Heart and mind

Last week, I read this quote on Facebook. I don't normally go for sentimental bullshit but this actually got to me. It might be important to you too.

If you want to know where your heart lies, look to where your mind wanders.


It's always dancing. I only ever daydream about dancing. Dancing is the only thing constantly stuck in my head. So, I've got to pass this exam.

For some reason, the quote reminded me of this picture. I haven't seen it for ten or more years, but through the wonders of Google I've discovered it again. Somehow, this picture is what dancing is to me. So I'm posting it here to remind me that this is where my mind wanders. Which is why I'm doing this, and why I'm going to pass.

Sets and nationals

Hi, it's been two months.

I'm doing....er..okay.

I've finished my Planxty Drury, in that I know all the steps and just need to practise and polish, and maybe change the treble bit that I can't quite do. I can't actually believe I've gone for a 40 bar set after vowing not to do anything over 32 (or 28 in hornpipe), but there you have it. It's quite easy, short on toestands, interesting rhythms.

Next up is the Piper - I've got a step sorted, it's quite girly and floaty and whimsical, to match how I feel when I listen to the music. I know how I'm going to open and close the set part, and a couple of ideas for the middle bit, but it needs a bit more thought. It'll be pretty - I have a very girly style emerging, I think. Especially in hornpipe as I've always thought it's kinda the slip jig of heavy dancing. All the nicest set tunes are hornpipes in my opinion.

Most importantly, I'm off to the British Nationals this arvo. I really need this, I really need to see some beautiful dancing again. Claire, Suzanne and Simona reprise their worlds battle. Watch some ceilis and try to spot faults in prep for the teaching exam. I'm so looking forward to this! And the 25th anniversary to boot - nearly as old as me! - happy birthday, BNs!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

Keep on keeping on

I've had a really productive couple of days. Made up a ton of steps which are difficult but which I can actually do; realised I actually do crosskeys correctly after all; and learned a ridiculously difficult hornpipe treble combination which I never thought in a million years I could ever do. I'm starting to feel a little wistful about my own dancing career, such as it was, because if I knew then what I know now, I would have done much better and achieved much more. I do of course continue to toy with the idea of doing a small feis before the exam, but I think if I did well I'd just want to come out of retirement permanently and lose my TCRG exam fee money. Ha. It won't happen - maybe I will enter the intermediates or something just to give everything a run out before go-time.

We are 1/3 of the way through April now, and the end of the month marks the end of my first period of 50 days. I need to have achieved all my goals by then, so here's where I'm up to:

Learn Garden - DONE

Two new non-trad sets - nearly, got a step for both Rub the Bag and Blue Eyed, and part of the set for the latter.

Finish writing ceilis - DONE, not bad. Haven't done any of the required 5-10 practice papers yet. Will do one tonight.

Teach three new ceilis - one so far. This one isn't really up to me!

Dance in heavy shoes at least once per week - failed already, due to class attendance. Not giving up though, will continue to wear the feckers.

Drill one trad set per week - failed. Haven't done one, apart from Garden, Will do one tonight.

At least one music quiz per week - sort of, am passing them all in the 90%s so I'm not concerned.

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig!

Merry St Patrick's Day! Bejaysus begosh and begorrah and so on.

Today I'm celebrating the way all good TCRG candidates should celebrate - watching my ceili dvds and writing out the High Cauled Cap. Green jumper, green jewellery. Irish cider pencilled in for later on. I've got a dance class this afternoon and am home alone tonight so I'll finish writing out the first book (which means I'll've written out the whole thing) and tomorrow it'll be time to mark. Then I can start practice papers - my favourite! (I'm not being sarcastic, I love them.)

May the road rise up to meet you etc etc!

50 day goals

I'm a bit late in posting this as there are 246 days to go til my TCRG exam, but I thought I would separate out the next 8 months of my life into 50 day blocks and have a set list of things to achieve during each. Day 200 is on the last day of April so my deadline will be easy to remember and is what inspired me to do this.

So, the goals I need to achieve before the end of next month, in order.

1 - Learn Garden of Daisies once and for all!

2 - Complete another two non-trad sets as a minimum

3 - Finish writing out all the ceilis in full and after that, complete 5-10 past papers as pass them all!

4 - Teach three ceilis that I haven't yet danced or taught - as a minimum

5 - Dance in heavy shoes at least once per week

6 - Drill one traditional set dance per week

7 - At least one music quiz per week

That's plenty for 46 days I think. To prepare I've completed a list of ceilis I need to dance/teach to take to class, and to be honest I'm thinking of a few shortcuts here. For example instead of teaching the Eight Hand and Morris Reels separately, I'm going to combine the bodies - so it might go Extended Sides, Skip Across, Sides, Right Hands Across, Back to Back, Return Chain. I've already taught both figures so this might be a bit more interesting for the class.

I've pencilled in a private lesson of sorts to get Garden learnt and I have the version I'm learning on video (different to Olive's) which I will watch and try to work out ahead of my session.

I wrote out three more ceilis last night - St Patrick's Day, Trip, and An Rince Mor. I know I hashed up the second figure of Trip but I think Paddy's Day was right enough. I blanked on ARM so I doubt I got that right but I'm waiting until I've written out all 30 before I mark, so it will be another couple of days.

Dancing in heavy shoes, a must. I'm actually quite good in my socks but that's not going to go down too well at the exam. As a dancer, all too often I threw off the shoes and carried on in my socks because I knew I was better without them. Well what was the point in that?! I need to get used to them. Even if it means wearing them around the house and throwing a few trebles in as I pass from room to room.

I am REALLY fired up for this at the moment. So damn keen, thinking about dancing constantly, coming up with new steps all the time, wishing there was a feis every weekend....I even find I'm lilting to myself! Bring it on...but don't let the time go by too fast, I've still got a lot to do!

PS - in less than three weeks I'll be at the Worlds. Can't wait!