Double Feis Frenzy Day One: The O'Rourke Feis
IT'S A DOUBLE FEIS FRENZY!
Honestly, I'm still not sure if I think it's a good idea or not.
Pros
-You get all your competitions for the month done in one weekend.
-You can fix whatever went wrong the previous day.
-Double the opportunities for trophies/medals and advancing.
Cons:
-You are exhausted
-You might dance against the same people
-Good luck doing anything else this weekend
Today went pretty well despite it not being a perfect situation. I'm coming to the conclusion that there is no perfect situation in Irish Dance. That's why you prepare in class and at home and you try to be as confident as possible on the big day. There will always be "something" to mess with you. You have to try to get around it. I find myself telling a young classmate this often and apparently I need to hear the words myself sometimes.
Hair and make up went well, I'm sure that doing it four times in the last two months has certainly helped me get a handle on it. I was out the door ahead of schedule. I had a protein shake and really wasn't hungry all day. I used the directions that the feis put on their website so when the GPS told me I was at my destination and I was in a residential neighborhood, I tried not to panic. This is why I'm a spaz and leave for competitions well before I need to be there so that I don't have a panic moment. I finally got on track and made my way to the campus. Found a place to park and made my way inside.
The Venue was beautiful. It was in a performing arts center at a college and honestly, I felt like I was at Worlds. (Not that I would know haha) A sea of vendors, food, a huge podium, multiple floors, etc. However I was once again had the problem of there being NO WHERE to put things down without people camping out around you and taking over. There was NO where to warm up. I ran my treble jig in the stair well and that was it. I think the hardest thing about today was that there was no food allowed in the fancy auditorium and I didn't bring cash so add that to the my one water bottle and a noisy crowded room where there was no choice but to have to walk down to either end and ask people to move, I had a huge headache. Speaking of headaches, walking in your hard shoes across those rows was borderline dangerous. It was so slippery I felt like I was ice skating. But I digress.
I did my advanced beginner dances first, I won my treble Jig and got a 2nd in Hornpipe. I seriously hope that my new TJ becomes just as solid as this one because right now it's probably my weakest dance. This was after I got to hang out with some of my friends that I met through adult competitions and CRC. We took a bunch of pictures even though I was insisting that I don't belong in the big group shot anymore. Seriously whatever conceptions people have about dancers being catty, I have not met it yet (fingers crossed that I never do). Even girls in my Novice competitions are chatty and friendly.
In novice we danced 3 at a time and I didn't collide with anyone or have a major issue so that was a win right there. I also had this really horrible time with reel last night to the point where I was almost crying and shouting. I was mixing up light jig skip 2,3's and reel ones. I kept on getting on the wrong foot, I almost rolled my ankle, twice. So of all the dances to place in, I was pretty surprised to see that one up there, I ended up getting third. I felt pretty solid on Light Jig and Slip Jig and my set no major issues. I got 4ths in all of them, one away from placing and it sounds like the judge didn't like that my heels hit the ground sometimes...Work in progress that's for sure. Hopefully those will go better tomorrow because I will be thinking about it.
All in all I cant complain with how my first feis with all my soft shoe in Novice went. As much as I wanted to dominate right out of the gate like I did in Advanced beginner, sometimes its necessary to get a slap of reality telling you "You're doing well, but you still need to work harder. Hopefully now that I'm getting comfortable with these harder steps and dancing them in competitions that I can focus on the little things and not what happens next. That and I need to pack more water and food, or money to buy food.
Finally made another dance friend through social media! Yay! Tumblr is a magical thing. Great way to meet other dancers!
To doing it all over again tomorrow,
Kay
Honestly, I'm still not sure if I think it's a good idea or not.
Pros
-You get all your competitions for the month done in one weekend.
-You can fix whatever went wrong the previous day.
-Double the opportunities for trophies/medals and advancing.
Cons:
-You are exhausted
-You might dance against the same people
-Good luck doing anything else this weekend
Today went pretty well despite it not being a perfect situation. I'm coming to the conclusion that there is no perfect situation in Irish Dance. That's why you prepare in class and at home and you try to be as confident as possible on the big day. There will always be "something" to mess with you. You have to try to get around it. I find myself telling a young classmate this often and apparently I need to hear the words myself sometimes.
Hair and make up went well, I'm sure that doing it four times in the last two months has certainly helped me get a handle on it. I was out the door ahead of schedule. I had a protein shake and really wasn't hungry all day. I used the directions that the feis put on their website so when the GPS told me I was at my destination and I was in a residential neighborhood, I tried not to panic. This is why I'm a spaz and leave for competitions well before I need to be there so that I don't have a panic moment. I finally got on track and made my way to the campus. Found a place to park and made my way inside.
The Venue was beautiful. It was in a performing arts center at a college and honestly, I felt like I was at Worlds. (Not that I would know haha) A sea of vendors, food, a huge podium, multiple floors, etc. However I was once again had the problem of there being NO WHERE to put things down without people camping out around you and taking over. There was NO where to warm up. I ran my treble jig in the stair well and that was it. I think the hardest thing about today was that there was no food allowed in the fancy auditorium and I didn't bring cash so add that to the my one water bottle and a noisy crowded room where there was no choice but to have to walk down to either end and ask people to move, I had a huge headache. Speaking of headaches, walking in your hard shoes across those rows was borderline dangerous. It was so slippery I felt like I was ice skating. But I digress.
I did my advanced beginner dances first, I won my treble Jig and got a 2nd in Hornpipe. I seriously hope that my new TJ becomes just as solid as this one because right now it's probably my weakest dance. This was after I got to hang out with some of my friends that I met through adult competitions and CRC. We took a bunch of pictures even though I was insisting that I don't belong in the big group shot anymore. Seriously whatever conceptions people have about dancers being catty, I have not met it yet (fingers crossed that I never do). Even girls in my Novice competitions are chatty and friendly.
In novice we danced 3 at a time and I didn't collide with anyone or have a major issue so that was a win right there. I also had this really horrible time with reel last night to the point where I was almost crying and shouting. I was mixing up light jig skip 2,3's and reel ones. I kept on getting on the wrong foot, I almost rolled my ankle, twice. So of all the dances to place in, I was pretty surprised to see that one up there, I ended up getting third. I felt pretty solid on Light Jig and Slip Jig and my set no major issues. I got 4ths in all of them, one away from placing and it sounds like the judge didn't like that my heels hit the ground sometimes...Work in progress that's for sure. Hopefully those will go better tomorrow because I will be thinking about it.
All in all I cant complain with how my first feis with all my soft shoe in Novice went. As much as I wanted to dominate right out of the gate like I did in Advanced beginner, sometimes its necessary to get a slap of reality telling you "You're doing well, but you still need to work harder. Hopefully now that I'm getting comfortable with these harder steps and dancing them in competitions that I can focus on the little things and not what happens next. That and I need to pack more water and food, or money to buy food.
Finally made another dance friend through social media! Yay! Tumblr is a magical thing. Great way to meet other dancers!
To doing it all over again tomorrow,
Kay
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