Hornpipe practice

At 5.10pm last night I was in the ladies toilet at work, grappling with a sports bra. The single most unattractive item of clothing ever invented by mankind. The reason for all of this was that I was determined to get another practice in this week - I'd done two hours Sunday, ceili on Monday, swimming on Tuesday, and then had to rest my calves on Wednesday.

However, the hall I can use for free hosts bingo on a Thursday, and the Ring and Ride arrives promptly at 7pm. So I knew that in order to get a meaningful hour of practice in, I'd have to change at work.

At 5.25pm last night I was massaging ibuprofen gel into my arches while sitting at my desk discussing hand injuries with the cleaner.

I managed to make it to the hall just before 6pm, didn't bother rearranging the furniture, and did a quick warm up while listening to the radio. Then it was straight onto hornpipe sets and, similar to Sunday, I decided to start with trad sets. Blackbird fine, I like this one. Job I learnt from a video and I wasn't entirely sure which foot I was meant to be on at various points in the set, but I've figured it out I think.

White Blankets, fine. The treble-toe-cut sequence thing that flummoxed me last time was working fine, and I came up with a fix for a toe-over-toe-over-toe bit that I still can't get. It's now toe-over-toe and toes 234.

Blue Eyed, fine. Need faster feet at the end.

Piper, woeful. Basically the steps don't really work so I need to start afresh. Annoying, but I can keep some of it and at least it's short.

At this point my feet were burning and the G&T crew were beginning to arrive so I stomped off home in the rain.

I guess it's a lesson that not every practice session is going to be amazing - Sunday was SO GOOD, I enjoyed every minute of it and I made some really good progress, with the only real damage being some sock-friction on the balls of my feet. Yesterday I was tired, slightly grumpy, sore of foot, and pressed for time.

Workshop this weekend. I'll be rectifying Garden of Daisies, learning some hornpipe rhythms to fit into Piper and Rodney's, and basically dancing in front of people which I hate, but need to get over quickly.

I can't believe Atlanta is in progress already. I can't believe I'm in the next exam. Christ.

Guess what I'm doing?

Planxty Drury. In full. Again and again and again. Getting there.

Fiddler and Rub are ok. Warmed up with St Paddy's Day as it's jig day today. When I finally get this fecking Planxty right it'll be on to Miss Brown's, and possibly a new jig I've been inaginationing.

Phew.

Right, break over. Da-da-da da dadada da da da da-da da da da da daaaa, da da da da da-da da da dadadadaa...

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.

Panic

I am very nearly shaking with fear. It's in two months.

I've been back and forth with worry today. I choreographed the rest of Miss Brown's, so now I only have two more sets to choreograph, and I felt almost relaxed. That's like, a month to make up two more (short!) dances, and a month to practise. I thought it was doable. I thought I should have been taking a big deep breath and chilling out.

But then I did the worst possible thing I could do and read over a former candidate's diary, just to see how she was getting on two months before. Well she'd finished all her sets and steps but was still struggling with the writtens, so I felt neutral. Then I read her account of the exam and not passing, and I started to get hot and shaky. She retook the whole thing and wrote about that too, which of course I read because I'm a sucker for punishment, and again - panic.

I really don't mind retaking dancing and teaching if I need to. I don't imagine I'm going to pass outright first time. It's just that dreaded 50% - this girl taught all the time and got under 50% on the teaching, what hope do I have? The only hope I have is that I can talk, so hopefully I can blunder through if I can explain my way.

I can't afford to take it all again, it's so very expensive and it's taken me over two years to save up just for the exam - I haven't even thought about how I'm going to pay for travel and accommodation (and new legs) yet.

Oh my god. I can't take two whole months of this panic. I've genuinely considered downgrading to the TMRF. What if I injure myself before then? Like, the day before or something?! So much to worry about.

At least I haven't started dreaming about it yet...

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.

