - reading, watching and ghost teaching - and then stretching and icing. I'm very sore today but I'm trying to look after myself for just these few last days. Come Sunday I will become the laziest person on earth again :)

I have literally never worked harder for anything in my entire life. Nothing, no exam, no job, no hobby, no task, has ever come close to this.

Ceili teaching

I'm on this. I've got this. Last time, I was vocally paralysed and could not find the tunes. I didn't approach it in the best way - I waited too long to give the panel the information they were looking for and both times they had to prompt me for the tune. I have the right approach now. I've paid more attention to the lilting. I've taught and danced every single step in that blue book. I know the tricky bits. I know what I did wrong.

I didn't give a spiel before teaching St Pat's (either dance, in fact). I didn't check everyone was turning correctly in half right and left, and I didn't explicitly state that it was 6 bars so the kids improvised and the panel jumped in before I had time to correct them. I didn't lilt. Not much, not properly. I didn't demo the footwork, I didn't "guide the dancers through the movements" - I explained it all as a theory exercise, I didn't TEACH it, I didn't move them. I didn't move off the spot. 

Haste, I didn't tell them about the tune. I mixed my threes. I didn't progress that quickly. I said "I think we go round to the right now...I think". I lacked confidence. I only paid attention to one set of four. I didn't demo, lilt or move. I didn't have my rings finishing in the best position (I did tell them). I didn't turn the top couple after 2nd ring. 

I got 61%. It wasn't THAT bad. I knew the movements, no question. I had a bit of rapport with the dancers. I just need to do it MORE. 

The last 10 days alone I've taught Trip, Sweets, Eight Hand Jig, Waves. Both Cross figures, 2nd figure of Humours, An Rince Mor, Gates, Four Hand. Tomorrow back to back. I just want this so much and this time I have to, I will, show them that I don't just know the words in the book. I know the dances. The tunes. The fiddly bits. I love it all. I love ceili. Deep breath and go. I know this, I CAN do this, I need this, I will do this. 

I will. 

Serious preparation

Last week:

Sunday - ceili class
Monday - ceili and solo class
Tuesday - solo practice
Wednesday - gym
Thursday - teaching practice
Friday - gym
Saturday and Sunday - ok, rest days, but I lilted and revised at least!

I've just got to do this every week for the next 12 weeks or so and I'm done. It hasn't killed my legs as much as I thought it would.

So, this week:

Monday - ceili and solo class (whichever ceilis are thrown at us, plus jig sets)
Tuesday - solo practice (hornpipe sets)
Wednesday - gym (bike/cross trainer/leg machines/core stuff/arms)
Thursday - teaching practice (Four Hand and Glencar reels)
Friday - gym (more of the same, might try the rower)
Saturday - solo practice (not decided yet, slip jig needs a run through and I have a new reel step)
Sunday - ceili class

On it. Car bonnet.

Weekend plan

Last month of the weekend, absolutely brassic, can't go out or do anything - this can mean only one thing. TCRG weekend!

My plan...let's see how this goes.

1 - gently run my traditional sets
2 - review King, because it's not sticking in my brain
3 - attempt some hornpipe choreography
4 - work on the new sequence I've learnt recently
5 - identify areas for study, ceili-wise. I've already started a list of areas I'm not sure of, and music is always on the list too.

I've been told a five-point list is manageable so ideally on Monday I shall report back.

Ideally.

Fighting off Worlds cravings...

I'm not in Boston, and I dearly wish I was. My brainwave today was that I should have just gone to the Comhdhail worlds instead this year, just to see some dancing and also to watch it with a completely clean slate (not knowing any of the dancers), but it's too late for that now.

So while scouring the web for updates and pictures, I decided to see if I still "had it". I haven't touched the ceili book since Glasgow, or at least since I made a study guide for my friend in January, and while I don't need to do the written paper again I still need to know them all for the teaching. So I wrote them all out - just movement names, but for every dance in the book.

