Confeissions on the Move

Just wanted to let my followers know that my blog "Confeissions of a Feis Mom" is moving from Blogger to Word Press. I will continues to publish posts on both sites for the next month after that time will I discontinue Blogger. If you're interested in following along the blog can be found at http://confeissionsofafeismom.wordpress.com/ Hope to see you there!

Confeissions From Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Greetings from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina where it's 9:30 in the morning and I'm on the balcony of our condo on the beach drinking a Harp - it's 5 o'clock somewhere right? I'm here on a well needed vacation for the week. It's actually not all fun & games though as I'm working on my article on Terry Gillan, Phillip Owens and their new Irish Dance school Gilleoghan for the next issue of Irish Dance Magazine. I've only communicated with Terry so far and he seems like a wonderful guy. In addition to teaching and adjudicating he has done a lot behind the scenes for Irish dance including running the last two World Championships and will do so again when the Worlds return to the United States in 2013 - Boston to be exact. I suppose if I want the article to be good I should lay off the Harp - after the next one.

We left for Myrtle Beach soon after picking up Marina from her overnight dance camp. She had a great experience and is already looking forward to next year. She won the Best Rookie and Best Timing awards and her roommate won Best Dancer. Her group worked on Job of Journeywork, treble jig and reel steps with guest teacher Michael Ryan from Tipperary, Ireland. She had heard a lot about Michael and was nervous working about with him but said he wasn't as bad as his reputation - at least not with the younger group. The older girls I talked to said he was really hard. That's why he's brought over isn't it? To work you and  show you how to practice if you want to be a good dancer and compete well. I tell my daughter that when I was competing I practiced my routines everyday sometimes for an hour - sometimes as many as four hours a day, which seems like nothing if you've seen the movie "Jig". Of course, it was different for me because I was a teenage and she's about to turn nine, at least that's what I tell myself. If I was competitng at her age, and wanted to consistently place well, I would be practicing everyday as well for at leats an hour. Something to think about.......

The other thing they worked on was strength training which was essentially ballet exercises and yoga - both of which I'm a big supporter of from my dancing days. In fact I've finally found a local yoga studio that has year round kids/teens yoga with a concurrent adult class. It's a bit of a drive but if it helps instill a good practice ethic in her and helps me get back into form since I am dancing again, then it's worth it.

Other camp activities included skit night, pizza night, and a camp fire sing along featuring my husband and 2 other men who have yet to figure out a name for themselves. The other two men, one of which is married to our school director, were in a band named Wasted at the Wake and don't want to continue on with that name. One suggestion for the group, which performs traditional and not so traditional Celtic music, is One Brick Short  - which sounds just about right to me.

With those thoughts I will leave you to return to my content for IDM and the surf and sand. Til next time - Slainte!

Confeissions From Overnight Dance Camp

I signed up to volunteer two days at my daughter's week long overnight dance camp this week just to check in and say hello. She was teary and nervous the night before so I thought it would be helpful for me to be there for support. I did get a couple of phone calls the first night from other moms telling they had seen Marina and that she seemed happy and enjoying herself so far. (I love my ID friends!) She was especially happy that mashed potatoes were on the dinner menu - which is one of her favorites and something I haven't made for her in a long time since I've decided potatoes (along with pasta) are the anti-Christ for my waistline and have stopped eating them for awhile. I know, a good Irish-Croatian girl married to an Italian-Irishman giving up potatoes and  pasta? I've lost 17 pounds since I have so it's been worth the sacrifice!

Tuesday  I was at camp for lunch duty and found a bunch of sweaty and tired dancers. They had just come from their morning session with Michael Ryan and were worn out. When Marina saw me she came running with open arms and a big hug. I realized then that she had remembered to put deodorant on - which was a big concern for me! I asked her if she wanted to come home and she said no. She was having fun and learning new steps, mainly Job of Journeywork and she was happy about that. Michael was working them hard and her feet hurt but that was common feeling among all of the dancers I talked to - not just the younger ones. That afternoon they were heading off to strength class and then to the swimming pool. A storm had come through Monday and cooled things off considerably which was good because it was hot as hell when I dropped her off Monday morning. A long hug and a kiss goodbye and she was off with her team. Later I got a call from another friend who volunteered for craft time reporting that she saw Marina and she and her team worked the longest on their craft and now only had 15 minutes to rest up before dancing  but again, she was happy which I knew she would be.

I'm heading back today for "dinner duty" and my husband and his band will be joining the campers for a sing-a-long around the camp fire tonight. I suggested Gaelic Storm's "Drink the Night Away" since Marina used to sing it on her way to Catholic kindergarten but I got shot down.....I miss her and the house is very quiet but I must confeis that with working on my upcoming article for IDM and packing for next week's trip to Myrtle Beach I'm glad she's not here to witness the mayhem! Til next time - Slainte!

Overnight Dance Camp

This morning my husband & I dropped our daughter off at her first week long over night dance camp. We were surprised when we got the invitation because she was a level four dancer and the overnight camp was usually restricted to level 5 and above. At our school dancers are placed in their weekly classes by levels according to how many years they have danced IE: Marina's a level 4 so this was her fourth year of Irish dance. For this year's camp however our director felt she had a strong group of dancers going from levels 4 to 5 and invited them along. Marina jumped at the chance to go and we thought it would be a really good opportunity for her to work with Micheal Ryan from Ireland and get some very intense training - not to mention having fun along the way. The past two weeks leading up to the camp have been a roller coaster ride to say the least. There was the excitement of getting the roomate she wanted, the planning of how to decorate the dorm room, what to take and purchasing the big girl suitcase. Yesterday as we were packing for the week her mood seemed to go from excited to nervous to downright scared. The tears started flowing at 10:30 last night and continued until she cried herself out at midnight. Try I might I could not console her. Would she not have fun? Didn't she get the roommate she wanted? Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses? Ooops wrong story. No - all was well it that department but she was going to miss her father and me and was dreading watching us walk away from her. God I'm going to miss that when she's a teenage in a few years and will look forward to being away from me (us)! The best I could do was reassure her that she was with friends in a safe environment and while it would be a lot of dancing it would be alot of fun too. It would be diffeent for mom & dad too as she is our only child and we've never been apart for this long in the almost 9 years we've had her. I told her to take one day at a time and look at each night as an individual sleepover. Besides we are leaving for a family vacation the evening camp ends and she'll be stuck with mom & dad for a week. I won't lie - I was feeling guilty. Maybe she was too young for a week long overnight camp. Maybe we should not have let her go this year but if we didn't think she could handle it we wouldn't have considered it.

