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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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

Happy New Year from the Tudor Studio

Canandaigua, NY.  A hearty hello to all and a wish for your success and happiness in 2014, with the hope that wherever you are today, you’re safe and warm.  Brrrr!!

Not much happening at the Tudor Studio currently. Winter came early and has driven the dancers into the basement. This, of course, has meant the conversion of my man cave into a dance studio.

Actually, my rather dingy basement was devoted primarily to my drumming, and I guess it still is, sans drums, until it’s warm enough to get the dancing back out to the garage, out of which I was driven back in September. I’ve had the stand of tall pines just outside to shelter what couldn’t be kept in the garage any longer.

Thanks to all this shifting about, we’re eying a total move, probably sooner than we realize, just so everyone can have a home. What began as simple ceiling plaster preservation seems to have generated a new 5 year plan, Irish dancing, more or less, leading the way.

If you’ve got a kid with talents and abilities and dedication, there’s nothing to do but support them the best you can. And so my hat’s off to all of those I have met and have come to know who go all out so their kids can be all in on the opportunities that are out there for them.

We’re currently counting the days to the Irish Dancing World Championships in London this April. That should speed the winter days by like nothing else we currently have available. We could be sitting on beaches soaking up the equatorial sun or enjoying the hot tub in some mountain resort where they have a roaring fire in every room. Instead, we’re going Irish dancing, and really, I couldn’t be more excited.

We know this phase will end, and soon. With Winter Olympics just ahead, it brings home with emphasis the amateur’s sojourn and the hopes and dreams that accrue through years of training and competing. It sure shows how if you want to be the best, you’ve really got to want it.,,a lot. And, you have to have a bunch of people who want it with you. None of those good things ever happen by themselves.

We’ll share our ups and downs and parlay the pluses into a life we have chosen along a path we’ll travel together with welcome wonder at where it all could lead.

As the great showman, Jackie Gleason, put it, “And away we go!”

Stay inspired in 20-14!

 

Jim

 

 

 

 

The New Dress Debuts

 Waiting for competition to begin at the New Jersey State Championships.

 

Canandaigua, NY.  This post’s picture gives you a pretty good look at Renee’s new dance dress. Although it arrived from Ireland less than 3 weeks ago, for us it’s been a constant source of weary wonder and wild speculation since the 4^th of July. Now at long last, it’s among the latest of Eire Design dresses to take the stage.

It was on Independence Day at North American National Championships in Anaheim that the girls met with world famous Irish dance dress designer, Gavin Doherty, founder of Eire Designs of Belfast. They laid out their vision for Renee’s next dress. Gavin personally measured her, twice to be sure, noting Renee’s athletic shoulder width and narrow waist. Colors were discussed that would comprise a dazzling spray of flowers for the bodice. He made note that Cherisse’s name was also the name of a color bordering on hot pink. This was not lost on the girls, but Gavin had a surprise.

Pink is not high on Renee’s list of favorites, but it is a perfect flower color, and Gavin liberally leveraged it. The general consensus thus far is that he did so very successfully. We’ve already had one offer to purchase the dress. I think Renee makes it look especially smashing.

The back story on the new dress is one of considerable angst because from the time you realize you need a new one until you actually have your perfect “majors” ready turn-out, you’re on a very long and winding road. That journey actually began right after World Championships in March. That’s when the timer began to tick in Cherisse’s head, because she’s the dance mom and it’s her responsibility to see to it her dancer is properly attired in time for the next “major”.

Renee’s previous dress was also a Gavin Doherty design, and a very successful one for two separate dancers thus far, one in Australia and Renee, here in the states. It took a great leap of faith to trust that this garment would arrive intact and actually fit, but it did and it did, and it sure looked great up there on the podium at Oireachtas (o-rock-tuss) in Philadelphia last year. The new dress was produced in time to be really ready for our annual pilgrimage to Philly in just a few weeks. Renee competes for the Mid-Atlantic title again on Black Friday.

       

3^rd Place at 2012 Mid-Atlantic Oireachtas.

There’s something about an Irish dance dress that apparently has the power to raise or lower one’s profile as a competitor, especially on the big stages, under the lights, at the major competitions. Figuring out that dynamic is not so easy under the florescent tubes in a high school cafeteria, inside the boards of a hockey arena or in front of the bleachers in a grade school gymnasium, typical environs for an Irish feis.  I think it will take me many more years to appreciate what that “something” might be, but suffice to say it is a spectacular and ever-evolving art form about which there are some very strong statements being made by some very creative people, and not just world famous designers.

