Cork Traditional Sets

Really interesting. With the exception of Garden of Daisies, which is similar to the version I know but performed differently, not many of these set dances are anything like the ones I know. I've seen many different variations over the years but I've never seen some of these. St Patrick's Day in particular. I genuinely didn't even know there was more than one version of the 'Lion's Claw' step.

Performed by dancers from the McTeggart school after a workshop with Maureen McTeggart-Hall, ADCRG.

Achievement unlocked:

All heavy shoes dances and steps completed. 

Level up: Reels and slip jigs.

Stop it.

Stop being negative. Stop letting yourself get overwhelmed. Yes, you've got a lot of work to do. But you've done far more work already. You've done more than there is left to do, you know that. Don't waste it. Get it passed and deal with everything else afterwards. Dancing's not going anywhere whether you like it or not - it's there when you're stressed, ill, tired, anxious...it's the first place you turn any time you feel negative about anything else in life, so don't turn it into a negative. It's the only thing you've ever stuck with, the only thing you understand, the place your mind perpetually wanders. You might just as well do it if you're going to think about it 18 hours of every day anyway. Stop it, you're having this.  You are all over this. You need to do this. It's getting done.

150 days to go

Here's where it becomes real again. 150 days to go, so I thought I'd write a list of what I've done and what I need to do choreography wise. I want every step finalised by the end of August, so that the following 3.5 months can be dedicated to practising and teaching and nothing else.

Solos:

1 reel step and 1 slip jig step decided on.
To do: finalise 2nd step for both, practise everything.

2 hornpipe and 1 jig step decided on.
To do: choreograph 2nd jig step and practise everything.

Sets:

All traditional sets learnt.
To do: Work on King as it's the newest one and I'm not quite there. Practise everything else.

2x hornpipe sets finalised, 1x hornpipe set step finalised.
To do: Finish 3rd hornpipe set - set part to be choreographed. Practise everything.

2x heavy jig sets finalised.
To do: Choreograph 3rd and final heavy jig set. Practise everything.

Teaching:

Most dancing steps suitable for teaching. Beginning and intermediate level steps all sorted. Some boys steps sorted thanks to possible tweaks of girls steps to make them masculine.
To do: Boys reel and boys hornpipe to be choreographed and practised. Teaching to be practised in general.

So to sum up, my choreography to do list looks like:

- 1x girls reel for me/teaching
- 1x boys reel to teach (adaptable for different levels)
- 1x slip jig to finalise
- 1x jig step for me/teaching
- 1x boys hornpipe step (adaptable for different levels)
- 1x hornpipe set set
- 1x full jig set

And my practising to do list looks like:

- EVERYTHING!

To be an example

I think the inspirational images posted in my last message definitely have a place, but I can't help but feel that something personal to each individual is far more motivating than a picture and text specifically designed to try and be inspirational. And recently I found my own personal motivation.

When I'm a TCRG, I'm not just going to be there to make up a few steps and shout a few corrections. I'm responsible for those dancers. It's not just instructing, it's a duty of care. I need to make sure their feet and ankles are strong enough to prevent injury and support them en pointe, I need to help them strengthen their cores safely to give them the lift and hold they need. I need to give them ways to prevent shin splints, I need to know how to spot when someone could be suffering from common disorders and injuries. I'm not just going to be teaching them to do a stag leap - they need to be doing everything safely. I want to train them more like ballet dancers, with each muscle considered and worked upon. Nothing neglected.

So I can't neglect myself. I can't very well insist that they do their calf raises and stretches twice a day if I allow myself to forget to do them. I can't insist on water and bananas in class over crisps and coke, if I'm eating a load of crap at my desk.

I need to inspire them. And the only way to do that is to do everything that they need to do.

So I need to pay more attention to my muscles and my physio exercises. I need to get myself (and keep myself) healthy. I can't be a hypocrite here - I have to motivate myself by remembering that I'll need to motivate them.

Wall of Inspiration

We've set up a wall of inspiration in the office, with pieces of work that inspire us along with the reasons why. I wasn't allowed to put anything dance-related on there unfortunately so I'll post them here instead. All images picked from tumblr, where I have recently become a lurker.

1)

When I got my results, I DID want to give up. Admittedly I'd misunderstood the results and thought I had to retake the entire exam, but in the first flush of disappointment I didn't want to go again. I didn't want to feel that disappointment twice. Then I realised if I didn't try again, I'd just feel that disappointment for the rest of my life. So I'm carrying on.

2)

I have come miles. When I started I'd never choreographed a single set dance, let alone 9. I'd never choreographed a hornpipe! I couldn't do half the moves I can do now. Needless to say, I didn't know a single ceili in full. I didn't know a single traditional set dance. Now I know 30 ceilis inside out, and I know 6.5 traditional set dances. I have come a long, long way.

3)

Well, I don't hate every minute of training. I actually don't hate that many minutes of dance training. I hate cross-training, every second of it let alone every minute, and I hate every second of nerves leading up to these exams. I was a wreck. But I still passed two of them, and got within a whisker of passing the others. Suffer now and live the rest of my life as a TCRG.

