Things to be Happy About
This is going to be a long one as I have tried to post several times about dance related stuff and my life is literally insane. So bear with me!
The other awesome thing is that my husband and I were APPROVED for our mortgage! So barring some septic repairs, we will closing and moving in the middle of October. I’m excited for many reasons, but especially because I will have ALL THE ROOM I NEED TO PRACTICE! So stay tuned for that!
Okay, now back to the dance updates and musings…
The reason I’ve wanted to post for a while was that someone posted a picture to the adult dancer Facebook page that reminded me of the Destiny’s Child song “Independent Woman”. It said “I work hard, I pay my bills, I maintain myself, when you see me know that it’s all me. I’m not funded, I do the funding.” Seeing as how I’ve written two posts about how I feel when some people’s lack of support frustrates me, this really rang true to me. 95% of the time, I’m the one that fund’s my dance journey. I pay tuition, I buy shoes, costumes, pay for feis fees. You name it. Besides my floor (which I paid for almost all the materials) and RIVERDANCE (more on that later!) No one has given me a penny towards dance. I mean I’m working a second job to pay for all my extra dance things so that it’s that much easier to pay our mortgage. While I’m not happy about slicing cheese twice a week, I would do whatever I have to do to pay for dance. I’ll sacrifice; work 14 hour days if it means that I’ll dance at Worlds someday. Call me ambitious, insane...I don’t care.
But as much as I’m like “YAH I’M EMPOWERED! NO ONE TELLS ME HOW TO LIVE MY DANCING LIFE! (It’s also nine o’clock after dancing three days this week, working at both jobs and preparing for my trip to the west coast) I do still feel like there are people in my life that make me feel blessed. It makes up for a certain man I made vows with and his mom, but I digress...I know I’ve said this before, but my parents are so wonderful. This past weekend they helped me do the measurements for my new dress. Like they taped me in all the proper places, my mom measured and my dad took pictures. They let me use my floor in their backyard. My mom is going to Riverdance with me in May! While I don’t expect them to go to every feis once my ban is lifted, I know I probably have a better chance of seeing them more than I will see JB (in his defense...he works most weekends.) at one. They are encouraging. They are proud of me. It certainly helps keep me motivated.
Segwaying into counting blessings, I feel like I’ve said this so much but I’m so happy I transferred! I’M NOT IN ANYWAY SUGGESTING THAT MY OLD TEACHER WAS BAD but I have a much better rapport with my current TC. She gives constructive corrections, she gets me to think about things in different ways if I’m struggling to get something. She’s encouraging, she praises you and she rewards you for your hard work. I’m not bragging or anything, but I’ve been her student for almost four months. 2 of those were in the summer. Not only do I have 5 Advanced Beginner Dances. I have 3 Novice ones and a new set dance too. I’m starting to learn drills for slow tempo hard shoe. That’s right...me, the person that never thought she’d ever get to dance a challenging treble jig or hornpipe in her life. I was able to piece together the first half of a slow treble jig step. The biggest shock: Clicks. Though they don’t always hit every single time. I am able to do low (slow) clicks. I am able to do an over and it looks and sometimes feels like I’m flying. If this is what she can get out of me in 4 months I get emotional at what I’ll be like by the time my ban is over, or by my birthday. If that isn’t motivation I don’t know what is.
I truly feel like I’ve found my niche. Not that I wasn’t excited about class at my old school but I feel like part of a little family. The girls in my classes talk to me, their little siblings talk to me, the champ girls talk to me, the mom’s talk to me, my TC’s fiance talks to me. I’ve danced in three performances now and it’s so nice to feel included. We’re going to Riverdance as a school in May, I’m going to the Torrington Feis just to hang out and help out. Sometimes I’m so happy and invested that I almost forget that I’m 26, and that I have a “big girl” job.
So what I’m trying to sum up is that while I’m proud of where I’ve come in such a short time and a lot of it is due to my time, money and dedication, it’s so wonderful to have a support system that helps me thrive and lets me do what I absolutely love. Now if we can just my husband on board...that would be great.
Since this has become a novel, I’ll do my updates in bullet list format:
-I’m anxiously awaiting the syllabus for the O’Shea Chaplin Christmas Feis. I will be competing this one as an advanced beginner.
-Had a talk with my TC today, I’ll be switching completely to Novice/Prizewinner classes after Christmas. Not sure about when I will be competing as a novice yet. I guess we are going to wait and see how December 14th goes. (My plan is to work my ass off so I am confident and make no mistakes!)
-I preemptively made up a dance class today for when I will be away next week. It was with my future class and I thought it went really well.
-I now know novice steps for Light Jig, Reel, and Slip Jig! Looking forward to officially starting Novice Hard Shoe (as I mentioned earlier, I’ve been doing drills with them in class and attempting to pick things up)
-I danced at a farmer’s market last weekend and it went much better than the week before. No more performances until at least October 18th.
Okay, now that I’ve purged my brain, it’s time to get some sleep. I probably won’t post (maybe photo challenge if I have time this weekend) anything long like this until I get back from Seattle.
Kay
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