This morning went off without a hitch (Thank God) and although I knew she was still nervous she seemed to be handling things well. She was especially relieved when I told her I had signed up to work a lunch shift and a dinner shift on two separate days so she would see me during camp. As for me - I'm suddenly exhausted and want to go back to bed. I think I was more nervous for her than I wanted to let on but I know she's in good hands and with a great roommate and will be fine. I'm fulling expecting to hear good things when I go in to help with lunch tomorrow.

Secretly though I am relieved that she's occupied this week. I've been asked to write a major story on Terry Gillan and Philip Owens two of Irish Dance's movers & shakers who have recently opened their own school, Gilleoghan, in Connecticut. Look for it in the next issue of Irish Dance Magazine! 'Til next time - Slainte!

Croatian Irish Dance

I saw on Twitter the other day a story about 35 year old Paul O'Grady who quit his day job as an architect in Ireland, moved to Croatia and opened an Irish dance school in Zagreb.  The story caught my eye because I'm of Croatian/Irish decent - my paternal grandparents are from Croatia, Jastrebarsko to be exact.  I thought this was very cool and had to explore a little further.  I read that O'Grady's school, Irish Maiden which opened in 2006, has over 100 students and there are 4 other Irish dance troupes and 13 bands (according to O’Grady) that play Irish music in Croatia! Not that Irish dancing and music isn't popular all over the world - we all know that it is - I just never expected Croatia would have that much interest in Irish Dance especially because Croatians have their own cultural dancers in the Tamburitzans. I could also be operating on outdated info. My dad and his sisters were first generation Croatian Americans and you would think there was no other heritage except Croatian. The leader of the Youngstown Tamburizans lived 4 houses down from us and was Dad’s childhood friend. Naturally he wanted me to take dance lessons with her. Mom being Irish wouldn't accept that and wanted me to take Irish dance. A compromise was struck and I took ballet, jazz and tap. I'm sure that somewhere Mom's delighted that she ultimately won now that I'm taking Irish dance all these years later and the focus of our family is our Irish heritage! I did a bit of research to see if there’s a Zagreb feis but it doesn’t look that there is – yet. I’m sure with the interest in Irish dance in Croatia that it will only be a matter of time before we that happen – perhaps with Paul O’Grady’s help. There is a Budapest feis however and since my husband has to travel to Hungary on occasion maybe he time a visit around the feis so Marina and I can tag along. I read once that my maiden name of Kolar is actually a Hungarian name (I think I just heard Dad flip in his grave) so it would be fun to do some family research as well! Better start the travel account! Til next time – Slainte!

Feised Out

Forgive me followers for I have sinned – it has been one month since my last confeission. While I had planned to Blog about my experiences at the Louisville, Dayton and Cincinnati feiseanna I can’t. The truth is I did not go to any of them as planned. I had to cancel plans to go to the Louisville Feis because of my work schedule as a part time merchandiser for American Greetings and the Father’s Day holiday took precedence. (After the week I had at that job I’m actually starting a Blog about my experiences there called Seasoned Greetings - coming soon to a browser near you.) The Dayton/Cincinnati weekend was called off to due to being feised out.

I never thought that would happen to either my daughter or me. Both of us love to feis because of the fun aspects of it – hanging out with and seeing friends we’ve made along the way, making new friends and meeting people we’ve met on social media sites. However, after going to seven feiseanna in five months plus an Irish dance filled month of May neither one of us could face another feis. The summer’s here and the time is right for playing in the street and that’s what my daughter decided she wanted to do rather than face a back to back feis weekend - not mention spending 8 hours in the car driving back and forth across the state of Ohio. OK she wasn’t really playing in the street but she wanted and needed to spend time with her neighborhood friends. After all we are feising in Columbus, Ohio and Niagara Falls, NY in August and after three disappointing feiseanna in row it was time for a break. Although even I type this we are mulling over the Rochester, NY feis next weekend so maybe she has come up for air and has enough time off.

My question is how much is too much?  My daughter will be nine at the end of this month and only needs her Slip Jig to be in all Open/Prizewinner but do we really need to feis so much given her young age? Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on how much she wants to move up and then the fun really begins. As many of you know in order to get in championship level dancing a dancer has to get first place in all for dances to make the leap. Then you really have to feis in order to get to that level. I’ve different things but I believe the criteria are that a dancer has to get all the firsts within a year’s time.  So why not take a break now and then to stop and smell the shamrocks. I have a feeling both she and I will have a renewed feising spirit for it. Until next time – Slainte!

The Buffalo Shuffle

Marina and I shuffled off to Hamburg, NY last weekend for the Buffalo Feis. Normally we go to Detroit - both are the same day and equal distance from Cleveland so this year we gave Buffalo a shot. The drive was easy. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Hamburg which is right off the highway and five minutes from the feis site so it was very convenient and made up for the cost being $30 more the feis hotel. Our room was large enough for her to practice in and the pool was great but closed at 9pm. That was actually a good thing because Marina could swim all night. Truthfully I probably shouldn't let her swim the night before a feis but it's become a routine and if she doesn't get the chance she's crabby. I like a happy dancer so I let her do it.

The venue is the Erie County Fairgrounds and is actually quite nice. There's ample parking, the facility is air conditioned with a concrete floor and clean! Not dusty and dirty like other feiseanna I've attended at fairgrounds (who know who you are). The feis organizers went out of their to post NO COOLERS,  CHAIRS & BLANKETS yet there were numerous campers. I was lucky to have a blanket in the car and a couple of families from another Cleveland area school save a spot for us while I went to the car to get the blanket and yes - the cooler. Camping areas were very small and tight limited to the roped off area in back of the bleachers. This area was also where used dresses could be displayed but access to them was limited. If you wanted to look at a dress you would have to climb over the ropes and across camping areas. Awards and vendors were housed in a large adjoining building that had plenty of room to move around. There were eight vendors plus a photographer and feis T-shirt suplier.

The feis itself started promptly and for the most part ran smoothly. The exception being stage 3 which had heavily populated competitions and took numerous breaks to catch up to other stages. Judges rotated stages in a timely fashion. The first round of Championship awards started approximately at 11am with the under 9 dancers. Food was available at one vendor and was reasonably priced (for the most part) my only complaint was paying $3 for one slice of pizza. Hamburgers were available for $3.50, chicken tenders & fries for $6.50 and soft drinks ranging from $2.00 - $3.00 depending on size. Results were posted very quickly.

