Fairwell to Feisianna

Renee takes 3rd place at the 2012 Mid-Atlantic Region Oireachtas in Philadelphia

Canandaigua, NY. I’ve selected this picture for the blog in the past. It’s a favorite because it represents one moment when we were all so completely happy with the Irish dance experience. Previous Thanksgiving sojourns to Philadelphia had been pretty disappointing. When you don’t get what you want, experience is what you get. However, when you do get what you want, what you are, is HAPPY, and that’s what I see when I look at this picture.

As our run in competitive Irish dance has now come to an end, I figure, let us look back upon it with our fondest memories up most in mind. The 2012 Mid-Atlantic Oireachtas and Renee’s come-from-nowhere podium finish kind of started it all for the feisfunder blog, and so I think it’s fitting that it end feisfunder’s somewhat late-to-the-game run. A nod to Renee as she is endlessly inspired by her own accomplishments, and hers was the inspiration that kept us all going through four North American Nationals and three World Championships, all the way to a humble, but inspiring retirement from competition at the Bob Gabor Feis in Syracuse, NY.

It’s a little difficult to characterize our entire Irish dance experience in a few hundred words, when I finally have Renee’s entire competitive career to look back on, although it was just a scant 12 years. In that time a dream came to life before my very eyes. Not my dream mind you, but Renee’s. Her vision, focus and dedication have produced a future for her and our little family that eclipses any personal prize I could ever imagine short of Herbie Hancock asking me to join his band.

From the experience I got I can tell you that what you need as you hustle from feis to feis is fuel. You need fuel, and inspiration is that fuel. I know not from whence it comes, but I see it in the determination of the young people pursuing the glory that comes from perfecting a primal cultural expression – dance. And when it’s true to form and performed majestically with pride, any culture’s dance is its identity and forms the nervous system of a people who, while unrelated are still related.

True cultural expression is welcome around the world because people are naturally interested in and want friendship with their kinsman and neighbors in the world. Music, dance and art in their classic representations accomplish this for all of humanity. I mean, why would you want harm to come to a people whose civilization can offer such inspiring imagination, beauty and energy? What’s the use of fear and separation?

At the World Championships, the champions just get out on that stage and throw down. They already know there’ll be a hundred dancers behind them that want the prize, and they already know that there’s someone out there who maybe worked the harder and wants it more, and in the end – it’s all up to a panel of judges. Thankfully, having a life of its own, sheer pageantry carries the day. Every dancer wants to look their best, and each wants to do their best, oh, and have the performance of a life time, this time (no pressure).

I knew we were in for a long day when Renee returned to us from the stage after her first round, and while receiving compliments for her performance announces that she has just “bored John Carey”. The 8 time World Champion, trainer of World Champions and now judge at her Worlds competition was apparently not exactly rapt with her hornpipe. So I guess it was about time for some drama to ensue, and I guess you’d better impress him with your reel then.

Cherisse and I really had no expectations as Renee had precious little preparation for this competition compared to her normal un-injured run from Oireachtas in November until Worlds just before Easter. However, with only 7 to 8 weeks available to train flat out after the knee injury, her competition had been out-preparing her with every passing day for over three months. We didn’t really know what she’d have in the tank on competition day. No matter, Renee was here to dance like the champion who’d earned her right, and she would not accept anything but her best and now she’d bored John Carey.

Her second round, the reel in soft shoes was magnificent as it usually is, and a style trademark she’s known for in the ranks, but in the last few measures, breathtakingly close astride the dancer on stage with her she was unable to perform her final spin. Though she landed her final step with customary aplomb, she had blown it. That’s what she said. “I blew it.” As often happens dancers will tangle on the stage in the course of their dances and the results can be disappointing because your flow is broken, steps are missed. Fortunately for Renee, it was right at the end of the dance and in a situation in which judges could conceivably give you a pass on a flub in which you weren’t necessarily at fault, which she wasn’t.

Nonetheless, with a boring hornpipe and a flubbed reel, the girls set their minds on a hasty exit. I set my mind on a painful wait for the recall numbers. Roughly two hours passed and finally the recall list was in hand and the numbers were called out to the waiting dancers and their supporters. My heart was pounding as usual as I waited for the numerical result in which two thirds of the field was summarily eliminated — thank you, better luck next time.