Not half bad. I basically got everything right apart from forgetting the existance of Sidestep and Heyes, and flipping the swings in An Rince Mor. I got the partners / ladies on left the wrong way round. Out of 30 dances, I'm taking that and running with it.

Determined to pass this thing next time.

And I can't wait til it's my dancers being photographed backstage. On stage. With medals. With trophies. With me by their side, the whole way.

2013

...will be the year I pass.

I've done some work already. I now know Jockey to the Fair (it needs practising, but I know the steps) and the step of King of the Fairies. The latter took me an embarrassingly long time but I've changed my learning strategy from putting the Olive dvd on cold and trying to dance along, to watching and watching and watching and learning in theory before I start to try and dance it. That seems to be the less frustrating method :)

So that's 1.5 trad sets out of 3 done!

I've also started making a ceili study guide for my friend who I've talked into doing the TMRF. Just tips, unwritten rules, that kind of thing. Still a bit of a work in progress but I'll need to get that printed out today because...

It's the first class of 2013 tonight!!!

My feet will be on fire, I will be horribly unfit and out of breath, my holiday weight will be embarrassing. BUT, I can't bloody wait!

Céim an Fháinne

Just trying to make sure that concentrating on solo dancing doesn't result in me neglecting the book-smarts bit of the TCRG exam. I revised music last night which was fine, so let's look at ceili and Ar Rince Foirne.

Céim an Fháinne is 'Rings', of course, and it's important to know which direction each ring travels in. Here's a list, crossing fingers I haven't missed anything out:

1 - Four Hand Reel
Rings only appears in the first figure of this dance, handily called 'Figure of Eight and Rings of Three'. The ring is performed twice. First time it goes right/left, second time it goes left/right. Repeated in the same way when opposites perform the figure.

2 - Sixteen Hand Reel
Called Hands Round in this dance, and appears in the body. Both times the ring travels left/right.

---

3 - Haste to the Wedding
First ring right, second ring left. Each ring travels one way only.

4 - Siege of Carrick
Left/right

5 - Glencar Reel
Left/right

6 - Three Tunes
Called 'sides' in this dance as rings is something different entirely. Left/right/right/left.

7 - Trip to the Cottage
Again this appears in the body, and is performed left/right. The gent therefore, if you have the spare gent dancing, does two right feet - one to join the ring and one as part of the ring.

8 - An Rince Mor
No excuses for forgetting because it's in the title - Ring to Left and Right

---

9 - Fairy Reel
Performed twice - first time right/left, second time left/right.

10 - Duke Reel
This is the opening movement and goes right/left.

11 - Lannigan's Ball
Left/right - and remember, this one is skipped not sidestepped.

12 - Cross Reel
In Figure of Eight and Ring, all sidestep right/left.

13 - Gates of Derry
Performed twice - first time right/left, second time left/right.

14 - Sweets of May
This is both the opening movement and a figure (plus the closing movement, too). As in Tunes, they go left/right/right/left.

15 - Bonfire Dance
Performed twice - first time right/left, second time left/right.

Here's a gratuitous picture of dancers in a ring:

Anti-clockwise is the same as sidestepping to the right.
Clockwise is the same as sidestepping to the left.

So, can I see any patterns here?

...not really.

Second book - all go left first except Haste.
Tunes and Sweets are the same, which should be easy to remember as they're both Antrim dances and have lots of other similarities.
Where it's performed twice, it always goes right/left and then left/right.

I suppose it's just a memorisation task as I can't think of any tricks!

Run through

Let's dial back the panicking a little and have a run through of where I'm at. You never know, it might not be as bad as I think. I shall work through what I know and what I don't, in rough TCRG exam order. You'll notice that some things are in colour - I added that at the end of typing the post, so see the end for an explanation.

Ceili written

Absolutely no concerns. I know I can pass this, and that I can pass it well. I'm keeping up with my past papers (scoring above 90% on the majority), I've danced/taught most of them in class, I keep reading the book, I keep watching the videos. Here, I'm confident.