Overall my impressions of the Buffalo Feis were very positive! It was an easy drive, ample parking, air conditioned, clean facility with several restrooms and efficiently run. For us the competition was tough. This came as advertised however as I was warned that our dancers have trouble against the schools from Buffalo and Canada. Would I do this feis again? A qualified yes! I'm qualifying it because for the past two years coming off the Akron/Cleveland weekend - not to mention the weeks of team practices preparing for Cleveland - I have a very tired dancer and will most likely not do either Buffalo or Detroit next year simply to give her a rest. We also met some very nice people and now can look forward to meeting up with them at upcoming feiseanna and social media - which for me adds to the fun of feising!

Look for my interviews with Doug Lowder, developer of a feis iPhone app, and musician Jemma O'Kane in the July issue of Irish Dance Magazine. Both interviews can be found on the Jukebox page. Til next time - Slainte!

Northeast Ohio Feis Weekend Day 2 - Cleveland

I'm going to open this posting by telling everyone that I am a bit biased when it comes to the Cleveland Feis because our school is very actively involved in running it and we, as students, are required - make that strongly encouraged - to attend. That being said I'll try to make my critique of the feis as fair as possible. If any readers attended the Cleveland Feis over the Memorial Day weekend have a different opinion or something else to add please feel free to chime in.

Since our students are encouraged to participate in team dances we get there early to practice. With the feis starting at 8:30 this usually means arriving somewhere between 7:30 and 8:00am depending on how prepared your dancer is - wig, socks, costume on and ready to go or (like my girl) just rolled out of bed, down the stairs and into the car while I'm shoving a Pop Tart into her mouth. Luckily for me I can get there in 20 minutes (depending on traffic lights) and still be okay. The venue is located on the campus of Cleveland State University in the basketball/concert arena and surface lots are available for parking for a fee of $5.00 and up. You can also park on the street for free if you can find a place. I have mixed feelings about the Wolstein Center for a  feis venue. On one hand the seating is nice (stadium style with padded seats and backs), the stages are large and separated by curtains so the music doesn't bleed through and there's enough restrooms. On the other hand you can't really camp, you're always crawling over other people to get in and out of the seats and you're at the mercy of the food vendors with their event style pricing. The Cleveland Feis prohibits coolers and any outside food/beverages being brought in. The first year we attended this feis they went so far as to check our bags and we were asked to take any food items back to the car. They've since stopped checking and I lace my daughters dance & dress bags with as many snacks, sandwiches and bottles of water that I feel I can get away with. Still I always make sure I give the hubby enough cash in case I have to post bail.

As for the feis itself. The competitions started on time and ran smoothly. The first judge on my daughter's stage was there the entire morning but the afternoon judges rotated evenly. Results came up s-l-o-w-l-y......I felt for a moment I was back in Akron but since my daughter didn't dance her first solo competition until 1:30pm this didn't effect us too much. A friend who was working the results room  said they were sitting around waiting for the results to be handed to them so there had to be some disconnect between the runners for it to take about hour (or longer) to get the morning's results. The Championship awards area is nicely set at the end of a row of stages and also doubles as spacious practice area when not in use for awards. The vendors are housed in an alcove with the grade awards so there's good traffic for them. Used dresses can be hung around the perimeter of the arena which makes a nice display rather than being bunched up on hangers.

Am I missing anything - venue, food, start time, results, awards, Champs awards area. I think I got it covered. The last item is a nit pick on my part and has to do with stage assignments. For the past two years my daughter dances her team dance at 9am then sits around until 1:30pm to dance her first solo dance. Once those start, her competitions are one after another with dancers not getting the chance to catch their breath and regroup before lining up again. The girls in my daughter's competitions literally bowed to the judge and walked right back to their seats for the next competition or ran to their parents for a shoe change before checking in again. That's hard enough on an older dancer but these are 8 and 9 year old girls. I heard from a friend of mine that her son's competition got moved and they got to the new stage just in time to get him checked in but he was so flustered he didn't do well in that dance. Again - picky things but these are stresses the dancers don't need.

This weekend we're shuffling off to Buffalo. It will be a new experience for us as we normally go to Detroit which is the same day and the same driving distance for us. I really like the Detroit feis - especially the venue, food prices and the fact they sell beer but I felt we needed a change of pace. A couple good friends are going to Detroit so hopefully I can report on that feis as well. Til next time - Slainte!

Feis Frustration

Memorial Day weekend in Northeast Ohio consists of cookouts, rib burn offs, picnics and, if you're a feis family, the Akron and Cleveland feiseanna. I have to go the Cleveland feis like it or not because our school, Murphy Irish Arts Center, has been actively involved in the running of this feis for quiet some time. However the Akron feis is optional and quite frankly after our experience today I am going to option to stay far away from this feis next year.

For those of you following along Marina is 8 soon to be 9 and is now ending her 4th year of Irish dance so when I write I'm writing from the "grades" perspective although when I know something about Championships I do try to include this info.  We first attended the Akron feis three years ago when my daughter was in her second year of feising and had a great experience. That year the feis was well run, results posted in a timely fashion and we were done by noon. However, last year the feis was slow and disorganized with stages being abruptly changed. We didn't leave until late afternoon/early evening and as I've already stated had a full day of feising the next day to look forward to.

This year we went primarily because Marina needs to get a first place in her Novice Slip Jig to be in all Prizewinner and compared to what she's facing in Cleveland the numbers in the Akron Slip Jig were relatively lower. Let's face it the feis is 40 minutes from my house so what's not to like? The stage assignments for one thing! I have been to a feis or two where we've had to change stages once or twice but this year's Akron feis was downright ridiculous! My daughter had to dance on not two but 5 different stages and she was not the exception - this was the norm and the stages weren't even next to each other! I spent most of my day running between stages to check the progress in case I needed to ask to have the stage held and I wasn't alone. One of my friends had to switch from soft shoe to hard shoe and back again three times! The stages were not organized by age, type of dance or level of competition. They appeared to be arranged in random order creating a very stressful environment. Let's face it, feising is stressful enough without having the worry of missing a competition. I over heard a volunteer explain that they asked the stages to be arranged by age so that the dancers would only have to compete on one stage throughout the day and when the committee received the assignments it was too late to change them. Having served on a feis committee I find this hard to believe. If you are paying a service such as efeis or Feisworx then you have the right to go back to them and ask them to get it right. A friend of mine's daughter even missed one of her competitions and I'm sure she wasn't the only one!