The hush in the ballroom was punctuated by occasional outbursts as dancers received their recalls. The wait for Renee’s #181, being 81 numbers down the list was excruciating. Handfuls of dancers eliminated with each number called, and then “181”! Oh my God, she’s recalled, incredible, incredible! I rushed from the ballroom to find them. Round three would begin in just minutes.

Perhaps our fondest memory of this Worlds is Renee performing her set dance to “Vanishing Lake”, a contemporary set dance composition being played stage side on piano by its composer, Francis Ward, who had also been accompanying the dancers since 9 o’clock that morning. He played and Renee danced, and together I thought they were magic.

That Renee recalled and retained her World ranking is so much more than we could have hoped, Cherisse and I, but I learned something about these champions and that is, when you’ve worked hard enough to be at the top, you want to get to the top and so for some there was chagrin behind a gracious smile at the awards ceremony. This may have been their last chance, as it was for Renee, who accepted her medal with just a little disappointment as did many others on the awards stage with her.

Although competitions were over for her, Renee decided to attend her regular Sunday dance class and she found out that A. she can still dance those steps, though not without raising a few blisters; B. her feet and legs felt so much lighter without the weight of the dread of having to compete the new steps. So much lighter did they feel that she was actually enjoying the new dances for a change. And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes the story of how one little girl got happy feet.

Thanks to those who have faithfully followed and read the feisfunder blog. It’s been fun to write and reflect on a truly unique opportunity to engage with the fascinating and vibrant world of Irish Dance. As I’ve said, I never would have dreamt it, nor the future in Irish dancing that lies ahead for a young aspiring performer with her whole career now ahead of her. Perhaps there will be a subsequent reporting of the exploits of a young up and coming Irish dancer looking to conquer the world on the professional stage.

Keeping you posted, as always, and many thanks for your support.

Jim

HELLO WORLDS!

 

Live action photo, first round, World Championships, London, 2014

Canandaigua, NY. After many years I realize I’m ‘inspiration dependent’. I need something to inspire me every day to get up and go. Having all the normal adult responsibilities just isn’t enough to move me and I’ve behaved irresponsibly towards myself and others in the past as a result. However, I’ve seen marked improvement since Irish Dance popped into my purview.

Irish Dance is very inspiring, but more to my point, it’s that one girl who dreamed and worked and danced her way into the competitive Irish dancing stratosphere. It’s her grit and determination, not to mention talent, that has me riveted to the cause. She is my inspiration, and forever will be.

I do hope she has all she needs to keep herself inspired. Lord knows it’s a lot of work in the freezing cold with the traipsing back and forth over miles of snowy highway to classes and lessons, and rehabilitating an injury besides, to be as ready as she can be to compete in the World Championships in Montreal in just a few weeks.

We have the picture above framed and hanging in our living room, a shining moment in time that crowns all our efforts as a family to date, not to mention Renee’s showing which propelled her to a world ranking. It never fails to bring back the rush of electricity and excitement that swirls ‘round in such rarefied air as you’ll find at the top of competitive Irish Dance, a place I could never have glimpsed or imagined even five years ago. I’m inspired each time I look at it.

Recently, I was piqued by some fatherly career advice given to actress, Tea Leoni, who recalled it in an interview, and I’m paraphrasing, “Don’t just do something because you’re good at it. Do the thing you’re passionate about and you’ll GET good.” I was thinking when I read it that here’s a thought that fairly sums up Renee’s Irish Dance journey,she being someone who always wants to do it all, was forced to realize that at some point, you have to choose, and she chose, essentially between gymnastics and dance, and it was a hard choice for her. That was some 5 or 6 years ago, but at long last, it seems pretty clear that she chose wisely, and she’s had the benefit of both regimens, with great teaching and coaching throughout.

It’s a great burden off a parent’s shoulders to know that a child of theirs can compete and excel in this world, and on that note, another quote, paraphrased as well, but very telling about all that Renee and the thousands of truly excellent Irish dancers who will come together at the World Championships know all too well. It was the much acclaimed, two-time World Champion, choreographer extraordinaire, Donna Griffin, who was assuring the Young School dancers 6 months ago that it wouldn’t be “baby steps” they’d be getting as the new dances they would learn for the next year’s competitions, and that if they expected to win, place or show they were “going to have to WORK”.