Music

Likewise, no concerns. I listen to the sets often - sometimes just identifying the tune in my head before looking down to check and then skipping to the next tune, sometimes listening to them in full, sometimes doing a full-on quiz where I have to write the bars and so on as well. I generally get 100%, although I do have to count Garden and Job. I don't think I'll have any trouble identifying the solo tunes (reel, slip jig, hop jig, jeavy jig, hornpipe, right?)

Own dancing

- Reel: I'm 100% decided on one of the steps I'll dance if asked. I have a selection of others, none of which I'm completely happy with, but there are lots to choose from.
- Hop jig and light jig: On the very unlikely offchance that I have to dance either of these, no problem. Got full dances at both standard and intermediate level to choose from.
- Slip jig: I'm 100% decided on my second step. First step, not sure yet but again I have lots to choose from. As with my reel steps, I just need to give them a dance through and see which ones feel best - I've been thinking about them all morning.

Heavies
- Heavy jig: Unsure. One step I can definitely use with a tweak (remove drum rolls). Two or more steps that I can use with a couple of tweaks, and an idea for a completely new step. It's doable, anyway - jig is my stronger heavy dance.
- Hornpipe: No clue. I have two steps, but the timing isn't what I'm used to - a little syncopated here and there, and frankly at this point I think it's a waste of time trying to figure it out. I think I'd be better served using them as a base and coming up with fixes. I think I have enough nice flourishes in my hornpipe sets to prove I can do the rhythm, let's go simpler for the solo steps.

Traditional sets
- St Patrick's Day - no problems, brush up.
- Blackbird - as above.
- Job of Journeywork - not tooooo bad, need to work out what foot I'm meant to be on and practise it more so that I'm not making a small mistake each time, but it'll get there.
- Garden of Daisies - I started learning this from a friend. No, let's be honest, she taught me all of it but I haven't thought about it since so I can only remember tiny bits of it. I literally need to relearn this.

Modern sets
- White Blankets - it needs a tweak because I accidentally repeated part of the set in the step of Blue Eyed, so it'll be easier to fix in this dance. I need to make sure I don't mess up that toe-cut-down sequence.
- Fiddler Round the Fairy Tree - it's ok, if I remember not to jump-treble into the left foot of the step, because that's not what it is. The set is quite strong, for me.
- Blue Eyed Rascal - need to get my feet quicker at the very end, and make sure I don't go off time after the walkover clicks. Not too bad.
- Rub the Bag - needs a few run throughs, but not bad. Passable.
- Planxty Drury - Confident on the step, need more run throughs on the set. I can do each part, I just haven't practised it much all put together.
- The Piper - really not sure about this one at all. I'm not sure the set works, it might need re-choreographing. Perhaps I was just having a bad day but one of the treble sequences that I seriously over-used in this dance was not happening at ALL. Faster feet.
- Miss Brown's Fancy - Step should be fine. Set needs to be danced as I've choreographed but not run through it yet, but it should fit and be ok.

That leaves one more set of each timing. Short is king so I'm thinking Rodney's Glory, just to throw a 2/4 in there really, and then I need to pick a jig. I was thinking Hurry the Jug - then I thought Hurling Boys as it's two bars shorter (I know...) and then I thought, why the heck not just call it a day and go for Sprig of Shillelagh?! I'll see. I might be able to borrow from a friends.

^ Seriously, how huge is that section?!?!

Solo teaching

- Reels: Beginner, primary, intermediate/prelim steps all ready to go. LOADS to choose from. I've got an open reel or two in my head for both girls and boys, but again I will need to dance them to make sure they fit.
- Hop and light jigs - fine, see own dancing above.
- Slip jigs: Beginner, primary, intermediate/prelim steps all ready to go. Open steps...it depends what they class as open steps. Some dances these days, even ones that win championships, are incredibly straightforward - just danced very nicely indeed. Need to give this one a bit more thought. I love slip jigs and I dance them well, I just haven't come up with one that I really like in ages.