Solo dance dresses are one of a kind, unique designs. This sets up a very interesting and tricky situation for the designer and the buyer. Although there are basic elements each dancer may choose, such as the color scheme, type of bodice and skirt, etc., the finished product is largely the domain and prerogative of the designer/dressmaker. You don’t really know what you’ve bought until you’ve got it in your hands. You hope you like it and you hope it fits.

We’ve been pretty lucky with this, but we’ve also done a lot of studying to try to identify the most forward trends, and a lot of worrying about getting the dress in time to acquire and make ready every imaginable accoutrement, from tiara to shoe buckle. The dress is just the beginning.

Renee’s teachers advised getting a top designer to make the new dress because they set the trends. Gavin Doherty is on a pretty short list of Irish dance dress trend setters. It was more money and less control than we’ve ever had over the dress making process, which was thoroughly bedeviling, but then we’ve never had higher hopes or expectations for Renee in her competitive career to date. So, you go for it. As I’ve said time and again, she’s the real deal. Can she work a Gavin Doherty dress? You bet.

As the feis dad, I try to stay removed from all the dress fluster, but it’s like a soap opera. It sucks you in and pretty soon I can’t tell whether it’s a dance contest or a sparkle contest I’m involved in, and I have a strong suspicion that my girls are becoming raging costume-aholics. But in a room full of Irish dancers and their moms and dads, the oo’s and ah’s smooth those wrinkles right out.

Flash back to this past Saturday morning, under the florescent tubes in the aforementioned high school cafeteria, thirty competitors pacing in hard shoes were waiting to get it on in front of the judges. We’d almost canceled our departure for New Jersey late the previous afternoon as a nasty cough had settled into Renee’s chest, but not wanting to miss debuting the new dress and waste a fresh spray tan she hydrated, medicated and we pressed on.

Fortunately, an early start to her competition and the great organizing and executing of the competition by host school, the Davis Academy, and the feisweb crew, Renee was able to compete at her best, the hard dry hack and low grade fever notwithstanding. Her showing, very happily, proved good enough to capture 3^rd place.

To me, that’s what Irish dancing has been all about, putting the best foot forward in every pressurized circumstance. That’s what Renee has learned to do so well, like last month in Pittsburgh — winning 3^rd on a fresh ankle sprain — and nothing could make a father prouder, if a picture is worth a thousand words.

No matter the sport, competing successfully takes a magical combination of grace and grit and a strong sense of destiny, because adversity is everywhere and true champions battle it all the time, they condition themselves to it, they must.

And so, my thanks to Gavin and Mary, Claire and Frances and Keith and everyone at Eire Designs, as their fabulous creation did indeed help Renee to carry on through a challenging day in a very big run-up to a major competition. With the new Gavin now in place, we’re confident that all the important pieces will fall together for this year’s Oireachtas.

Last year, Renee came from nowhere to take a place on the podium. This year, I think they’ll see her coming.

Stay inspired.

Jim

To Rise Above

 

 

Canandaigua, NY. In this post, I extend my thanks for the fine event put on by the Irish Centre of Pittsburgh this past weekend. We had heard about the Pittsburgh Halloween Feis for a few years and about how much fun it is seeing all the competitors dressed in trick or treat regalia instead of traditional dance dress. We weren’t disappointed. Michael Jackson, Captain America, Dorothy of Oz, fairies, witches and even traditional Irish dancers, they were all there.

As costumed and colorful as Irish dance competitions are, there’s not much deviation from the sequin encrusted, crystal bedecked norm when it comes to Irish dance costumes. So this was a new and fresh perspective for us compared to usual. However, it was no less important and there were high expectations among the competitors. After all, Oireachtas is just around the corner, that being our annual regional competition.

We envisioned a fun outing and a good tune-up for the upcoming big show. Ours is each year at Thanksgiving in Philadelphia. Renee dressed in a cute witch costume she had in her collection. She had a candy corn theme going, and with black tights, it was the perfect little dance ensemble.

There was an excellent field of 13 ladies for the Under 18 competition, mostly from Pennsylvania and Ohio. The soft shoe round was first, a slip jig, Renee’s strongest suit.