That’s pretty much the champions’ secret in a nutshell: do the work, get the guidance and do the work, every day, every day. And if you do it, then you must love it, so you’ll do it, every day, every day.

Look out Worlds and a Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all!

Keeping you posted.

 

Jim

An Irish Dance still life.

An Irish Dance still life.

Canandaigua, NY. It’ll be a quieter Thanksgiving than we had planned this year– for better or for worse, as Renee is now well on rehabilitating a knee injury, but as yet, unable to dance and compete. Disappointing as it was being out of our annual Mid-Atlantic Region Oireachtas in Philadelphia, she’s been remarkably composed and philosophical about the whole experience. Having a top 10 finish in the North American Championships in July certainly put her among the favorites at this year’s regional qualifier.

The good news is that the knee is healing, the MRI indicating no damage requiring surgery or much further babying. Physical therapy has been running on course and on target for a good month and she can cut back to a single session each week now instead of two. We elected an aggressive treatment plan and were pleased to find dance specialized physical therapists through the University of Rochester Sports Medicine group. The further good news is that Renee had qualified for World Championships at the Nationals in July and can be excused from participation in the Oireachtas, which of course, we are sorry to miss.

So, now, we look ahead hopefully, to Worlds, 2015, in Montreal. When Renee can resume dancing we’ll assess the knee, take another deep breath and decide, is Worlds our goal?

Life comes at you rapidly when you’re a competitive athlete, the demands of your sport, to always to be conditioned and ready for competition. Irish Dance has three major events to prepare for spaced throughout the year – March-July-November—which means intensive training year round for Champion level dancers. With regular competitions staged throughout a dancer’s region, not to mention the world-over, competing twenty times or more during the year is not uncommon – in addition to going to school and having a life.

It would not be the first time we’ve gone limping in to a major competition. Irish dance horror stories abound. Needless to say, training for World Championships is rigorous, not for the faint of heart or for those of uncertain intentions – or injuries. With each passing year, Renee has shown amazing dedication to every class, every event, every physical and emotional challenge she’s been faced with. I sometimes wondered how and why she was able to persevere, but she always showed her inspiration, her desire, the burn she’s  had to perform and to be a champion dancer from the very beginning.

In looking to take her abilities a step further, and in an effort to perfect new and more complex choreography, this year, Renee could set a training schedule free to re-delegate the hours she spent in school last year. The hard work in the dance studio, plus lessons, plus the coaching job at the gymnastics center she had just obtained, easily filled those hours. The pace of the day quickly became as exacting as the school bell had been, many days to include nights.

Basically, her job was to dance, and we also began looking for opportunities for professional work, producing quite a nice CV (curriculum vitae) I thought, thanks to her mother’s intensive efforts, and also to the fine work of a family friend, a good photographer and graphic artist.

Endurance training was a major part of Renee’s regimen for September and October. At this time of the year it’s harder than before Nationals because her steps are new and her unfamiliarity with parts of the dances always threatens flow, sapping energy quickly. It was brutal some days, but she was nevertheless, making good progress, looking very strong.

It was a Wednesday afternoon during her lesson, and while performing a butt-kicking (literally) movement with her left leg, there was a funny snap of the knee. It halted her for a moment, but it didn’t hurt, so the lesson continued. When she got home, she danced a while longer.

Not realizing that she had dislocated her knee cap hours earlier. The pain and swelling later that evening was a bit shocking to us all. We made an orthopedics appointment the next day.

The speed of the life coming at you can result in quite a crash when there arises a crucial imbalance. Whoa, boy! In this case, her quadriceps, the big thigh muscles, simply overwhelmed her knee stabilizers in a movement she’s done a million times.

Why? Why now? Well, factors known, and lots of new unknowns, did add up. Renee’s long-time gymnastics coach mentioned that perhaps she’d been slacking off on her toe raises. Renee confessed that perhaps she had. We live and learn that maintaining focus to include the simplest things is what champions must do — big picture, many details.