- Heavy jigs: I've got beginner, or I've got prelim level girls steps. No in-betweenies, nothing really boy-style. I could chop down some of my jig sets to work as an open-ish level jig set, and I've learnt some quite complicated rhythm bits recently which I hope will be seen as difficult enough for open.
- Hornpipe: Kinda same as the above. Nothing that's really suitable for primary, nothing for a boy. Again, I could use set steps. More thought.

Ceili teaching

I'm fairly relaxed about this. I want to take in bracelets or something to differentiate between boys and girls, and I think I could keep 8 kids straight. For both teaching exams, I'm ok at lilting now. I even lilt to chart songs sometimes, without thinking?! I need to brush up on the ceili tunes, though. I recognise them all when played, but they're not going to be. I need to get better at just remembering them and being able to lilt them straight off. Where are we...
Humours of Bandon - just about.
Haste to the Wedding - I usually go straight to part b, but I'm getting there with part a.
Three Tunes - I'm GREAT with the repeated bits (the tunes that correspond with Rings, Stamp & Clap, and the Roly Poly). I'm not so hot on the first part of each tune.
St Patrick's Day - I think it would be quite bad if I wasn't confident on this one.
Trip to the Cottage - I think I've just sung it in my head...I'd need to listen and check though.
Lannigan's Ball - strangely, this is the one I'm most confident on.
Rakes of Mallow - although I'm quite confident on this one as well.
Sweets of May - I sometimes trip myself up on part a, but part b (the body tune) is fine. Especially Ringing the Bells!

Now, are we supposed to know the Quaker's Wife even though it only says it's the favourite tune for the Gates of Derry? I suppose it's one of those unwritten things.

I've just typed all this out, which is I'm sure horrible boring for anyone foolish enough to have read this from beginning to end...! I shall now go through and highlight areas for work. Red for serious work and amber for meh...a bit. If it's not in colour then it doesn't mean I'm going to ignore it, it's just not an immediate priority.

Whether I choose to add anything further to this post depends wholly on how colourful it ends up being...

I guess it wasn't THAT bad. It's definitely not going to pass itself, though.

Proud.

I'm sitting in the living room watching the Great British Bake Off and marking a past paper at the same time. Derry 2011, I gave myself 96%. My average this year is 95.36%. But that's not why I'm proud, I'm proud of it, but that's not the reason for the post.

I was flicking through the book looking for the answers, and I found each page automatically. As I checked my answer to the Sweets of May and I lilted the tune aloud.

And I thought, bloody hell. When I started this blog, a million moons ago, I knew nothing. I knew the Walls of Limerick and I knew what the word feis meant. Honestly, that's how far I feel like I've come. I'd danced in championships, I could recite trivia, but I didn't really know much about dancing. Ever since then I've been watching, constantly. Always looking, watching, evaluating, thinking. I see dancing in a totally different way now, I'm a different dancer and a different person.

I can't believe I've learned this entire book. It's less than 80 pages, big deal I guess - but it is a big deal for me. I just can't believe I've done it. I know I know the book whether I pass or not, and that was the whole point of trying to pass this exam for me. I wanted to learn the ceilis and the trad sets because I never had, and I felt I should. I felt I couldn't be a real Irish dancer unless I knew these crucial things, these things that keep us rooted in the past while we chase the future in our solo dancing. The basis of Irish dancing, our history, the classics.

I guess I'll have that to fall back on if I don't pass. I only ever really wanted to learn these things out of respect for this art form, and now that I've done that, everything else is a bonus.

Congratulations to everyone that passed today, particularly "AinetheDragon" slash "Aine'sTRTO". She knows the online me but not the real me, and I always find her posts interesting and insightful. Well done her.

Round of sixteen

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.

