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!