The Irish dancer’s nightmare is a misstep, falling out of time and having to catch up with the music. The steps are so quick. How to artfully cheat a beat and somehow, in a split second, find a way back into the flow? Sometimes you’re lucky. I think that this time, Renee was pretty lucky. She can go on as she chooses.

She’s anxious to dance as you might imagine. Will she find her way back into her “pre-knee” groove or perhaps, find a new spark?

Keep you posted.

Jim

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MINDING THE GAP

 

Promotional picture from Renee’s CV photo shoot. Photo by Matt Kominiarek.

Canandaigua, NY. And so, here we are. What lies beyond the green door?

Just a few steps outside the great gate that girds Renee’s childhood paradise at Sonnenberg Gardens stands one of Canandaigua’s most popular photo settings. It was 10 years ago this weekend, Labor Day, in the USA, that the Burns’ moved into the Gatehouse there, and ten years ago that Renee began her formal Irish dance training at the Young School of Irish Dance. Last week was spent with choreographer extraordinaire and two-time World Champion, Donna Griffin, and this completed the last leg of the very exciting, mega-dancing 2014 summer tour, leading to a new beginning for us all now — in the “gap year”.

Borrowing a line from London Underground, we’re busy minding the gap between high school graduation and…what? Aside from discovering that taking a gap year after high school is fairly common, allowing a young person to contemplate their direction forward, whether through further education, skills training, employment or otherwise, we’re trusting that we have built a solid foundation for all future aspirations and potentials.

Renee has aspired to dance on stage in the big Irish dance shows since the age of 1. Her determination has carried us this far. She’s about as conditioned as she could possibly be, and you’re only 18 once – but for a whole year. So, as much as it unsettles the very conservative, get-your-ducks-in-a-row, earn-your-degree(s)-and-make-a-contribution-to-this-world matriarch of our family, losing this particular moment could result in a lifetime of regret. College degrees can be acquired over time and will endure, but youth is fleeting. Cherisse and I both agreed, we couldn’t let Renee go through life wondering “what if?”

After her last few years’ hard work as an Open Champion competitor, and the sacrifices we’ve all made getting ready and getting to all the major competitions: Philadelphia, Nashville, Chicago, Boston, Anaheim, London, Glasgow, Montreal, and countless local miles in between – we’ve been locked on to these coordinates. So, here we are. How will we accomplish her next objective?

It’s a fairly straight forward proposition really. She has a CV (curriculum vitae), some excellent references, a demo reel and the desire. So, if you’re reading this and you want an awesome Irish dancer for your dance show, variety review, video production, television program, podcast, film project or other, Renee has the goods. Please contact us. I’m not sure it will be easy for us, but we’ll let her go.

In the interim, there’s one more Oireachtas in Philadelphia at Thanksgiving to prepare for and one more World Championships next Spring in Montreal. Renee will continue taking classes at the Young School, working with her private students, and she’ll be putting in some time training budding gymnasts at Eagle Gymnastics, her second home here in Canandaigua for 13 years, as well. Filling her days will be the least of her challenges. What will the big challenges be?

I know how a childhood dream can hang on. I knew I wanted to play music from a very early age, and I could never let it go, and I can never get enough. I can relate to the thrill her Studio2Stage experience produced because it touched that chord she heard so clearly 17 years ago. She had her first real taste. It was brilliant.

It fired the imagination seeing the first fruits of all her hard work come to life in a bangin’ dance show like the S2S crew put on last month. Being truly her mother’s daughter, her attention to detail got her appointed a dance captain during the week long rehearsals, and this added to her excitement and satisfaction with the production and most importantly, a vision for her future. Now, it’s time to get down to business of letting the world know what’s up.

So, here she is, poised before the big green door.

Keeping you posted.

Jim

MY DANCE CAPTAIN

 

Canandaigua, NY. By all accounts, the Studio2Stage experience came to a thrilling conclusion on Sunday night at the Wilkins Theater on the Kean University campus, Union, New Jersey.