Adding to today's frustration was the length of time it took to process the results. My daughter danced her last dance and after waiting 2 hours without receiving any results for her competitions we left! It seemed the reason for the delay was that a computer had crashed and they did not have the man power to add up the judges scores and manually post the results. Okay - I can accept that excuse for Championship scoring but grades!?! Come on! Take the judges sheet look at the scores, write them down on a piece of paper and tape them up on the results boards. I heard so many time today that parents don't care about the competitors names or the school they're from - just put down the number and be done with it! What the Feis? (Yes - I blatantly ripped that phrase off from a friend - and you all should visit his website www.whatthefeis.com.) So I handed Marina's dance card to a friend of mine and asked him if he could please check the results for us and packed up and left! That's something I thought I'd never do but my husband was with us and he had to get to Cleveland to help build the stages for tomorrow's feis or else I might have stayed.

It wasn't enough that the Akron feis' website is terrible, that they promised updates coming in the next few days and it took 9 days to post something new, that the competitor list was posted and taken back and now I can't access that or the judges list then to fail miserably on feis day is ... is... I don't know what it is. The only positive thing I can say about this feis is that the food is very reasonably priced - $2 for a hot dog, $3.50 for a burger and they have additional food vendors outside. That's not entirely fair - the volunteers kept their cool and were extremely helpful often apologizing for the situations - especially at the results area.

Which brings me to another issue - this year they put the vendors outside under a tent near the main entrance. If I were a vendor I wouldn't be happy with this arrangement because it did not look like they were getting any business. (The last 2 years the vendors were strategically placed across from the results and got a lot of traffic).

So ends my rant on the Akron feis. I can accept that the place is dusty - it's held at a fairgrounds and that comes with the territory but what happened today is inexcusable and the feis committee needs to take a long hard look at what they can do to improve this feis NEXT year. Otherwise they may join the rank of the many feiseanna that have failed and it won't be due to lack of attendance because this feis reached its cap of 1100 weeks ago.

Now I get to cool off, have a beer (or two) and get to bed because I have to get up and do it all over again tomorrow! Until tomorrow - Slainte!

I'm Back From Cincinnati, Ohio & the Queen City Feis.

I was reminded today that I haven't posted anything for awhile and I guess that's right! Life - sometimes it does get in the way of what's really important - talking about Irish dance. So instead of going to my Irish dance class I decided to crack open a cold one - Killians, the closest thing I have to Irish beer and catch everyone to speed.

When we last left our hero she had just returned from watching the Royal wedding and the Central New York Feis. Since that time she's attended a 3 hour and 40 minute board meeting for the dance school, been to another feis and gotten herself appointed co-chair of the school's annual bus trip. Not to mention taxi-ing her daughter to Murphys 5 times a week for classes, private lessons, team practice for the Cleveland Feis and tattoo practice. No - I'm not practicing getting a tattoo but if I was it might look like a Scottish thistle, ghillies or some other Gaelic symbol but I digress. Where was I? Oh right - returning from a feis, Queen City in Cincinnati, Ohio to be exact.

Friends went to this feis last year and had several good things to say so I decided to sign my daughter up for it expecting a nice time. I can't put my finger on it exactly but the vibe wasn't right. The venue was the Duke Energy Center in downtown Cincy and it had all the right qualities - spacious, clean, seating for lunch and more than enough room to camp. The stages were large and well run, the judges rotated in a timely fashion but to me the pace was slow. The feis started on time at 8:30 and moved along but at one point I looked at my watch and was surprised to find it was only 12:30. It felt like 2:30 or 3 and my daughter still had two dances to go!

 The nice touch was this feis broke all the stages for lunch at approximately the same time. Lunch was followed by the Treble Reel - which I wish they would run in the morning after figures but that's just my opinion - I could be wrong -  and the grade stages pretty much wrapped up by 3pm. Still it was a long day. Results were posted at moderate pace (my daughter got 2nd in her Novice Slip Jig so I can't complain) however,  we were told not to expect judges comments for 7 - 10 days! Really? Why so long? In that time I could show her teacher the comments and work on making corrections to her SJ so she can get into Prizewinner. (Her SJ is the last dance she needs to be in all Prizewinner). Blankets, chairs and coolers were permitted and that's always a good thing because the gang needed a beer with lunch. There were very, very few vendors which doesn't bother me because I try to spend as little money as possible at a feis but some of my friends complained. I didn't purchase any food so I can't comment on the prices or quality but there was a Starbucks cart in the lobby and I partook of that. So I guess it really wasn't bad - I just expected something different - what I'm not sure.

The hotel was a different story. We stayed at the feis hotel across the street from the venue which was nice. They offered a feis rate of $104 which is great for a Hyatt but they nickled and dimed everything else! You had to use their valet parking at $23 or find a surface lot for $15. We could not take a luggage cart we had to employ the services of the valet if we wanted one and they would not bring the car in the morning so we could get our sleeping bag out and put the luggage in. They insisted that we check our bags and walked me to my car in the deck (which was a block away) to get my sleeping bag. When the bill came in the morning it was for $168! I was told there was a deposit figured into the price and that would be taken off in 2 - 3 days. I'm watching my credit card closely. The pool area was nice but it didn't make up for everything else. If we decide to try the Queen City Feis again you can be sure we won't be staying at the Hyatt.

As far as the feis is concerned I'd give it a B+ the fact that the "vibe" wasn't right could have a lot to do with the fact that I didn't sleep well thanks to my daughter doing somersaults and dancing the jig next to me all night and not the feis itself. So this is the start of a very busy feis season. Next up Akron, Cleveland, Buffalo and Louisville not to mention the Cleveland Peacekeepers' Tattoo, overnight dance camp and my maiden voyage as tour director for the school's bus trip. Hope you all will be laughing with me! Til next tine - Slainte!

My Central New York Feis Experience

A few months ago I was looking at the calendar and realized this past week was my daughter's spring break. Last year a lot of her friends went out of town and I knew we couldn't go on a big spring vacation but I wanted to take her somewhere. So what else does a good feis mom do?  I started looking for a feis to attend and found one 5 1/2 hours away in Syracuse New York. As it got closer to feis day I started thinking that maybe we shouldn't go. I've never driven 5 1/2 hours by myself and my husband couldn't take the day off work to chauffeur me and I was worried I we would make the trip for nothing. As the week went on and my daughter was bored I decided to make the trip - after all I had paid for it and the adventure would break up the monotony.

The Central New York Feis is held at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse and is run by FeisWeb. I have to be honest - I don't care for FeisWeb. When registering for a feis I'm used to seeing a count of how many are in each competition. I like that. It gives us a sense of the competition and whether or not the event will split or merge. It's not possible to do this with FeisWeb. They give an up to the minute entry list but in order to see how many are in your competitions you have to scroll through and physically count the entries. Who has time for that? At least we got totals with the stage assignments. A nice touch was having the dance number emailed to us a few days before the feis. All we had to do was print in out and take it with us.