Taking to the floor she was poised and started out in fine form, making her way energetically to the front of the stage, then crossing diagonally to the back of the stage, a slip, and down she went. The room was aghast for an instant, and Renee hopped back up, but was clearly hobbling and was very kindly helped from the stage by the girl in her pairing.

Oh, that crestfallen feeling every parent of a fallen athlete knows. With a competition at hand and a major nearing, this was the dancer’s worst nightmare.

Her mother’s talented and knowing hands got to work on the twisted ankle while I bolted for ice and an ankle brace. Renee wanted to continue, and she would have her chance, as the judges will allow some grace in case the competitor can carry on.

By the time I got back they had applied ice and tape. We were able to slide the brace right over her shoe, and with black tights, it was barely noticeable. Renee tested the ankle, it wasn’t a catastrophic injury, but its extent was still a mystery. Would it hold up to three long hard dances? Renee was determined to perform. She hadn’t come all this way to give up now.

Her fellow competitors were very concerned and understanding because besides being some of the nicest people we’ve ever met, this could just as easily have happened to any of them as well.

We could see that Renee was taking a rather ginger stride back on to the stage for her re-dance. The musician began to play and she was off once again. Her performance was perhaps a bit more reserved than usual, but successful.

Round two and three would be in hard shoes. Ice, massage, the hard shoes go on. There’s not much time. I’m thinking this upcoming treble jig is going to punish the now sore ankle. I don’t know what Renee is thinking. She would relate later, after the competition, that she was running purely on instinct and adrenalin. It shows that to truly be a great Irish dancer, as in most sports, one must embrace the pain that comes with the training and the predictable minor injuries.

Her treble jig looked surprisingly together and strong. Now she would have a little time until her set dance round to stretch and loosen and regain some composure. This wasn’t going at all the way we had envisioned, but Renee was adapting and overcoming, like a trooper does. I was pretty much in shock, and Cherisse was laying on hands.

Events are teaching us that champions can’t be complacent. There’s no room for it here, but we slipped on this occasion. They say experience is what you get when you don’t get what you wanted.

The set dance Renee is competing with currently is among the longest of them all, and if her start was a bit tentative, her push through three long complicated steps with a rousing finish was simply miraculous under her still dodgy physical circumstances.

What seemed all the more miraculous when all was said and done, were the judges’ assessments. Three judges determine the outcome of champion level competitions. As each competitors number was called from 13^th place upward, we were sure with each call that Renee’s number would be next. It was a crash and burn, how good a place could we expect?

No one was more surprised than we as with only three competitors left, Renee had not been called, and then she was, 3^rd place; incredible, after all this drama and displacement. Then, reviewing her score sheet, the judges’ own comments using language like “elegant”, “neat”, “pretty”, “great”, “well done”, proved the more that Renee had indeed risen above on this occasion.

To be sure, she’s let herself down in the past, and they were all experiences she will not allow herself to relive. So, fitting it was, I thought, that her prize this day was the Wendell August Eagle, pictured above; the eagle signifying the nature and the strength to rise above, to soar.

If my pride in her could alleviate any ache, pain or injury, Renee would be both indestructible and capable only of winning. Of course, she’s only human, and we were reminded of it on this day. Three days on, the ankle is still a bit tender and we’re treating aggressively. No more complacency as we prepare for the next couple of “tune-ups” before Oireachtas. We’ll let this experience carry us still higher.

Wishing you the desire and the capacity to always rise above,

Jim

A September To Remember

August’s accumulation of trophies, sashes, birthday cards and gifts – time to clear the table.

Canandaigua, NY —  August is always a big month for the Burns’ as Renee’s birthday falls mid month and the last few years it’s been non-stop touring. We wound up the run of competitions that began right after World Championships in April on a high note in Oakville, Ontario, and we’re thankful for that. It’s been a great run, no shortage on drama.

On behalf of Renee, myself and her mother, we’d like to give a hale and hearty congratulations to all the new Young School champions that hatched this summer. They are ever the inspiration for the champions to come and the true examples of what our kids can accomplish with sufficient inspiration.

We’ll remember this September especially because it’s Renee’s senior year at Canandaigua Academy. While that in and of itself is “major”, it’s not more than half of what life is all about as we embark on the new school year. With a lighter schedule in the classroom than last year, there’s the potential for her biggest year yet in competition. You could say expectations are pretty high.