Where I'm at

March already?! I've no idea where this year has gone so far but it really needs to slow down as I've got a lot to do. I'm confirmed for an exam at the end of the year, and as you'll probably have guessed by all this talk of set dances - I applied for the TCRG exam rather than the TMRF. Teacher, friends and family all thought my TMRF idea was a waste of money and I just needed some more confidence in myself, so I followed their advice. I certainly don't feel as desperate as I did at the very start of the year, when I had very little solo material under my belt.

Here's what I have so far:

Reels - plenty of grade level dances for the teaching part, plus enough steps for the dancing exam
Hop and light jigs - plenty of steps for the teaching
Slip jig - grade versions for teaching and a full dance for the dancing part
Heavy jig - beginner steps for teaching, a solid step for dancing
Hornpipe - beginner dance for teaching, two steps for dancing
Trad sets - Paddy's Day, Blackbird and Job
Sets - two! White Blankets and Fiddler Round the Fairy Tree in full.

So I still need:

Reels - a boys' reel! Maybe another step to be sure as well.
Slip jig - My dancing version is prelim level so I'll need a more open-level step for teaching
Heavy jig - primary and intermediate level steps for teaching, plus another step for dancing which will need to be a bit harder than the one I have
Hornpipe - again, grade level steps for teaching, and a boys step for teaching would be good too as the ones I have are nice and girly
Trad sets - just Garden
Sets - seven!

It's shaping up quite nicely I think. I could do with picking up another solo class per week but it's difficult with work and so on, as it's further away than the Monday class and starts earlier too!

For the writtens, I'm regularly scoring 100% on music which is my target for the exam. Ceili written is where I'm falling behind a touch - I still remember all the movements, formations, music notes etc for each dance, I'm just slipping on being able to write them out in full. Still, I know they're in the locker and I can brush up on them any time - dancing is the priority for the moment. I will make the effort to write a couple of dances out this weekend though, as our class is cancelled. I'm still regularly dancing ceili, too.

I can't tell you how proud I am of myself. They might be meagre little achievements in anybody else's book but I've learned two hornpipe steps in one class after not dancing it for years, and I've choreographed two sets all by myself. I've still got 7 or 8 months to go, too, so the straits are not yet dire.

Physio has prescribed me some gym time (my hips need loosening, a lot) so I'll be getting fitter and more able to practise for longer.

I can't wait to be a teacher :)

Tunes n Trip

I've spent the last two nights revising from the Olive videos, saying the movement aloud before the dancers get to it, watching the trickier bits, and making a list of mistakes. Personally I didn't make many but it did give me the opportunity to tidy up a few things in my own mind.

Next week, I'm planning to teach The Three Tunes. I've told them there's a "fight scene" in it so they're dead keen! But, I always mess up the order. I know the order of the repeated moves, I know that Sides comes first and Lead Round comes third, and that Thread the Needle comes before the final Roly Poly. I CANNOT get the other movements straight.

In correct order, the movements are:

Sides
Rings
Lead Round
Stamp and Clap
See Saw
Roly Poly
Hook and Chain
Rings
Sides Under Arms
Stamp and Clap
Thread the Needle
Roly Poly

Racking my brains and this is the only way I can think of to remember it: See Saw comes before Sides Under Arms in the Sweets of May. Hook and Chain goes in the middle. Or Hook goes with Haste. Hmm.



And, Trip. I know this one quite well but when writing it out I can never work out who goes under who arch first. Tops make the first arch so the order of passing under is: Opps under tops, opps under opps, tops under tops, tops under opps. Opps, opps, tops, tops. This makes no sense to anybody :)



Doing this has made me realise though - I do NOT know any of the ceili tunes. Not well enough to lilt in an exam anyway. I could get by with St Patrick's Day and Haste to the Wedding I reckon, Roly Poly part of the Three Tunes, but nothing else. This needs WORK. Off to iTunes to create a playlist I go - I got 100% in a music quiz earlier so I can park that for a while and work on ceili music instead.

