Tuesday, August 9, 2011
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!
Sunday, July 17, 2011
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!
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!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
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!
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!
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