“Brilliant!” As the Irish love to claim. I concur, as once again Irish dance showed itself to be one of the most engaging and entertaining dance forms, and one that continues to gather more and more acclaim worldwide. For an aspiring performer that certainly is a great advantage and among the 60 participating dancers in the week-long Irish dance intensive there will definitely be professional opportunities in the offing. For Renee, life will never be quite the same.

Most Irish dance shows like “Riverdance”, “Lord of the Dance”, “Heartbeat of Home”, “Irish Celtic”, “Gaelforce” and many others originated and base themselves in Ireland. Studio2Stage was no exception, a true Irish production, with the producers and organizers, choreographers and musicians mostly hailing from the Emerald Isle.

An experience such as this had never been available here in the states until last year when the call for auditions went out to amateur competitive dancers all around the world, and from around the world they came. Australia and New Zealand were represented, so were Manitoba, Alberta and Calgary, Canada, and far away states like California, Colorado and Arizona, Minnesota and Missouri.

The great mix of dancers included some of the best competitive Irish dancers in the world. This naturally made “That’s Dancing” a very high caliber production, from the original musical compositions by Anthony Davis, to the choreography and the costumes – all first rate. Learning the ropes from great dancers and choreographers, all veterans of the big touring shows, was priceless and prepared the dancers to forge the divide between amateur and professional dancer.

Seeing the show come together through the hectic rehearsal schedule was a learning experience like no other save for joining an actual touring show. Some 60 hours of dancing were logged in rehearsals and the actual performance and Renee reports that her legs are still feeling it. As she described it, long hours learning steps and routines notwithstanding, “Each day it felt like I was building a gorgeous layer cake of happiness, and the performance was the icing on the cake.”

It goes to show that if you really love something you’ll love every minute of it. Apparently, love equals leadership as Renee was appointed to be Dance Captain of her crew. The Dance Captain is a prime member of any Irish dance troupe with a whole raft of responsibilities ranging from the health and well-being of the show’s performers to stage conditions in the many various environments in which they perform. Having inherited her mother’s acute sense of order, Dance Captain plays to one of Renee’s great strengths and naturally we were very gratified to learn of and about her highly visible appointment. This will look good on her CV we’re thinking.

As we collect ourselves following the long anticipated events of last week and prepare to head back out on the competition tour, we’re reminded of how Renee has been nurturing her dream since she was barely two years old. Very deliberately she has built her career to this point one competition at a time, one medal, one trophy, one sash, one more hour sweating it out in the studio. Dedication – very inspiring! Hard work – bring it on says the Dance Captain.

Feis at the Falls is next – Niagara Falls that is. Keeping you posted.

 

Jim

 

GOING PRO.

Canandaigua, NY. In five days I’m off to New Jersey with Renée, a fiddle, nine days worth of dance gear (don’t ask) and a dream now almost 18 years old. Studio2stage has been a focus for the last six months and at the moment there’s some uncertainty as to whether that’s a light at the end of the tunnel or an oncoming train. It’s rather like that when you’re constantly throwing yourself into ever more foreign and challenging situations. Apparently, that’s where the opportunities are.

Studio2stage came about when Renée’s dance teacher (the fabulous Paula Burke) passed along notice of an audition. It looked to be right up Renée’s alley, like all these years of competitive Irish dancing led exactly here – pretty convenient. So, an audition was videoed and uploaded, a headshot and a bio and then we waited for word.

While we waited, we counted down to World Championships and a trip back and forth to London followed by North American Championships in Montréal and a feis or two. No point in sitting by trying to hatch this dream on the off chance she would be selected for this very exciting professional try. When we learned she had been accepted on to the Studio2stage Crew we were pretty stoked. Then we had to bone up on bank wire transfers and boogie overseas.

This particular opportunity isn’t like getting hired, but it is getting a good look-over by some people who could conceivably hire or refer you — producers, dancers and choreographers from the big shows like “Riverdance”, “Lord of the Dance”, “Heartbeat of Home” and others. So, it seems more like a professional workshop, which many professions have. However, we get a big dance show at the end of it, and we’re very excited to see Renee and a good group of the dancers Renee has competed with and against for years coming on to perform.