4)

I am terrible for this. Obviously the image itself is about running so it probably means weather conditions, but I do wait for things to be perfect before I put my mind to practising or cross-training. I need to have had a good, productive and unstressful day at work. I need to have eaten well. I need to have had enough sleep and drunk enough water. I need this, I need that. The right socks even. Instead I just need to get up and do it because I know how much better I feel when I have.

5)

And this one. This is huge. It pretty much is a miracle that I actually set out on this journey after years of thinking I could never do it, that I wouldn't be able to learn everything, that I could never improve my dancing, that I could never lilt or even remember a single tune, that I'd never remember that little blue book. And when I did finally decide to do it, I had no support whatsoever. No teacher, no mentor. I've picked those up along the way, once I'd already had the courage to start. So when I do get my four letters, it won't be a miracle that I passed. The miracle's already happened.

Time

I just can't fit it all in. I can't keep up with a demanding job where I'm frequently doing overtime, trying to stay fit for this exam, and actually prepare for the exam all at once. I feel sick with the amount of stuff I've got going on from work, personal admin, TCRG, a life...

There is just no time. This weekend I stopped, put my laptop away, and did some revision and dancing. Work will keep. Then I come into work and have loads more dished out, it never ends. It's six months away I know, but it's June already. I took the last one eight months ago, eight! That's flown by, so will the next six.

So rant out of the way and trying to keep stress to a minimum -

I've become quite acceptable at lilting. This is a good way to feel like I'm doing something towards the exam as it requires no equipment and can be done at the same time as something else, like showering. I honestly recommend lilting ceilis and traditional sets in the shower.

I've made up another hornpipe step as I didn't think the ones I had would cut it now that the solo section specifies 'advanced' material. This, plus the one I made up the other week, are much better. And very me! I do think I'm developing some sort of style.

And the five ceilis that I had to write out, I did fine. I didn't write them out book-style, just making sure I had all the details correct for teaching, and that was fine.

So for this fortnight (I just don't have time to do 5 goals in one week):

1 - Dance 4 times and work out besides.
2 - Continue ceili lilting.
3 - Continue trad set lilting.
4 -  A new heavy jig set - undecided which yet.
5 - Write out 5 further ceilis: 16 Hand Reel, Rince Fada, Antrim Reel, Trip to the Cottage, Bonfire Dance.

But in the meantime I'm probably going to go and cry in a corner or something.

My dancing week

My week looks like this:

• Go to dancing on Monday (done) and have another practice in the week as well.
• Lilt all the ceili tunes out loud without prompting, and start trying to say the steps at the same time as singing. (started, Humours)
• Practise lilting the trad set tunes in case I need to teach them
• Work on hornpipe set dances (I've already made up a cracking little solo step) - decide what's staying and going and come up with fixes if needed.
• Pick five ceilis at random to write out without the book (having a friend pick them for me)

I've got the rest of the week plus the long weekend. Do-able!

Edit to add the five ceilis picked by my pal:

1. Harvest-Time Jig
2. St Patricks Day
3. An Rince Mor
4. Waves of Tory
5. Gates of Derry

Three Sea Captains

I uploaded some grabs of the Olive dvd for the TCRG Voy Board so I thought I'd post them here too. I think this one could be my favourite:





I'd seriously recommend buying these DVDs. I got mine from Antonio Pacelli - along with the ceili DVDs, these have been a lifesaver.

Hornpipes. Help.

I think the only thing I'm really concentrating on at the moment is the hornpipe. The blasted hornpipe.

In my first life as a competitive dancer, I'd been working my way through the grades with jig for months before we started working on a hornpipe. I remember going to one feis with a knee injury and just wanting to get it out of the way, so I only danced the primary 'pipe and trophy, for the first time, and won both. Can't remember the steps. I think that was my last feis in Life One.

In Life Two I learnt a hornpipe for grades, then started competing in open and was jig/hornpipe set. Can't remember any of those steps. I then had a second hornpipe set when I progressed a little - can remember a few of the combinations from it, but not enough that I'd be able to dance it.

I'd NEVER choreographed hornpipe before attempting the TCRG exam.

I have NO repertoire when it comes to hornpipes at all. I have no back catalogue of steps to draw on, no little treble combinations that you can slip in here and there to up the difficulty or change the rhythm like I do in the jig.

Hornpipe is my nemesis dance. I love watching it, but when it comes to choreographing something more difficult than prelim level I just strop and think this music is not suitable for Irish dancing!!!

I'm trying SO hard on this. I've done so much choreography over the last few days, only to realise it just doesn't work in practice like it does in my head. I've made a few breakthroughs by learning a few of the aforementioned combinations, but when choreographing I just can't break out from my bitty style - nothing flows. It's like here's this combination, then I'll stamp or pause, now here's another combination, stamp, here's another, stamp, clicky sequence, stamp, done. It needs to come together more cohesively.

Anybody got any inspiring hornpipe videos from YouTube they can share? Sets, steps, step-abouts, any level. Give me ALL the hornpipes!