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!

Congratulations Nina!

If you follow this blog you might just find something interesting over at After the 40 Bar Finish. Nina's blog isn't just about the TCRG so it's much more interesting than mine, with pretty pictures too! The reason for posting this is that Nina received the all-important email today and found out she passed her TCRG exam. Congratulations! Nina's teaching partner Mary is the reason I know the set of Job of Journeywork and because I'm nosy I started following their school on Facebook. Big well done to Nina - me next! :)

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 :)

Remembering

Just now, for some reason, I remembered something I'd done four or five years ago. I was at work, at my old job which had a terrific view of a car park from the window, and I was daydreaming about going back to dancing. I'd been out for a while but I still kept up with all the results, still went to the odd feis with friends, still loved it of course. Danced around the house. I thought, maybe I'm too old to be a dancer now. I couldn't afford the dresses and travel now that I'm a grown-up with no support from the parents. I pushed the idea to one side but for the rest of the week, looking out at that car park and daydreaming, a different idea began to form in my mind.

Why couldn't I take the TCRG? Isn't that what I'd always wanted anyway? I knew I'd never be a world champion, but I'd idly fantasised about teaching my own. I decided yes, I'll do it. I remember opening the syllabus on clrg.ie, reading it and making a mental checklist of the huge amount of work I'd have to do. I remember going back to it every 15 minutes throughout the morning, reading and re-reading, until lunchtime when I could furtively print it out. Two copies. I read it again, highlighting one copy with things I knew (green) and things I would still have to learn (pink). My pink highlighter began to look tired. I stacked up all the sheets very neatly and placed them in a file on my desk. I forgot to take the file home. It sat there for a week, maybe two, before I remembered it. With a sigh, I opened the file and put all the papers face-down in my recycling bin. It was too hard. I couldn't do it on my own. Who was I kidding? I would never pass. I would never be a teacher.

I can't think what has caused this memory to push to the surface - out of all the other things I could be remembering, why is it this? Over the years I've held back from doing a lot of things out of fear and lack of confidence. Even recently - with my first solo Saturday class - I was initially terrified. Why? I know what dancing is, I've done it before, I can do it to a fairly competent level, I knew some of the people that were going to be there. Why so scared? I know, I have always known, that it's just the build-up that frightens me. The actual event itself, not so bad. My first solo class was great, even though I was dying after the warm-up and breathing out every available orifice. But this is a different one. I'm actually fairly sure I wouldn't have passed the TCRG if I'd've attempted it five years ago.

No big events really happened in between printing out all those papers, and then actually beginning my study for real in April 2010 (that long ago?!). No major life-changing occurences, no epiphanies, no angels visiting me in the night. But there definitely has been a gradual change in me, with the love for dancing remaining the constant. I'm more patient, both with others and myself. Now, I can explain the rising step fourteen different ways to try and help a dancer get it. Then, I'm sure I would have got us both frustrated. I'm more personable. I'm sure this is a confidence issue, but I now have the capability to be encouraging, even warm and friendly as opposed to polite and shy. Those are personal things that will make me a better teacher.

I watch and appraise dancing more analytically now. For example I never struggled with timing myself, but I never really noticed when someone was just slightly off time, but I can now. I can not only spot little faults in dancers, but can actually come up with reasons why they're doing it, and fixes for it. I'm sure before I would have noticed something wrong, but short of saying 'work on posture' or 'practice crossing' I'm not sure I could have offered a dancer more guidance. Now I can say, if you do x, you'll correct y. You only do x when you're doing y, so let's look at y. Too much algebra there I'm sure, but I am starting to think I can do it, and do it reasonably well.

So in a way, I'm glad that I put all those papers face-down in my recycling bin. I wasn't up to the job then, and I feel like I'm getting close to it now.

I HAVE A SET!

Yes ladies and gentlemen...I have a whole set dance. Choreographed by my own fair hands to boot. I'm really pleased with myself but so, so annoyed with myself too. Why didn't I do this months ago? I was constantly making excuses when really there was no reason not to. I could have completed all of them and had nearly a year to practise them all, couldn't I? Well, something's changed. I actually have a teacher now, a great teacher who encourages me. Who really wants me to do the TCRG exam. Who I don't want to let down. Who I want to impress if at all possible!

I haven't practised my White Blankets a whole lot - and sadly class was cancelled today due to the weather. That does give me a bit more time until I brave Teach and show her. I've put bits into it that I can't yet do either - there's a treble and toe combination that I can do on the left foot in jig timing, but not yet on either foot in hornpipe timing (although I know it works as I've seen people do it). But I'm playing it safe 99% of the time, so throwing a bit of difficulty in there isn't going to kill me.

So - next. I have a jig step which is dead easy, probably too easy to dance in the solo section. But, I can use it as a step for a jig set, maybe tart it up a little bit in places, and then go mad and choreograph a jig set. I'm going for Fiddler Round the Fairy Tree - love the tune, struggle to recognise it in music quizzes sometimes, love the length. 8/12/28. I've literally just thought up the first two bars as well. Ten to go!

I'm also going to resurrect some ceili revision - three dances at a time, written out without the book and then marked. I'm going to start with Book 3 just to keep it interesting.

So no more being annoyed at myself for stalling for so long as that won't accomplish anything - just get on with it. On we go.

I have a step.

No shit. Honestly, I've made up a step. It actually goes with the music as well, so long as I really rush that treble in after the over-and-down. Six whole bars! I could even do one of the simple treble combos while rotating to make it look fancier, ha. So a further 12 bars of genius required for the set before the week is out. This'll be easier though, I plan to use up the first 2 bars on a rock sequence and I can do a lot of stuff on one foot only, so filling sets is much more manageable when I don't have to backtrack due to realising I can't do said movement on left foot.

I've also realised that I when I top up my savings account this week, I'll actually have half of the exam fee. So I can apply. I. can. apply. Oooooooh dear lordy.

I just need someone to believe in me and look how quickly I can come on.

This week's challenge

Note to self.

Make up a set dance. Stop stalling and pretending you can't because you haven't danced in ages - just make one up. You might end up scrapping it when you get better at choreography but for now, just make one up. Make it hard for yourself by choosing a hornpipe set, but make it easy by choosing a shortie. The White Blankets, there you go. Do that one. By Saturday class, you will have a hornpipe set that you have actually danced rather than just thought through. You might even be brave enough to show your teacher! Do it. Stop looking at hornpipes on YouTube and stop blogging about it and just do it.

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.