If competing in the major Irish Dance competitions has shown us anything, it’s that you want to get things over the hump and rolling down hill so when precious golden moments arrive, you’ve got lots of motivation and momentum in the desired direction. Anyway, I think we’ve got it, and if the packing goes well we should have it knocked.

There’s certainly glory in living, and Renée has proved that. There’s also exhaustion and overload, so with Renee away, perhaps Cherisse and I can va-k. We’ll see her in Union, NJ at Keene University on August 3^rd. Anyone wishing to come to see the show is invited, and I can vouch for the talent.

You can check out the venue and ticket details here: http://www.keanstage.com/seasontickets/dance.asp

My heart is pounding already.

Jim

A NEW WORLD VIEW

Round 1, Heavy Jig.

Canandaigua, NY – So much brilliance, so much drama, so many dancers, so few winners, so this is what it’s all about. We’ve had a month and a half to unwind from the London World Championships adventure. Things do look different from here.

I think back on London and last year in Boston and the world of difference between Renee’s outcomes in those two World Championship events, and how achieving a world ranking this year places her among her peers. It is perhaps, the most sought after level of success in Irish Dance, partly because the chances of becoming the World Champion are so slim for most of the field.

I think about the 94 dancers in Renee’s competition that were unceremoniously eliminated after two rounds, and would have no chance at a ranking this year. Well, maybe next year. That’s what we were saying a year ago. Not recalling at Worlds is a pretty hard pill to swallow after fighting your way into World contention. Credit Irish dancing for commanding dedication as thousands are called each year, but alas, few are chosen.

Of course, it’s not a lottery, it’s about getting on the floor and making it happen, performing under pressure, when it’s all on the line. It’s a life lesson, a wake-up call. When you don’t recall, and competition is all over for you, you can say that just getting here was a great accomplishment, and that’s true, it’s just not much comfort.

Happily for us, this year is different. Renee achieved her world ranking. Even so, we think, gee, we could do better, and we could. Even the World Champion can say, I’ll repeat my feat next year, watch and see. I can tell you, it won’t be easy for her.

Now with a new season under way, we have the benefit of added experience. We have a view of the World stage we didn’t have before, and a new mission that begins with North American Nationals in Montreal next month. It’s the first chance to qualify to compete next year at World Championships and be recognized once again as one of the very best.

For Renee, as with so many of her contemporaries in Irish Dance, it’s high school graduation time, as well. As she, and we, anticipate the change of venue, and the move on to the much bigger stages of life, her mother and I are  thankful for her timely rise in the ranks this year. From now on, the girl has charge of her own career, and we can say we have her well prepared and positioned for her future.

As I write tonight, she is enjoying her Senior Prom and time away from training to just be a regular kid with her best friends. We would forgo a feis (competition) so the day could be completely set apart from Irish dance, and it was. Tomorrow, however, she’s due for a 3 hour dance class at 11:30.

Oh, well.

I’ll keep you posted.

Jim

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The sacred altar of Irish Dancing, London, 2014.

Canandaigua, NY. It was my dear wife who spontaneously coined it, “the altar”. The few of us chatting together and waiting the painfully long time for the results of Renee’s competition did agree. We were all here to give thanks and praise for Irish Dancing at this year’s Irish dance Mecca, the Metropole Hilton, London, UK. It’s Holy Week, April 17^th, 2014.

We summoned up the last of our energy for the show of enthusiasm due these amazing dancers; for the phenomenal day of competitive dancing which now stretched to nearly 14 hours. We hoped that soon the judges’ tallies would be displayed up on the large video screens above us and we’d know who this year’s Ladies 17 to 18 World Champion would be. Probably more important to Cherisse and I, what would be Renee’s ranking be here among the world’s best? The thrill of actually having this opportunity is as yet, unparalleled in my life, and in the moment I can barely grasp it.

The ball room continues steadily filling with expectant family and friends and it feels to me like a huge family reunion. Many of us reflect on the day’s remarkable competition. Conditions were excellent for the dancers, I thought, and there were so many strong performances in rounds 1 and 2. Only 50 of the original 144 17 to 18 year old ladies had been recalled to dance in round 3. All that was left to do now was to rank them. This would be done by a very distinguished 7 judge panel. How they were able to eliminate 94 of these, the best dancers from 10 countries, I can only imagine because it’s done by numbers; not my forte.