The feis itself was well run. It started promptly at 8:30 with the singing of the national anthems and headed straight to the competitions. Younger grades were danced three at a time with the older dancers two at a time. PC/OC competitions were held at the concurrent to the grades and those results were announced starting mid-morning. This CNY feis committee decided not to break for lunch because last year's feis ran very long and they hoped to keep things moving this year. To help accommodate this they had two judges at each grade event. The two judges stayed at the same stage the entire day but took turns judging the competitions and taking breaks. It was different and liked it because it kept the momentum going. It also helped that we were allowed to bring coolers in and I was prepared with all sorts of delicacies to feast on. Which was a good thing because the concessions were not good at this feis - more on that in a moment.   The stages were organized and efficient and results were posted in lightning speed! Even with all these good things it still took us three hours to complete five events because the competitions were heavily populated. The two Novice dances my daughter competed in numbered into the mid-30s and thankfully split but the U11 and U14 weren’t so luck and had numbers in the mid to high 20s each. Trophies were handed out to the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place winners in the Open/Prizewinner competitions – a nice touch as I’m used to seeing only the 1^st place dancer receive a goodie. There were 10 vendors – including 2 shoe vendors and dresses sales were limited to one location.

Three things keep me from raving about this feis – the concessions, the bathrooms and the admission process. There was only one concession stand open in the morning and for of us who needed/wanted coffee it wasn’t possible. There was only coffee maker and the lines were simply too long to wait through. By lunch time another concession opened and the lines were much smaller so that was somewhat of a consolation. I got my afternoon coffee and all was right with the world. Both concessions were cash only. The admissions process while very smooth required the payment a $10 of each adult attending the feis – again cash only. In this era of debit cards I don’t carry a lot of cash on me so I much prefer to the pay the family fee online with the registration. Last but very important – the bathrooms! With a feis capping at 1200 dancers (not to mention family members attending) there was only 1 – yes 1 – bathroom per gender. Dancers were urged to use a location other than bathroom to change in order to have enough space for those of us who needed to visit the necessary. I’m not sure if other buildings on the fairgrounds were open to the public and didn’t have time to find out.

We were fortunate to get a good camping area but then again we got there as the feis started and waited 2 ½ hours before her first dance. However had we waited until later we would have had pressed to find a descent spot. I think that’s true of most feisanna though.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised with this feis. It started on time, was well run, efficient and the volunteers were pleasant. Things that I found troublesome were not something the feis could control unless they found a new venue or went to a different feis management system like efeis or something similar. 24 hours we’re still waiting for personal results/comments to emailed on posted on FeisWeb and being new to this system I’m not sure when to expect them. Again given the fact that the results at the feis were posted quickly I’m assuming this might be something with FeisWeb but I’m not certain. We had a nice time, brought home some hardware and met nice people so over all I give this feis a B+. Our next stop – Cincinnati – the Queen City in two weeks. Til next time – Slainte!

Buckeye Feis Review

Saturday I spent the day in Columbus, Ohio attending the 3rd annual Buckeye Feis where my daughter danced. Overall the feis was a good experience. The venue is located just off the downtown area in the Franklin County Veterans Memorial Center (I believe it's the old convention center) and is perfect for a smaller feis - the Buckeye Feis caps at 850. There's more than enough room for stages, camping and to move around freely but perhaps the best thing about this feis is its efficiency.

As promised the feis began promptly at 8:30am with the singing of the anthems and got underway immediately with the competitions. Stages were slow in spots but the volunteers kept things moving along. Results were posted very quickly (which I always appreciate) and had it not been for a lunch break we would have been done with the competitions before noon. The volunteers were some of the nicest I've experienced at feisanna and my daughter won a 2nd place medal in a dance that has been her Achilles heel so we were happy.

Now for the nit picky side of me to rear its ugly head. I mentioned the stages breaking for lunch which seemed to happen hap hazardly with one stage breaking at 11:00 am and ours breaking at 11:40 - right in the middle of the Hornpipes and yes - right before my daughter was to dance her last competition. So instead of being done before noon we were forced to stay and have lunch which came to $16 for 1 slice of pizza, fruit cup, turkey sandwich and a diet coke. Thankfully the competition resumed by 12:30 and we were ready to go by 1:30. I realize that doesn't sound bad but when you have a 2 1/2 hour drive home it would have been nice to get on the road. Conversely friends of mine got there around 10:30 expecting their children to start dancing around 11:00 and in reality those competitions didn't start until after 12:30pm. I'm sure they could used an extra hour or so that morning and that aspect needs to be looked at (in my opinion). I felt the food prices were a little on the expensive side - especially drinks at $3.00 for a bottle of water and $4.00 for a cup of lemonade but I'm sure the feis committee had to go with the venue's food service. Luckily the Buckeye Feis does allow coolers to be brought in and if we do this feis next year I'll be more prepared in the food department. There is on site parking with a $7.00 charge (cash only) and since there's really no other convenient parking you have to pay it. I brought two solo dresses to sell and was disappointed that there was only one large rack and it was already full by the time I got my items there. By the time we were packing up the dresses were crammed in so tightly people were draping some of them on the top of rack rather than return the dress to its original spot. I was told that last year there were more dress racks and I hope they will get more for next year because I'm sure I'll have dresses to sell.......

A few things I liked were the availability of a hole punch and various colors of ribbon for the number cards, an additional card for the parents to keep track of their childrens' competitions, results were posted by stages and awards were handed out in the same fashion making that process very easy. A "girly" note - the medals are very pretty with the Buckeye Feis logo painted in enamel in the feis' colors. The fun part of the day for me was getting to meet 2 of Twitter friends at this feis (Hi Mike & Kristen!) and spend some time with each of them.

Aside from the couple negatives things I mentioned -  a few of those not being in the feis committee's control (food & parking costs) this is a very organized feis. I'm hoping the feis committee looks more closely at where they put their lunch breaks in the future in order to allow some of the competitors to leave and others to get there in a more leisurely fashion. That would also free up camping and parking spaces. Next up - The Central New York Feis in two weeks. It will be our time first attending that event and I'm looking forward to something completely different! Til next time - Slainte!

