Hi! My goal is to be able to make it to this years Oireachtras..I think itès a little far-fetched, but I'm hoping to do it.My main problem will most likely be not having enough competitors to move up a dance (novice/prizewinner & overs)as well as my hardshoe. I love it, but I am just not that great at it. Im hoping all my years of other dance training can help too. And I'm getting a solo dress soon... Yay!

Anyways, so today, my friend and I both stayed home from school to work on scholarships, and I took the time to do some practicing...as well as my scholarship.Im going to need the money especially since I pick the worst year to start competitive Irish dance, the one before I go to university. I got into University too, so I know that I will have to deal with that for sure! I finally figured out my novice slip jig step and dont know the first step of my treble jig completely. I'm also dealing with shin splints, that are, thank god, not acting up at all as of late. I can't wait for my next feis, hopefully I wont be as nervous as I have been the last few times

Oh and I should probs properly Introduce myself.

I started dancing at age 13 at a non-competitive school, it was one that caters to all types of dance. And it was getting very boring and repetitive so I wanted to quit, but my mom begged me to do one class, so I said at a different school I would. Then I started watching vids of competitions and immediatley knew I wanted to do them. So I am now 17 and have been dancing at my current school for 5 months and am in Novice/Prizewinner thanks to the Blakey Feis (Yipee.) My goal is to be able to go to this years oireachtras, and I have a stack of feis lined up that I want to go to achieve that.
Van Eire Feis
Pacific Northwest Champs
Penk O'Donell Feis
Victoria Feis
(I Wanted To Go To the Oregon One In june)
Beautiful BC Feis
Dance For Life
Boise Feis-Maybe
Oregon Feis-Maybe
De Dannan
Feile Samhain
So I hope that works out That would be 12 feisanna in one year..gulp
but I dont think I will be making it to all of those. So I will be hoping for good competition numbers and to do the best I can.

So apparently, after the next feis, my class will be learning Job of Journeywork. I am actually excited to do a more difficult traditional set, and J.O.J. looks pretty fun, and I like the music. I mean I like St.Patricks Day, but it will be good to learn something new.Does anybody else do Job of Journeywork as their traditional set, or know the dance?

I practiced a total of maybe 30 minutes this weekend, and my shins hurt. not a good sign. They are not excruciating like they were the first time the shin splints popped up, but even having the smallest amount of pain feels like a setback.

My competition numbers are annoying me beyond belief. Out of 2 feisanna i'm going to in the next little while, only one dance has enough people for the win to count, if I do win. Even then, somebody could not show up, or drop out. I really hope they combine the competitions because it will really suck if they don't. If the competitions don't have enough people, then in my opinion why am I wasting my day killing my shins when it's not even going to help me advance in my dances. maybe that sounds a little harsh, but I think it is silly if there is a competition of the age under you with 4 people, and then you stuck in a competition on your own. It would be better for everybody if they were combined. I will see if the numbers improve.

As well, I'm not sure what to do about my solo dress....

there is the option of buying a cheap older style one for until I get into champs...


www.dance-again.com . . .

which is 600 bucks,

or spending around 1200 for a new one that would by my custom design and a newer style.

Or I could wait untill I get into championships to buy a custom dress?

But then there is the possibility I may never get to championships, seeing as my body is already not holding up very well..so I'm kind of conflicted on this.



Or spendin

It must be incredibly frustrating not to have enough dancers in your competitions. Is this something you can talk to your teacher about? It doesn't seem very fair for you to have to keep feising and have any wins not count for moving up. Perhaps the TC would make an exception and let you move up, at least to all-Prizewinner.
Congratulations on the university acceptance, and good luck with your scholarship applications. My dd is in the midst of receiving college acceptances too and starting scholarship apps. It's an exciting year!

It is exciting, and a year of change for sure! If the competition numbers still looks horrible in the next few feisanna, I may ask her about it, especially in my softshoe because I'm good with softshoe technique, or she might even decide the move me up if the numbers are still very bad. Hope more people enter soon though.

I hope your TC lets you move up. My dd spent years and years in Novice, but once she made it to full Prizewinner it only took her 7 months to qualify for Prelim. She says for some reason Prizewinner is easier than Novice. Good luck!

if your shins are really a problem please make sure you are properly warming up and STRETCHING your calf muscles constantly. Also walk around on your heels with your toes up-if that is too difficult then sit in a chair and keep your heels on the ground and push your toes up. Also-go to the bioskins website and check out the compression sleeve for shin splints-they worked wonders for my dd.
Check out dress 1824b on dance again-I would sell this for 750 (firm) plus shipping.

My adive would be to get a used dress to take you into prelims-then get a custom-its nice to get that bump up in look when you get into champs-also, the styles change SO fast that something completely different will be in style even 9 months from now. The one element that will remain in style is a dropped waist-so, if you end up buying used make sure it has a dropped waist -and I would try for a multipanel and/or soft skirt

Good luck and remember to stretch (and I would talk to your tc if you go to two/three more feises without there being move up numbers)

I never had enough people in the grades to move up either! It's very, very frusterating.

All I can say is keeping working hard and doing your best, your teacher will notice and at her discresion, she can move you up.

Yup I guess its because most people start earlier. When I went to a feis out of town there was a 14 & 0ver novice category with 8-9 people in it , which is how I moved my light jig up, and that was nice, but where I live, thats not the case.

I practiced my 2nd step of slip jig today and desperately tried to work on my treble jig..its ugly..I am just not the best at hardshoe. Shins hurt of course...they really irriate me at times. I have a semi-private lesson tommorow so hopefully I can get my treble jig finished and learned and figure out the direction for the SJ leadaround.