World Championships competitive rankings are a judged affair, and that’s a real key in Irish Dance. I think of it as an art that’s competitive, but more like entering your painting for exhibition in a juried art show. It kind of comes down to what the judges like, as well as how accomplished an artist, or dancer, has become. Still, each of the 7 judges on the panel watching the day’s competition are knowledgeable well beyond the average spectator. To be sure, through the years a lot of consideration has been given to the judging procedures by An Coimisiun, the world governing body, to make things as fair as possible, because it could easily be a popularity contest.

Countering any attempt to reduce Irish dancing to mere popularity, you’ve got to hand it to the dancers and their teachers. They have individually, and together, assembled the most incredible, virtual non-stop, day-long show. Where the shoe meets the floor, that’s where the proof is undeniable. Irish dancing is not only a display of competitive skill, it’s an extreme sport. 40 measures of music clicking along, you dance, you bow, it’s a blur and “ding!” you’re done. Next!

Those few moments on stage have to be perfect. How do you achieve that? Lonely hours of stretching, drilling, sprinting through your dances, over and over; constantly having to correct the same little mistakes until you finally stop making them, then making your left foot leads look as strong as your right foot leads, perfectly in time, missing nary a beat, while keeping your posture arrow straight, your arms tucked neatly at your side. Also, make sure you’re exquisitely made up, wigged, bejeweled, dressed to the nines and perfectly tanned, thank you very much, and oh, make it all look completely effortless.

If all that happens at precisely the right moments, you have three chances to make your mark in the rankings and one competitor’s marks will crown them World Champion until next year when they’ll have to prove it all over again, or not. So, it’s only right that a total fuss is made over these dancers who recall at Worlds. It’s no accident they’re standing here at the awards ceremony.

As the results were displayed score by score, there came a number of surprising and varying official opinions about who this year’s champion would eventually be, and there was not a drop less drama than the room could contain when those final numbers were read out. It’s a very graphic representation of your standing based on your performance that immediately begins to settle out of the scores 1 to 100. In those moments, being at the top can still feel just like being at the bottom; when a half point can separate one place and the next. I believe there was a tie for 15^th. Renee claimed 37th place.

Needless to say, it’s been a welcome culmination of an entire year’s hard work and focus on this one goal. You made it. You punched your ticket for World Championships and now you know where you stand. The accomplishments of every boy and girl there competing at Worlds are somewhere around super-human because of their dedication to perfecting their dancing, and the teachers, their dancers, and the parents, the grandparents and the siblings, and, and, and…

It’s truly a world community effort to produce this order out of this chaos and the 48^th World Championship of Irish Dance was at day’s end, 7 days end to end, a very chaotic and orderly affair. Trophies and medals awarded, names and rankings, recorded.

So, nothing much left to do now about Worlds but set sight on next spring. Next up: North American National Championships (NANs) in Montreal, week of July 4^th.

Stay tuned.

Jim

Greetings from the Waterford Ambassador

 

St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Rochester, NY 2014

Canandaigua, NY. Rochester’s 37th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade was undoubtedly an auspicious beginning to our 2014 tour. Renee has been a marcher in our annual rite of spring since ’04 or ’05, but this year was clearly a very special year. She was so warmly welcomed by the Rochester Irish community and she was so proud to be recognized. She held her own place in the first division. A parade needs a princess, right?

Renee’s parade appearance was as special honoree, the Waterford Ambassador, selected by the Waterford Scholarship committee representing the sister city relationship Rochester, New York shares with Waterford, Ireland. This is a bit poignant as Renee, nor I or her mother has ever been to Waterford. We’d like to remedy that, yet in just a couple of weeks we’ll be skipping over the Emerald Isle once again on the way to London for the Irish Dance World Championships.

Nevertheless, because we have poured our souls and our pocketbooks into continued adventures ever nearer, we could have been no prouder, her mother and I, than to see her waving to the crowd out in the middle of Main Street. The next stop to Ireland couldn’t be that far off, surely. We trust in faith, in God and a bit of destiny to guide us along. Perhaps we’ll meet an Irish dancer from Waterford at the Worlds.