Competition tends to fall off (in terms of the number of competitors) after high school is over and a college career begins. Many people retire from their respective sports after high school. The truly dedicated and talented soldier on. There’s no Irish dancing in the NCAA. Colleges aren’t scouting Irish dancers that I’m aware of. So with a just couple more years of good competition still ahead, we begin to turn our attention to how Irish dancing becomes a career.

Basically, a good dancer can troupe and teach. Thankfully, there appears to be some good structure for both of these endeavors. Irish dancing’s governing body in Dublin has a well developed system to train instructors whose students will then be eligible to compete as Renee has. The girls are busily scheming ways to do all that and crowd in a college education. That’s some crazy time crunching, I can tell you.

With Irish dancing’s popularity on the upswing, there are more and more shows being produced that travel the world. Renee has had a modicum of experience with both teaching and performing, and she finds both activities sufficiently inspiring, which is good because dancing is her chosen future, and she chose it long ago. I can easily imagine dance taking her clear ’round the world.

This year it took her to London, Glasgow, Los Angeles and three times to Canada. Now we set our sights on a productive school year and our annual Oireachtas, the major Mid-Atlantic regional qualifier at Thanksgiving in Philadelphia.

At this year’s Oireachtas, competitors in Renee’s age group will dance head to head against last year’s champion and the 2013 World Champion. It’s the ultimate challenge. Then it’s on to London and the milestone she has yet to reach, winning a World ranking.

We’re taking a deep breath. Here we go.

Jim

Perpetual Bling

 The Trish Hardner Memorial Trophy awarded by Rince Na Tiarna Association of Erie, PA.

 Canandaigua, NY —  “Perpetual-ity”. The PGA has it. Irish Dance has it.

As I watched Jason Dufner hoist the gigantic Wanamaker Trophy at the 95^th PGA Championship, golf’s final major tournament of the season, in nearby Rochester on Sunday, I thought about how surreal it must be for him right at this moment. He certainly looked as if he’d awakened in a dream world.

Only a champion gets to experience that moment.

At every Irish Dance competition (feis)(fesh), a whole bevy of new champions are recognized and awarded their trophies and sashes and medals. I always wondered if Renee would ever win a perpetual trophy, and have her name engraved on it for posterity. It’s been a rarity for Renee to actually be in a competition where a perpetual trophy is awarded.  The major competitions like World Championships, North American, British, Australian, Irish and Scottish Nationals, etc., all have them, and there are quite a few throughout the Irish Dance world that are awarded each year at local feisiana.

So it was on Saturday, and anticipating the prestigious award adds a little zing to the competition, I’ll say that. We spent a long day in the Niagara Falls Convention Center, and it was a good day for the Young School with two perpetual trophies won, and a new champion welcomed to the growing ranks of the Young Champions.

The Trish Hardner Memorial was established this year, 2013, to commemorate her efforts to successfully establish a branch of the Rince Na Tiarna dance school in Erie, PA. She was recognized at the awards ceremony for the Champion Girls Under 17 competition and was represented by her daughter and grandchildren.

I’m reminded that it’s in the Irish dance tradition for the teacher to bring the dance to the students rather than having the students come to them. It must be a lot like missionary work, because it reaches into some very small communities throughout the world. And wherever you are, you could be sufficiently inspired by Irish dance to be a conduit for its learning.

We were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time here in little old Canandaigua for Renee to have begun her formal dance career when she did — when the Young School came to town. Really, it would probably not have happened otherwise, so we feel honored that she could become the first to commemorate Mrs. Hardner’s pioneering and giving spirit. It’ll be fun shifting that big cup all about the house for the next year until we return it for next year’s Feis at the Falls.

Harkening back to the previous post, “The Bling Thing”, of course, awards are great, when you win them. However, they can be a bitter reminder when you lose out. We’ve been together on both sides of the equation, experiencing the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat (thank you ABC Sports).

The recognition Renee receives because her winning talent and personality has been a vicarious thrill through the years. She rarely disappoints. I personally have no trophy to hoist, save for Renee. She’s grown far too big to toss in the air any more. Instead, she lifts us all up with her latest accomplishment.

Stay inspired.

Jim