Confessions From the Irish Dance Floor

Last night I went to my very first adult Irish dance lesson. I didn't know what to expect really except the fact that I would be sore in the morning (as prophesied by a friend). I knew that other moms couldn't make it until the next week but a 16 year old would be in the class that evening - just what my 40 something year old ego needed. So I was very happy when another 40 something mom showed up and equally glad that someone other than our owner would be teaching us. Some how that made us a little more confident that our teacher would be laughing with us instead of laughing at us - however the laughing was to come in the form of the senior dancers peeking into our studio as they passed by en route to the water fountain. After a few gentle warm ups the fun began. We started out with the same basic steps that the 5 year olds learned - 3s, Hop, Toe, Step and 7s. It was simple enough and soon the three of us were dancing across the floor. Then, Eileen started increasing the music speed until it was "normal" and asked us to dance around the perimeter of the studio. It was at this point I was sorry I didn't invest in that oxygen tank like I wanted to and the crutches I noticed in the office suddenly looked appealing. The other mom said at one point she had a whole new respect for her son and I had to agree.

As I crawled - I mean walked into the house my daughter (who has not been thrilled about the idea of me dancing) came running to me asking how the class was and wanting to see what I learned. So I began to demonstrate Hop, Toe, Step only to be told I was doing it all wrong and she began to show me how to do it correctly. Everyone's a critic aren't they? Of course I had to let her know that I was complimented on my turn out - something that's been nagging her and that quickly shut her up. It didn't take long, however, for rigor mortis to set in and even though I did some post dance stretching it was becoming apparent that I was going to need a strong dose of Ben Gay, Tired Old Ass Soak (yes there's a product called that sold through a mail order catalog), Bushmills or all of the above. I settled for the Ben Gay and a big glass of water. After whining a bit on Facebook and Twitter I decided it was time for bed but was seriously dreading what the morning would bring. To my surprise I wasn't as sore as I thought I'd be and I am looking forward to the next class but not the mirrors in the studio that make me look fat. It's the mirrors right - not the x amount of pounds I've gained (all of which I found on the dance floor Monday night) since the last time I took dance classes.

All kidding aside Irish dance is a great workout, challenging dance style and a good time for all ages. For all those reasons I'm looking forward to going back to the next class but will look into that oxygen tank just to be safe! Til next time - Slainte!

Dancin' Days Are Here Again

Wednesday evening I'm sitting in the lobby of our Irish dance studio talking with a friend when our teacher comes up to me:

"Can you be here Tuesday at 6pm to help fit shoes on our new beginner class?"

I'm one of Shoe Committee Chairpeople so of course I said yes. Then she added with smile,

"We're starting an adult beginner dance class Monday night"

Stunned I replied  "Which Monday night?"

"This Monday night at 8pm."

Apparently she started to spread the world and a few adults came forward saying they would do it. It just so happened that the friend I was talking to at the time was one of the adult dancers who talked me into this in the first place and overheard the whole conversation. A coinkydink? I think not. So now panic has set in......I haven't had a formal dance lesson in years and I'm a little nervous. Of course what I need to do is not take myself so seriously after all I'm not planning to compete. This is just for fun right? Of course it is. I'm also hoping taking lessons is going to help me coach my daughter - who is not amused by this in the least! She's afraid I'm going to start feising. Of course a friend of mine took great pleasuring in messing her yesterday telling her that I was looking at the Cleveland feis and how we could have matching solo dresses. She just groaned and rolled her eyes. I have a feeling though that I'm going to be the one groaning after class Monday night! I'll let you know as soon as I get out of the oxygen tent...Til next time! Slainte!

North Coast Feis 2012

I know it seems a little strange to be talking about a feis that was just held a month ago and is still a year away but the planning for the 2012 North Coast feis has begun! Since I was nominated Corresponding Secretary at last night's meeting - I thought I would take my job seriously and correspond updates as the year goes on. I came into the feis committee late last year so this will be an interesting experience seeing how a feis is put together from start to finish. I won't bore you with every little detail but somethings are worth sharing.

Format: The feis will remain a one day feis (Saturday) and will maintain the same cap of 850.

Payment: The suggestion was made to accept online payments only next year.

Judges/Musicians: The committee is considering eliminating 2 musicians in order to afford inviting an overseas judge - possibly Ireland.

Stages: Last year's stages were the minimum size allowed and were deemed too small. They will enlarged for the 2012 feis. The possibility of moving the stages to the perimeter of floor and having the camping area in the middle was discussed. This would help to keep the music from "bleeding" through from another stage.

Venue: The feis will remain at the I-X Center for next year.

Cost: There was some discussion of raising the price of the competitions and possibly going to an admission charge rather than a family fee. Nothing was decided.

Overall comments from various message boards and the FeisWorx survey were positive with a few concerns here and there - mostly about the size of the stages and conditions of the parking lots at the hotel and venue. So there you have it! Our meetings are held monthly and I'll update this blog as the year goes on and more information becomes available. Til next time - Slainte!

Because - I'm a Dancer!

I hate to exercise! Sorry I'm just not one of those people who can get up and run for miles in the snow, cold or rain. I also find the treadmill and elliptical boring. So when I woke up and realized that I'm overweight and out of shape and knew I had to do something about it, I had a hard time figuring out what I needed to do. Alright, I knew what I needed to do but what type of exercise program was going to hold my interest long enough to get results?

Growing up I wasn't active in sports. I didn't play tennis regularly or run track. The only thing I did was dance and I was a competitive dancer - jazz to be exact. I think it was Madonna who said "Only when I'm dancin' can I feel this free....." OK - so I'm not Madonna (although I have been known to sing and dance around the house in my underwear) but when I really sat and thought about pursuing an exercise routine my  heart and mind kept going back to my dancin' days and how in shape I was back then. So last summer when a group of moms started talking about taking a beginner Irish dance class I jumped at the chance to join in. I bought a pair of gillies, wrote out the check and was about to turn in my registration form when one by one all the other moms backed out. They didn't have time, didn't have the money, blah, blah, blah. Well I didn't want to be the only beginner going into an established adult class so I did the mature thing and backed out too. I placed the shoes I bought into the used shoe sale at our school and tore up the check I had written. Was I disappointed? Yes. Not only was I looking forward to getting back to dancing but I was also looking forward to the camaraderie that such a class offered. I didn't want to compete - I just wanted to have fun. So I let it go - but not completely. I started noticing how many adults were taking Irish dance and started asking them questions - when did they start, why did they dance, do they compete, etc, etc, etc. Well naturally it wasn't long before I was being encouraged by a few of those dancers to talk to our teacher about taking private lessons or join the class. I stalled and stalled but after marching in the St. Patrick's Day and having a lot of fun I finally got up the courage to talk to Sheila about it - only to find out that one of those friends had already approached her about me dancing. We discussed the possibility of private or semi-private lessons and while I was hoping to get started now (while I still have my courage) it was decided that perhaps a summer adult class was the way to go. So I'll have to wait but I'm determined I'm going to do this and it's the push I've needed to get back into shape - basically so I can have the stamina to get through a dance class without falling over. So I'm back to my old routine of swimming, yoga, Pilates and ballet exercises and even if this adult Irish dance class doesn't materialize at least I'm finally doing something to get me arse and the rest of my body moving again. If it does - then I'll have plenty of things to blog about. Til next time - Slainte!

