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

 

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

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

California Dreamin’

     Renee on a stroll to Disneyland.

 

Canandaigua, NY. While all our friends and neighbors back home were sheltering from the rains and trying to escape the heat and humidity, we were enjoying that sun kissed California weather you always hear about. It does wonders for your mood, and apparently, your hair, according to Renee.

Arriving around noon, Pacific Coast time, the trip from LAX to Anaheim via the famous Los Angeles freeways was quite an eye-opener for us both. We found ourselves, to quote Leon Russell, strangers in a strange land.

There’s magic in the place wherever the great young Irish dancers gather to compete for their bragging rights. That it was right across the street from Disneyland mattered little, but that certainly didn’t detract from our continual fascination with our new surroundings.

And I wouldn’t want to imply that Irish dancers are a bunch of braggarts, however, when they compete at Nationals, they are ranked. When a dancer finishes in the top five of their competition, they are awarded a sash, and sashes can be seen worn by the winners for the duration of the competition. Renee has had that opportunity once at a major competition, she was very delighted to have earned the distinction, and wore her sash proudly.

Needless to say, to the dancers, winning the sash is a big deal, it’s symbolic, and it’s hands free, no trophies to have to tote around.

It also goes quite without saying that when you gather all of the very best dancers in America and Canada, and you host some more of the best from the UK, Ireland, Australia and elsewhere in Irish dancing’s far flung universe, you not only get great dancing, you also get drama. A lot of it is there on the stages, and a lot of it is private, between the dancers and their parents, teachers and other supporters, as well as among the dancers themselves.

Pile on all the big-buck costumes, big hair, spray tans and high fashion make-up you want, there’s no disguising all the emotional highs and lows careening around in the big ball rooms.

When you put up to three Irish dancers at a time to compete on a stage, large as it may be, they’re all vying for the attention of a panel of three judges sitting directly in front of them. The music begins and in two bars, they’re all three of them suddenly making the most ridiculous maneuvers within inches of one another, and sometimes they crash. Sometimes one of the dancers will just slip and fall down, and occasionally sustain some pretty serious injuries. NASCAR comes to mind.

Until a dancer takes the stage for their first round, they really don’t know what kind of competitive conditions they’re up against: the feel of the stage, the sound of the music being played live side stage, the view of the room and the audience, the demeanor of the three judges, and what the dancers next to you may do during the course of your performance. But that’s Irish dancing as we’ve known it from the very beginning. No apologies made, and very few concessions, which are at the sole discretion of the judges.

July 4th: The customary set-up for the day’s competition would become all the more dramatic as the first round began and it became apparent almost immediately that stage conditions were unusually slippery as well as uneven. Slips and falls began to mount, and by rule, if a dancer within the performing trio or pair falls, the judges will ring a bell signaling a stop to the competition and that trio or pair are sent off stage and the next trio or pair comes on. Several rotations allow time for the fallen dancer to recover and usually, she will come back to successfully re-dance her round with the other dancer(s) she was originally on stage with.

However, the treble jig was producing carnage on stage seldom seen and the judges finally called a halt to the competition to allow time for everyone to compose themselves. Renee was among a group of dancers awaiting their turns back stage while so many crashes were occurring and they were witnessing this close up. The judges had a potential fiasco on their hands, but after some cursory consultations, inspections and some random sweeping, they did the only thing they could do – begin again.

I could sense a feeling of dread was beginning to pervade the room, but in the end, we all took a deep breath and forged ahead with the competition. Victory would surely go to the sure footed.

Fortunately, the slippery stage would not affect the soft shoe round nearly as much, and this is where Renee excels, and she did not disappoint. We sweated out the recall when half the field of 120 girls was eliminated. Those left standing would continue on to the set round, when each dancer has the stage and the judges to themselves, the champion make or break round. However, this is a hard shoe round and it was Irish dancing on ice again.

The first to dance in each round is chosen by lottery, and by that lottery Renee’s number 58 was chosen as the first to go in the 3^rd and final round. Renee has great confidence in her ability to perform her set dance and she was ready. But a slip in the middle of her first step once again evidenced the problem dancers had in the first round. To her credit she regained her composure and form in the split second she had available and finished her set, albeit with some considerable embarrassment at her lackluster performance. Tears flowed as she got off stage and out of sight of the judges.

So, we were done, Nationals was essentially behind us. We’d salve ourselves with a good meal and a stroll through the Grand Californian Hotel and Downtown Disney. Renee was sure she’d place somewhere on the bottom of the list, 50^th perhaps. This is very disappointing after placing 15^th last year in Chicago.

She dreaded the awards ceremony, but knew she would have to face the music. It probably didn’t help that she would have to go around with her bun wig and tiara in place until after awards that night, which always invites curious stares from passersby. Thankfully, Disneyland is one place where the princess look pretty much fits.