This weekend I have...

- Written out the first five ceilis from Book One and not made too many horrendous mistakes. Just little gaffes here and there.
- Come up with some ideas for steps.
- Learnt the step for Jockey.
- Realised I don't need Jockey unless I fail the dancing exam and end up retaking in 2013.
- Thought I might just as well learn the three extra sets because nobody ever seems to do them at competitions so my hypothetical dancers would stand out, and also because I started this huge endeavour because I simply thought I *should* know the ceilis and the sets.
- Come home from dancing with my toes in one piece.

Score.

Actual revision schedule

Since designing my Revision Schedule way back in September I erm, didn't revise. BUT I am now, and I've paid 50 boys into my TCRG exam savings account as well.

Last night I wrote out the formations, movement names and bars for every dance in the book. Having not looked at the book for a few months I was worried about this, but amazingly my brain does hold onto these ceilis remarkably well. Here were my mistakes.

Book One -

- Started writing out the body of the High Cauled Cap when I should have been doing the Eight Hand Reel, but quickly corrected myself before I finished
- Called the movement Hands Round by the wrong name in the Sixteen Hand Reel
- In the Harvest Time Jig, called Right Hands Across and Left Hands Across "Right and Left Hands Across" etc.

No massive disasters, unlike in...

Book Two -

- Rince Fada - called the last movement Swing Out when it's Dance Around
- After what felt like hours of agonising I finally remembered that Hook and Chain was the movement I'd forgotten. Great, but I wrote it in the wrong place and flipped it with See Saw.
- The disaster that was Trip to the Cottage. I forgot the body. Yes, you read that correctly. Clean forgot it, and got the number of bars wrong for Cross Over and Lead Around AND both the figures. Dreadful.

Book Three -

- Was trying to write out the dances in book order and failed at this point
- Got the wrong number of bars for a few movements here and there
- Referred to R&L Hands Across etc as "wheels" in Waves of Tory, and missed off The Waves! I know!
- Mixed up the ending of Rakes and Gates - Rakes is Swing Out and Gates is Swing Around. Way to remember this - in Gates you swing around one couple and then dance again with them (albeit in their position). In Rakes you swing out to meet a new couple.

Not totally awful but one or two shockers in there. The next mission, and I do choose to accept it, is to write out every dance in FULL and that's obviously going to take me more than one night. I'll aim to do it over the next fortnight and thinking about it, will probably review a book at a time. Write out, mark, watch videos to refresh. Once I've completed each book I'll revisit some past papers and try and recapture my 90%-ish average mark!

Revision schedule

I know, I know. I only ever do the booksmarts. But I'm really quite enthusiastic about doing the TMRF, in as few as 8 months if at all possible (ie if there is a May exam in Britain/Ireland and if it hasn't filled up yet). So I might just as well revise.

Tonight I'm going to concentrate on my workouts - more and more I'm learning that everything in the body is linked, and my physio has given me some core and glutes routines to do which will help support my knees and ankles, and in turn put less pressure on my arches. So I'm going to give that a real concerted effort tonight because the sooner I get into the swing of it then the sooner I'll see the benefits and hopefully we'll be starting to do some solo soon at class (meaning a second class per week, I hope).

On Thursday evening I plan to write out all the basic ceili information - so, name of dance, formation, music type and tune if appropriate, list the movement names including repeats, the duration of each movement and of the whole dance. Then I'm going to start at the beginning and write them out in full, and I shall do at least one per day until I'm through the entire book. Hopefully there won't be too many mistakes - if there are I'll try those ones again, and finally when I'm happy I'll start doing some practice exams as well.

If I feel like a need a break from ceili I pledge to put my iPod on a do a music quiz (not on the TMRF but it doesn't hurt to refresh) rather than playing games or whatever.

