Looking Back: New England Oireachtas

Since today is the eve of the 2021 New England Oireachtas, and since I’m a little over two weeks out from taking class again, I thought I would reminisce on my experience.

Sometimes I miss this dress, but it was SO heavy.

I’m going to be frank with you, there were parts of competing at a major (Are the Oireachtas a major? Perhaps qualifier is the better word) that were awesome, and there were parts that I do not miss.

I did traditional set when I competed in 2016 and 2017. When I went in 2016, it was planned and I did Jockey to the Fair. I ended up not recalling, but it was the first time I wore a solo dress and I felt really pretty and I came 6th out of 8 dancers. In 2017 we had originally planned on me doing solos until we found out that I wasn’t qualified properly. It wasn’t exactly last minute, but I had learned a set, and everything I needed for solos, only to have to learn Three Sea Captains for Trad Set instead. I made a mistake when it was my turn to dance and came in last. In 2018 I decided I would prefer to focus on getting out of the grades (I think it was working) and in 2019 I had a newborn and was convinced my dance career was over.

There is something kind of magical about being at the Oireachtas. You are in this enclosed in this little world where everyone has the same interests as you and the same goals. The vendors are like what you see at normal competition, but ten fold. It was always a great weekend with my mother and my dance family, and it was hard not to get hyped when people would qualify for nationals, worlds, place in the top five, etc. One year, my mom and I got upgraded to the Presidential Suite of the hotel we were staying at in 2016 and we got to wear fuzzy robes while I stoned my dress. In 2017 I vlogged a lot of the competition for my dance school. I ate at fun restaurants and enjoyed talking with the girls in my competition. It was like a huge social event, I had friends come watch me and everywhere I went there were girls I knew coming up for hugs. I miss the camaraderie and I’m looking forward to coming back to it once I'm competing again.

That being said, I really think the Oireachtas, especially in 2017, did a number on my mental health. The majority of it was my fault, I think I had these delusions that because there were only a few dancers in my age group, that a recall would be a given and when it didn’t happen I was so disappointed. In 2017 I was struggling with only dancing for myself one day a week and I think the whole having to change from solos back to tradset had shaken my confidence as well because I spent the summer learning a contemporary set. Getting last was definitely the lowest point in my dancing career. I was a hot mess that fall. It’s in the past now and I feel like I’ve learned a lot now that I’m on the other side.

Now that I’m coming back...will I ever do the Oireachtas again? Probably. Can I let myself become the anxious, self sabotaging person that I became last time? Absolutely not! Seniors ladies is HARD. I’m probably not going to ever recall. I think knowing that will set me up to just enjoy the day and not get hung up about results. 

Let’s remind me of this when I start learning steps/start competing,

Good luck to those of you who are competing in the next few weeks,

Kay