Summer Camp Extravaganza Part 2: "I suck at dance but I know a lotabout it."

I had originally planned on doing a different twist on my “10 things I learned at a feis” posts that I had done around this time last year, but as I was writing it out I wasn’t crazy about how it was going so I’m going to just write about my camp experience at Camp Rince Ceol!

I am currently feeling a lot of emotions at being able to tell people that I was in the inaugural year for CRC’s Adult Camp and I look back at the week I had. I feel honored, happy, inspired, motivated, as well as overwhelmed, unprepared and of course SORE!

My ankles needed help by the end of the week. The bruise on my shin is actually from my hard shoe at Laurel. Yikes!

Let’s start with the positives. Our little camp consisted of only 25 women and one lovely gentleman. I am convinced that camp will probably double next year as well all had such amazing experiences and we have been talking about it all over social media. We all fit in one sorority house and we were able to enjoy meals at a few tables in the dining hall and socialize after classes in our big living room with ease. We had small classes and plenty of attention with our three amazing instructors (more on them later). The directors; Sheila and Tony were so welcoming and I feel so lucky that they gave myself and everyone else the opportunity to come to Union College and learn. They also had beautiful, polite children that I wanted to adopt. :)

We had three instructors, all whom had been in Riverdance or Lord of the Dance. They were insanely talented and so knowledgably. They were also so patient and helpful as we were all a variety of levels and by Tuesday were all complaining about how sore our bodies were and they weren’t getting mad at us. David and Aisling were married and were seriously one of the cutest couples I have met. Meghan (Who is from CT!) was the instructor that I spent the most time with and she really helped me work on turnout and getting higher on my toes. Being around all three of them was so inspiring, not only were they great performers and teachers, but they also told us time and time again that it’s never too late to be in a show or get to the world's someday. This made me feel so full of joy because there are people in my life that think that dance needs to end for me in the near future, so I’m glad to know there are people out there refusing to sit down. I met other people who had dropped down with great success, women who had young children but it wasn’t stopping them from dancing and a few ladies who had just the day before danced at NANs and recalled. Talk about inspiring and motivating!

We had so many classes to pick from. Not only were there three levels of soft shoe and hard shoe classes, but there was also ballet and yoga, pool and gym time if we wanted (I elected to rest my legs and read a book) There were also bonus classes that worked on fixing turnout, that taught us treble reels and other fun things. We also got to watch Lord of the Dance one day which had two of my instructors in it (and I’m trying to find so I can watch again but it’s NOT working out!) Two of the coolest things we did were go out to an Irish Pub with live musicians where we all had a great time and danced, and we also performed in a mini showcase where I got to be superman and try to save a girl who fell during her slip jig. “Michael Flatley” made an appearance, it was really fun. But I’m just like my old dancing self who refuses to watch the video because I think I look bad. Haha.

Since I’m sure you are wondering why I listed overwhelmed and underprepared. Well I guess I was expecting a wider variety of dancers but...I was definitely the least experienced person at camp. Now there always has to be that one person, I get that. It was just a bit intimidating to be in the same bonus class as girls who were at NANs when I myself had only just finished learning steps two weeks prior to camp. Even with all the practicing I did at Laurel, the second step of my horn pipe was pretty rough. Again, I could despair at not being the best dancer there, I jokingly said the phrase that is the tile of this entry at Trivia night but I’m using that feeling of not being the best or even the middle of the pack as some serious motivation. I will not be the same dancer this time next year, and I won’t because I learned so much while at camp. I already feel like those basics will help me become an even better dancer and I hope that this time next year I will be putting Novice or even Prizewinner next to my name when I register for camp.

I’m also looking forward to getting back to practicing as soon as my feet, ankles and shins get back to normal. My feet were so swollen that my hard shoes were pinching my toes and big toe still hurts. The shins were also a bit bothersome towards the end, it’s the jumping that gets me. I have to figure a way to get them to stop hurting. Either way not planning on practicing until at least Tuesday.

I have more dance things to blog about, but since this has already become a lengthy entry I’ll do it another time.

Kay