You know, I'm still not sure whether I want to be a teacher, not with my very own school anyway. I'm very much a follower, not a leader. Perhaps I could join someone else's school, if they'd have me, and do exactly what they told me to do. But in any case I really, really, really want these qualifications. I would like to run a feis and help out at other people's. I would like dancing to be a bigger part of my life. Not with any lofty goals of producing 6 World Champs every year (I don't know how they do it, amazing). But just because I love it, and for no other reason.

Book Three revision

I'm actually more astounded by the fact that I nearly got all these in the right order, than the fact that I got them nearly all right. I can't believe I've remembered everything. I'm clearly meant to do this exam. If I wasn't, and if I didn't genuinely love and care about dancing, I would never have remembered 30 fiddly ceilis. No pun intended. It's given me a right little lift, this has.

Firstly I got Gates and Rakes the wrong way round but then you're not tested on book order so who cares? And my one mistake was in Gates itself, calling Right and Left Wheels 'Right Hands Across' by mistake. But that was it. It's actually pointless me having posted three separate book updates, or posting at all - I thought I'd have so much to correct, so many mistakes. Wow. Wow wow wow.

BUT let's not get carried away; I do need to know how to actually perform/teach the movements as well as just the names of things. So to revise:

10) Fairy Reel - everything after the second rings, just to be sure
11) Duke Reel - quick refresh throughout
12) Lannigan's Ball - double check on all terminology and positioning
13) Gates of Derry - need to actually sort out the issue of repeats which I have completely ignored up until now but is being discussed on the TCRG Voy.
14) Bonfire Dance - just the Rose, just to be sure.

Happy Friday :)

Book Two revision

Well, I did manage to get these in book order however I did make one or two mistakes. In Glencar Reel I got all the movements right but forgot to add Full Chain on the end. Unsurprising as I can't get to grips with it. And in the Antrim Reel I mistakenly called Swing Out to Next Couple, Swing and Exchange Partners. However I did remember that I'd got that wrong before marking - while writing out Bonfire Dance actually. So chuffed I remembered all of Tunes and Paddy's Day!

So, to revise from this book (in addition to Book One revision)

6) Antrim Reel - just needs a quick refresh, especially the dance downs/sidesteps
7) Glencar Reel - in full
8) Three Tunes - All movements
9) St Patrick's Day - refresh the body

Book One revision

I haven't touched the vast majority of ceilis for absolutely ages. We do the Four Hand Reel (but no figures) and a few of the Eight-Hands in class, but for months I haven't even looked at a past paper, video, or Ar Rinci Foirne itself. It's about time I started revising again so today I tried to write them all out, in book order. Not in full, obviously, just movement names, formations and numbers of bars.

First of all Book One.

I didn't get them in book order. Put Siege in before Humours rather than 9th. BUT - I didn't get anything wrong. All movement names present and correct, all bars correct. The girl done good. But I want to revise...

1) Four Hand Reel, 1st figure - Figure of Eight and Rings of Three
2) High Cauled Cap, 2nd figure - Circle and Cross, both versions
3) 16 Hand Reel, all
4) Humours of Bandon, both figures - Advance Through Centre and Centre Meet
5) Eight Hand Jig, 2nd figure - Right and Left Chain and Right Hand to Opposite Lady

Starting Today.

The plan is to kickstart my enthusiasm for this dance form. I'm forcing myself to go to class tonight - I know I'll be fine when I get there but sometimes the thought of actually getting there puts me off so I don't. I have a headache and I had physio this morning for my not-improving feet, so those would be two reasons not to go. But I AM going to go because I know I'll be fine when I get there. Hopefully I'll be able to just dance rather than teach; sounds kinda backwards I know, but I just want to enjoy myself and get some exercise tonight. So that's step one of the plan. Step two will have to wait until the weekend as I'm so outstandingly busy at the moment, but I plan to go over all of my traditional sets. Probably just around the house and therefore not in shoes, but it's a start as I must not forget them. From next Wednesday, I'm going to start my solo practices again. Here we go.