Feising Season 2011

As I was reminded on Twitter today - it's almost hard core Feising Season! I've actually been working on our feis plans for this year for some time. I think I started last Fall when the North American Feis Commission released it's final 2011 schedule. So far we've been to two feiseanna - the Pittsburgh Winter Feis and the North Coast Feis. We had planned to go to the West Virginia Feis this weekend but are pulling out because my daughter got invited to a birthday party of a close friend and she really wants to go. The other reason is that she's added some new steps to her dances and after a private lesson last week she just doesn't seem quite ready to compete. Our plans for this year include:

The Buckeye Feis (Columbus, OH) and the Central New York Feis both in April
Queen City (Cincinnati, OH), Akron & Cleveland (Ohio) in May
Buffalo, New York and the Dayton/Cincinnati (Ohio) weekend in June
Feis at the Falls (Niagara Falls, NY) and Rose City (Windsor, ONT Canada) in August
the Pittsburgh (PA) Halloween Feis in October

Throw in two dance camps this summer and we've got ourselves a pretty full schedule! It's easy to get carried away isn't it? I'm sure if I looked harder I could find more!

I like to make feising fun for my daughter who's eight (going to be nine in July) and build in a long weekend here and there. We did that last year with the Louisville (Kentucky) feis. Great city! It was hot but that didn't stop us from taking a riverboat ride down the Ohio river, stopping at Churchill Downs and the Louisville Slugger baseball bat manufacturer and museum. This year we'd  like to make Feis at the Falls a mini vacation and are considering Nation's Capital Feis in Washington D.C. in July and either spending a day or two in Washington, heading to Baltimore or Virginia Beach but haven't finalized those plans yet. The same with Dayton/Cincinnati - we could stop at King's Island amusement park and Great Wolf Waterpark for some fun or take in some other adventure. We'll see how our plans shape up but one thing is certain - I'll be blogging about the feiseanna we attend and sharing our feis season 2011 with all of you! Till next time - Slainte!

A Dilemma

I hit the wall last night and I hit it hard. My family was attending a friend's St. Patrick's Day party - a party I had been looking forward to for weeks because it's fun and some of the guests are other families from my daughter's dance school. The party got off to a great start - good food, good beer and good conversation which was not about Irish dancing. The party went along well for an hour or two then one of the moms began to talk about the school in not so pleasant terms. It's not the first time it's happened. In fact it's become a part of her routine when she is at any function involving Irish dance.

I first met this particular mom four years ago when our daughters started dancing together. We hung out in the lobby with other parents and socialized and all was good. However, last year things took an ugly turn when her daughter began attending feisianna and quickly went from Beginner 2 to Novice. Since then she has been on a quest to promote her daughter and while there's nothing really wrong with that - it's the way that she's been going about it that is unpleasant. She pulled her daughter off the Oireachtas team because she felt the other dancers weren't quality dancers going so far as to say that certain girls "sucked", (that team took 8th place out of 21 teams at the Oireachtas without her daughter by the way), is constantly comparing and praising another Irish dance school while being extremely critical of our school.

We all like to think that our children are great and I'm no exception however does that mean we publicly degrade other dancers, the school and the owner in the process? For me that answer is no. It also brings up the question of what to do about a fellow parent who does just that.  Irish dance is a fun activity/sport but it's also difficult when the competition becomes so important to some parents that it supercedes everything else - including friendships and feelings. Yes, at some point we all have had concerns about the school our kids go to whether that's the costumes they wear for the parades, how classes are taught, if changes should be made to choreography, etc. However, this particular parent is completely unhappy and as a board member of the school I'm wondering today what my responsibility to the organization is. Do I say something to our owner - tell her that a parent is publicly bashing dancers and that I feel she is being harmful to the organization, tell this particular parent that if she's this unhappy why not consider another school or avoid the situation all together? I've never been the run and tell the teacher type and have a feeling that move would backfire - the road to hell and good intentions you know the story. Plus this woman's daughter dances in the same age bracket as mine so will it appear I have sour grapes? If I do nothing while this parent is complaining then am I in some way enabling? Do nothing and go about my business? That's not my style either but as they say, you can't control other people you can only control yourself. This person is not going to change and as long she is involved with our school I need to find a way to deal with her attitude and behavior because I will be the one who is miserable not her.

St. Patrick's Season Activities

OK, so - St. Patrick's season is in full swing! What's everyone doing this year? It seems that every year my calendar gets fuller & fuller during March between the parties, dancing and parades. This year's social season includes more visits to the Irish American Club in Euclid, OH on Cleveland's East Side. We've attending their family day for the past three years because Marina dances that event with the Murphy Irish Dancers. This year we plan to go to their Harp & Guinness Night II to listen to The Boys From County Hell, Irish Coffee Night - a club tradition the night before St. Patty's Day and again after the parade in the afternoon for the kid's party! My daughter has St. Patrick's Day and the following day off of school so it is very convenient for us to get involved in the day's festivities and have the next day to relax.

Did I mention the parade? Yes, Marina and I will both be marching with the Murphy Irish Dancers this year. Because I'm on their board I marched with the unit last year and had a ball! It's great to look out into the crowd and people watch! This year our founder Sheila Murphy Crawford is one of the Co-Chairs so it's an extra special event for us. Plus we're in the first unit so we'll be done and can enjoy the rest of the parade. Pre-parade - not sure yet. We've been invited to go to Flannery's Pub in downtown Cleveland for Kegs & Eggs before the parade but even though it sounds like fun it might not be appropriate for my daughter. Of course taking her to the House of Blues last Saturday for the Gaelic Storm concert was probably not appropriate either but she's been a fan since she was five and got us to the front of the crowd - got some great pics! Ah to be eight years old and cute again ! But I digress......

Then there's the St. Patrick's Day shows that Marina will dance. We have four this year starting tomorrow night a GE's NELA Park in East Cleveland and ending on April 8th with St. Dominic's Fish Fry - always a good time not to mention yummy!