66

Sixty-six days to go. This number appeals to me for some reason. It might prove to be the day I actually get revved up and start really working - not just start working, but sustain it all the way through until Glasgow.

The Toronto candidates are waiting for their results, and might hear this week. That kind of inspires my choice of dancing art today:

If I'd painted this (which I didn't, this talented person did), I probably would have called it "Relief". Two rounds over - out of her hands. Nerves conquered. All that's left now is to wait, and perhaps have a hopeful run through of her set. I guess regardless of the result for Toronto candidates, it will be a relief to finally know. TCRG or not, one retake or all. Open a school or open ARF again. One way or the other, it'll be good to know.

So with sixty-six days to go before I even start the exam, let alone sit waiting for results, how am I doing?

The writtens I could, as ever, probably do in my sleep. I think ceili teaching will be ok if I can control my nerves and to be honest, by that point, the worst of it will be over. I'm actually really grateful, thinking about it, for the set-up of the exam. I get to start with my strongest sections and hopefully give myself a confidence boost.

For dancing, I'm almost feeling quietly confident. I know I have good rhythm and I can do a couple of tricks and rhythm sections that will, hopefully, make my steps passable. I still have sets to choreograph, my other sets need tidying, but I'm less negative about this than I have been.

Solo teaching is still a worry. I have no idea what I'll do if they give me an open champ boy and tell me to teach him a hornpipe. Hornpipe is my weakest dance and all the steps I have are very much girls steps. I need to stop panicking about this and ask for help. I do have boys reels options though which I think would be difficult enough for a champ boy. Skater turn, couple of clicks, stamp a bit, done. I guess I'm just kind of assuming that I'll get champ-ish level girls, because most people seem to. I'd die of relief if I was asked to teach a primary reel! Or a light jig!

I'm not under the impression I'll pass first time, but I'm really really hoping that it'll be two sections at most to repeat.

o.m.g.

87

87 days to go.

Continuing on a theme of posting an inspirational picture, I found this today:

There's so much life and colour in it - their legs are a blur, almost spirit-like, and it's interesting that there's not much detail on their faces. They're part of the whole, important but not important. Creating the dance but secondary to the dance itself. I even find the source fascinating - an Irish painter who's lived in Iceland for decades.

Aside from waxing lyrical, the true point of the post is a progress update but of course I wanted to make it less boring :)

Wednesday 15th Aug - calf stretches (sorely needed, literally) and arch exercises. Also scored 99% on a past paper. I do take that with a pinch of salt as of course I'm marking my own work, but I still believe I'll pass this comfortably.

Thursday 16th - Ran through three traditional sets - St Patrick's Day, Blackbird and Job of Journeywork - each time doing them over and over until I'd done them right all the way through. Job was a struggle as parts I could barely remember. I was taught Garden a few months ago but I haven't even thought about it since so that will need some serious revision. I then moved on to modern sets, and ran through the White Blankets and Fiddler Round the Fairy Tree - again until I'd done them right. Blankets was a mystery - there's a dead easy treble-toe-cut sequence that I could do with my eyes closed ordinarily, but it just was not happening. It was almost funny how I couldn't make myself do it! Eventually I got it straight in my head again but that could definitely do with some tidying, and I need to change the end combination as I've used it in another set and I can't have that kind of repetition.

Friday 17th - Swam again, this time 1,000m in about 50 minutes. I also did some stretches and some work with the resistance of the water, like jogging on the spot kicking my bum, making sure toes were pointed and that I was landing turned out. Very tiring - it'll take a while to get back up to full swimming fitness I think - I used to go three times a week but haven't been regularly for well over two years.

Saturday and Sunday - weekends are always difficult, and there's no class at the moment. I made a token gesture of revising music both days, and also made up two slip jig steps which I was very proud of as they're very different to the stuff I'd been thinking up recently, and much more like the kind of slip jig I want to dance. 

That's me up to date. Monday today, so ceili class with a bit of solo practice thrown in as and where I can.

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!