Yes, it’s all about the World Championships now and it’s hard to believe we’re nearly there. With a couple of competitions on tap this next two weeks, Renee will take the stage to get a reading on her readiness to quest for a world ranking. Not too many are called, and fewer are chosen at the World Championships. It’s estimated that less than 1% of competitive Irish dancers of all ages qualify to compete on the World stage.

Regardless the outcome, Renee will always be a beautiful Irish dancer and a true standard bearer for the Irish here in America, and wherever she may fly. She has immersed herself in the music, the literature and the history in a big way. Growing up, I had little exposure to the Irish save for the few sisters with that funny Gaelic lilt in their voices at Our Lady of Lourdes School.
Years from now,

I hope Renee will be able to look back upon a rich Irish heritage. She’s contributed more to ours than anyone I know save for my mother’s brother, my uncle Bill, who could sing a fine Irish ditty. It seems we’ve condensed an extreme amount of Irish into a single generation, but that’s really thanks to Renee herself.

I see Michael Flatley is a special guest speaker at this year’s World Championship opening ceremonies. Sadly, we won’t arrive in time to see him then, but I’d like to thank him in advance for setting a stage for a little girl to dance and work and grow to be a champion. Special props to Jean Butler.

Jim

 

 

 

 

 

Ten Years On

First solo dress – Feis at the Falls, Niagara Falls, 2007

Canandaigua, N.Y.  Hard to believe we’re 10 years on into the Irish dance experience, which doesn’t include the 7 years before we got Renee officially signed up in all this excitement. For all of those early years, “Riverdance” and “Lord of the Dance” were rarely out of the VCR.

Occasionally, we’ll mark a memory with how many dresses ago it was. This was Renee’s first solo dress, and we figure that to be about 7 or 8 dresses ago not counting or counting Young School dresses. It was a big day for an up and coming dancer to don her first solo dress, even a 2^nd hand one, and I think it’s still my favorite. It set such a sunny tone for an exciting career, which it certainly has been so far.

With Renee graduating high school this year I could see where we might be on the home stretch. However, with so many possible futures for her talents and aspirations before us, World Championships fast approaching and decisions for a new graduate coming due, blending all the ingredients into some kind of grand plan will keep things interesting. It’s pretty much what we’ve always done, but there’s a lot more emphasis this year on career and things are coming on very quickly now.

We’re gearing up for our “new year’s” celebration, St. Patrick’s Day. The Chinese have there’s and the Jewish have there’s, so the Irish have there’s too. We’re pleased to celebrate anyone’s big day, as the Irish love to celebrate, so we’re pleased to have anyone so inclined to celebrate with us on March 17^th.

Things get going this month as the annual Rochester St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee is getting this year’s event set to kick off. It’s a highlight of the year for our fair city, rain or shine, sunburn or shivers, we’ve seen it all in the last 10 years on St. Paddy’s.

This year is special as last September Renee was selected as the Waterford Ambassador and Scholarship Winner at the Rochester Irish Festival. This means she’ll get to go with the fellow honorees in the parade’s lead division representing Rochester’s Irish sister city, Waterford and then later on, a march down Main Street with the Young School. Pretty cool.

Already she has been tapped as a representative of the local Irish community, and has been pleased to entertain with dancing and some pretty fair fiddling, thanks to the Rochester Irish Festival and St. Patrick’s Day committees. Cherisse and I naturally are very proud of her as she’s proven herself confident and poised in every situation, even having to make impromptu remarks in front of a roomful of strangers.

I’ve always exhorted her a la Kramer, “Poise counts!” And, I think she’s taken that to heart. Certainly, poise is what stands out among the many competitive champion Irish dancers whose company Renee has joined in the last few years. We look forward to their company again in London for Worlds in April. Being among them, as talented, dedicated and motivated as they all are is inspiringly electric.

As the Olympics proceed in Sochi, we reflect on the sacrifice all those athletes have signed up for. Theirs is a four-year commitment. We’re thankful that Renee has the opportunity to participate in her most competitive and prestigious event each year. What have any of us to do but to stay inspired?

May I be the first to wish you a happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Jim