Crowning the season will be a party thrown by our dear friends that promises to be bigger and better than last year. Did I leave anything out? I don't think so but with a week to go I'm sure I'll find something else to add to the list! Enjoy the season, drink responsibly and have fun! Til next time.....Slainte!

Cleveland's 2011 St. Patrick's Day Parade: March Order

Cleveland's 2011 St. Patrick's Day Parade: March Order: "2011 Line of March Lead Division Irish Civic Association Parade Honorees St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee Parade Guarantors Public Offici..."

Perspective

I sat down the other day to begin a post about solo dresses when the phone rang. It was my friend and neighbor with some terrible news. The thirteen year old boy across the street from us had committed suicide. He hung himself a week earlier and had been in a drug induced coma since then. He passed away that morning. I was stunned! The previous week I had dropped my daughter off at rehearsal and was on my home when I received a text message from my husband. There was a commotion across the street - five or six police cars, a fire truck and ambulance. I arrived home several minutes later. The ambulance was gone but the street was filled with the other emergency vehicles and neighbors either outside or looking out their windows. My husband thought it had been the elderly grandfather but since we had not seen him a couple of years I said it most likely wasn't him.  Besides the number of emergency vehicles indicated it was something other than an old man. Having not heard anything else and the house looking calm since then we forgot about the incident - that is until Thursday morning.

I remember when the family moved in - just a few years after we did. They were from Russia but not new to the area as the father owned a furniture store nearby. Nick was 8 or 9 at the time and there were no young boys in the neighborhood. When he was bored he would come over to play with my daughter who was 4 years younger than him or shoot hoops with my husband. He had a sadness about him even then which I attributed to loneliness and boredom. As the years went by we saw less of Nick and I assumed he had become acclimated in school and developed friendships. Judging from the outpouring of grief I have heard about over the past few days I know that he did have friends who loved and cared for him as his family did. I have to wonder if the sadness I saw in the younger boy was something deeper and a cry for help was missed along the way. In a world that has become busier and busier we often don't make time to pay attention to those around us. A young man chose to end his own life before it ever really began. How bad can things be at thirteen? Yet for Nick it was and his death puts into perspective how little things like solo dresses, medals and championships mean and how fragile life can be.

Encouraging Words

My daughter started her ballet class two weeks ago and I must say I felt like Mommy Dearest. She was miserable in the morning putting on her tights and on the verge of tears but I would not back down. Marina's having problems with her turn out and turn out starts from the hip not the ankle or knee.  I was convinced enrolling her in ballet could only help develop her muscles and improve her posture - not to mention help avoid injury. I got her to class several minutes late and waited in the lobby feeling guilty the entire time wondering if maybe I'm out of control with Irish dance when Marina's TCRG showed up. The Ballet Academy and Murphy Irish Arts share studio space which helped make for familiar surroundings for my reluctant ballerina. After exchanging pleasantries with Sheila she asked what I was doing there. I grimaced and told her about enrolling Marina in ballet to help her turn out. To my surprise Sheila was delighted telling me she thought it was a wonderful idea, that many championship Irish dancers take ballet as part of their training and it would be a big help. She wished more parents would do that for their children. I explained Marina was unhappy and Sheila gladly offered to talk with her. I was still in Sheila's office when Marina came out from ballet looking like the Limp Swan with her eyes still swollen from crying and her hair a mess. Sheila was true to her word and went right up to Marina telling her how happy she was that Marina was taking ballet and how good it would be for her. At that time Marina just nodded but Sheila's words must have had some impact. The car ride home was much better than the ride in and Marina finally opened about the class, what they did and said she would go back next week - and she did with much less resistance this time. I overheard her being introduced as the Irish dancer to the ballerinas who weren't there the previous week and this time she came out with a smile! Time will tell if my theory about improving her turn out holds true but for now I'm thankful that she's adjusting to the new dance routine and to her Irish dance teacher for her encouraging words!

The Reluctant Ballerina

My daughter has been actively feising for over three years now and has done well. She's in Open/Prizewinner in her Reel and Hornpipe and Novice in the Slip Jig and Treble Jig and consistently brings home medals. Not bad for an eight year old right? Yet there's one judges' comment that keeps appearing on her result sheets and that's "Turn Out". It's not just in one dance either - it's across the board. I thought with practice she'd outgrow it and the issue would be resolved yet two feisianna into the year there it is again - "turn out", "toes out". Lately another comment has been appearing and that's "posture". Over the past year I would gently remind her before each event to concentrate on her turn out while dancing.  Teachers have also reminded her about it classes and private lessons and while she's gotten better the problem has not been resolved. I've tracked her feis progress for the past year and it became clear that she's flat lined - getting the same results, same placement and same points. It's occurred to me that until she fixes her turn out and posture nothing will change. As I've mentioned she's been in solo classes and private lessons in additon to her weekly class so for me it was time to take a different approach to help her - the addition of a ballet class and she is not amused!

Being a former competitive jazz dancer I began to look back over my practice routine and realized that I always began a lesson and performance with warm ups of ballet stretching. The warm ups would consist of a round of plies, reveles and  rond de jambes to name a few. The routine helped strengthen my legs and maintained my flexibility. I still use the practice as part of my workout warm ups. Her Irish dance studio shares a space with a ballet school - how convenient is that? So a few days ago I pulled the trigger and enrolled my daughter in a Saturday morning ballet class. She took a ballet/tap class for two years prior to Irish dance so at least it will be familiar to her and she won't have to start at the very beginning. When I broke the news to her this morning on our way to school the whining began! "Mom! I hate ballet!" Truthfully so did I but I'm big believer that the practice of core ballet techniques should be part of every dancers routine - along with yoga and pilates but that's for another blog.  I assured her that this was only temporary and as soon as her turn out, posture and flexibility improve then she can quit. It'll be interesting to see if my theory is correct and how soon her technique will improve - if for no other reason than to get out of ballet. The first lesson is tomorrow and I'm sure over the next few weeks I'll have plenty of material for upcoming blogs! to be continued Slainte!

Welcoming Thoughts

Hello All!

After blogging for about a year on various topics I've decided to split my posts into two separate blogs. Sounds crazy I know but I think this will be the best way to write about different subjects. As the title of this blog suggests Confeissions of a Feis Mom will be about Irish Dance and all that goes with it.  I'm hoping it will be informative and also entertaining. Be sure to visit often - posts will also be available on my Twitter and Facebook pages. Feel free to comment - I'd love to hear your thoughts on this fun and challenging subject!