That night, the throngs cheered through endless awards. Hundreds of dancer’s names were called out, and their schools’ as well, enthusiastically by our garrulous Irish MC, and naturally, Renee’s competition would be dead last to receive awards. Through the hours, I felt her angst, and her mother too was worried sick because Renee just did not feel good about her performances, and nobody’s tougher on her than she herself. Her mother’s a close second though.

The relationship among the three of us in competitive Irish dancing is pretty symbiotic by this time, so as she stood back stage and the names and numbers of 60 girls began to tick down, my heart began skipping 3s and 7s. I don’t know how many times Cherisse and I looked at one another in amazement as 40 names were called, but my heart was pounding out of my chest when the MC shouted, “Let’s hear it for the top 20!!!” Wooo-hooo!!

“By the way,” he added, “these 20 girls are qualified to compete for a world championship in Lon—don!!!” We’re stratospheric now, and the next name called was, “20^th place — number 58, Renee Burns of the Young School, Mid-Atlantic, USA.” Woooo-hoooo!!!!

And now we have a week booked at two hotels in London for some time next April, and little geranium blossoms sticking out of the cute Galway crystal vase she won in the living room.  And that’s how we do it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Worlds Away

Waiting for a recall (pay no attention to that date).

Boston.  You’re always hopeful, but by this time Renee was beyond caring about it. She had resigned herself. The bobble in the first round had doomed her, even though her soft shoe round was excellent. “Lovely” was how Donna, her Irish choreographer described it. And it was, but it was not enough as absolute perfection is what the judges expect on the World Championship stage.

This year’s 16 to 17 year old champion is a name we know well, Paige Turilli. Congratulations to her. She is now a 3-time World Champion – very impressive. So too was the fact that she had to get up off the floor to accomplish it. Loud, shocked gasps filled the ball room as she went crashing down on to the front of the stage just a fraction of a step into her first round. Interestingly, a fall does not end your round, while the slightest slip virtually ends your chances.  The judges allow the dancers involved, three in this case, to exit the stage immediately, and then return a few sets of dancers later to “re-dance”.

There were 144 girls who danced in Renee’s competition this year. Only 50 would “re-call” to dance a 3^rd round and be rewarded with a World ranking. That’s the way it works and it’s no mean feat to be recalled, regardless of where you wind up in the ranking, as these are all the best dancers in the world from the previous year. The dancers from Ireland, Eire, as they’re referred to, are the traditional favorites for obvious reasons, which makes Paige’s accomplishment all the more impressive. She’s from the Inishfree School on Long Island. Third place went to another American, Melissa McCarthy, last year’s World Champion, from the Harney School in the New England region. Sandwiched between the two of them was the lovely Irish girl, Ellen Kennedy, who graces the cover of this month’s edition of Irish Dance Magazine.

I felt Renee’s performance was admirable, and the improvements she was able to make in her dancing were noticeable, and noted by her toughest critic, herself. More importantly perhaps, choreographer, Donna Griffin, who delivered some very intense tutorials while in Boston, and last month in London, saw improvements. Still, the distance between a World class competitor and a World Champion is quite vast, and it’s almost impossible to realize until you’ve witnessed it.

Beginning a new competition year now, I’m heartened by Renee’s resolve to go out and re-qualify for Worlds. We will have our sights set on London for the entire year, no doubt, her first “major” coming on July 4^th at North American National Championships in Anaheim. She will have a new set of dances to perfect and she’ll take them to probably a dozen or more local feisianna as a means of preparing them for her toughest competition, the aforementioned NANS and the annual Philadelphia campaign, the Mid-Atlantic Oireachtas.

I’m very glad that Irish dancing comes complete with a very high bar to be reached, not just in terms of the skills and steps necessary, but also the acuity of the performance, the ability to “bring it” when it counts. It is after all, just a precious few minutes overall that a dancer has the opportunity to make an impression. The best dancers are not only foot perfect, but they have a noticeable style, which is to say, they must dance to the music, and they must have that certain something extra that distinguishes them.

Some begin with the sureness of foot, but with a certain reticence for the performance aspect – great technically, but not that captivating to watch. Renee has always been the other way around – a true performer who loves the stage, and whom the stage loves, but whose technical aspect needs more polish. Judging is weighted a bit more to the technical side, and that’s to be expected. “How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.”

True to her past experiences, the first time out at the “majors” have all been kind of a bust, but always result in very determined and impressive performances going forward with much improved results the next time around. We’re confident this year will prove out the same and that’s sufficient to keep the train moving down the track. And if the dollar doesn’t go bust, we’ve got enough to make it to London next Spring.

Now as I reflect on the previous post, having the first World Championships behind us is a welcome relief, but an ever beckoning beacon as well.

Be your best everybody.

 

Jim