I have decided that I should probably change my diary title to prizewinner ambitions because with my injuries and sucky comp. numbers, it is highly unlikely that I could make it to this years oireachtas, and do well at least. I think I'd rather aim for the next years.

I Am Very Happy Because The PNW Feis Has Good Numbers

Novice Reel-7 People
Prizewinner L.Jig-7 People
Novice Slip Jig- 6 People
Novice Single Jig-5 People
Novice Treble Jig-5 People
Novice Trad Set- 4 People 1 More Join PLEASE!!!!


As well, for goals I would like to get my:

-Single jig into prizewinner
-Either slip jig or reel into prizewinner
-Treble Jig or Traditional Set into prizewinner

Hopefully by the end of the 4 feisanna I entered in during feb/march/april

And for practice...today and practiced my slip jig (I dont get the timing for the first part of the second step)
and my awful sounding treble jig..which is not improving so nicely, so I wonder if I will even be able to do it at the upcoming feisanna.

Um Well, Van Eire Feis Should Be Interesting.......

They moved it to Novice 12&0 so the numbers are...

Reel -17 People (I have never competed against that many people)
Single Jig-12 People
Slip Jig-13 People
Treble Jig-11 People
Trad. Set-10 People

On the bright side though, my softshoe techinique could be better than a 12 year olds,so that is good in my favour. I could be competing against younger girls from my class though, so I feel bad for them if I beat them because the age thing isn't totally fair, but it saves me from having to compete alone. The numbers are motivating me to practice

And they moved the Nov/Pzw reel trophy from 12 & 0 to 15&0, so there is only 15 Competitors (Yay)instead of 40. So I hope for the best.

I can see nobody is reading this.. Oh well, i like venting anyways.
I am hating St. Patricks day, i cnat get the rhythm right, like the 4 slow trebles at the beggining are hard. i wish I could just fake it...with quick easy trebles..ugh

According to the count that shows on the wall, 297 people have looked at this thread! They're reading; they're just not posting. It's great that there are enough dancers in your comps for PNW. Good luck! I hope you get those firsts! As for Novice 12 & Over, you have every right to be there, and if it happens that you outplace the younger dancers, don't feel bad. Their turn will come. We have a friend who is 21 and in Novice. She started dance late. She has to compete against 12 year olds sometimes too. Good luck at the feis! Let us know how it goes!

I'm reading I just don't comment as often as I should...

I know the age thing can be a little weird, but try not to get too caught up in it. I competed 11&O at the age of 21... I never came up against any negativity, at least to my face, about being so "old" and competing against the kids. Don't feel bad about winning either. Everybody is dancing at the same level, so theoretically, age shouldn't matter too much. I found that the age groups got older the higher I went in level, so you have that to look forward to.

Good luck with your practicing!

Thanks for the support..yeah I like comments, I was just very annoyed with St. Pats a while ago and taking it out on the readers.

So, for the feis :

Reel should be good once I get my new shoes that WILL stay on my feet, I fixed the second step so it is more in front of the judge (17 Competitors) Dunno how I will do.

Light Jig -LJ is in prizewinner and If I place I'd be happy if not I don't really care because I'm more interested in getting the novice dances into prizewinner

Single Jig-I want to move this into prizewinner very badly because it's such an easy dance

Slip Jig......Uhhhh well I don't know it very well but I'm going to do it anyways and see how I do, if I don't place I would not be suprised

Treble Jig-I have been practicing this like mad but my sound still sucks, don't expect to place or anything like that

Trad Set-I have been having issues with St Pats and I'll probs freak out and do it the way my tc told me NOT to do it..so that's a bit iffy...

And I feel like the walking wounded.
My right shin is acting up
my left knee is acting up
I somehow pulled my right front upper thigh
and I pushed my splits too far last night at stretch & strength so my left hip feels out of place...seriously what could be next? (Knock on wood)

So much for me hating St.Patricks Day. I performed it for the first time in Novice, and won it. I also got to compete for the Novice Traditional Set Perpetual Trophy and won it, even though it was against younger kids, I feel happy. I also won 2nd in my prizewinner light jig, and 4th in my novice treble jig, which I was competing for the first time. I reached my goal, which was to get another dance into Prizewinner, so I am happy. I didn't get any reel/treble jig trophies, but I got a huge perpetual with an Irish dancer on it, so I am happy

Sounds like you had a good day at Van Eire! Congrats on winning twice with your St. Pat's! Good luck next weekend at the PNW feis

Thanks! Hopefully that will go well too.

So now my goals are to get one of the core dances into prizewinner, and that has to be reel, slip jig, or treble jig, because I dont know my novice hornpipe yet. As well, I would really like to get that pesky single jig into prizewinner. I'm not bad at the single jig, and I like it, but the two times in Novice, I haven't been placed.In January I was dealing with horribly painful shin splints and single jig was the last dance I did , so I was ready to die by the time I was dancing it, so I figured that was why. Then, this feis, I had the same judge who judged the slip jig when my shoe started to fall off...oops( I returned the shoes and got a credit, so now I get to buy some cool tops and shorts), so maybe he just disqualified me from the ones he was judging...or maybe I just suck at the single jig and don't know it... Anyways, when I was walking out the door with my big trophy, he said congratulations. Well hah to him!

I would really prefer to get the slip jig into prizewinner because I already do the prizewinner steps in novice, and it would require learning no new steps, where as my reel would.

I am better at slip jig, but my timing is a little bit iffy, so I will see how it goes this weekend (Im hoping on slip jig or treble jig) because I only have 7 and 6 people in the competition including myself, so it would be easier to win.

Hopefully... off to dance class now