The Rhythm of Ireland / Virginia Beach feis was actually pretty great! I'm tired, really paying for it today. What a time suck it is, but, M enjoyed herself, she did really really great, too, but if it's not fun then it stops, and it was fun, too. I got to meet someone!, and yeah, life goes on. I will elaborate more later, or, that's my intent.
Elaborating:
Having someone unfamiliar with a feis come visit, is a bit interesting -- M's cousins were obviously getting bored, but wanting to see HER, and excited when M had gotten a 1st or 2nd or something else fun:)
M had already had a girlfriend, L, check on M's score, too, a 2nd ! (overall, two 2nd places, one each in slip jig and treble jig) great job! out of something like 20 dancers, a 5th on her (regular) jig that she felt she did real poorly on, out of about 20 dancers again, so yeah really, and an "oops I forgot my step" smile laughing at herself during hornpipe, even the judged smiled with her, M said later, not placing. The prizewinner reel would likely have been a 4th, and L fell? so I think a 5th, but the judge gave only 1-3rd places, and M was not upset, she was feeling happy with herself and fine. :)
But, I digress, of course, I'm tired AND, um, don't tend to think linearly all the time.
I didn't know how bored Mike would be, I appreciate that he visited there cuz you just don't know what someone will think. This was a very nicely done feis, held in a nice hotel with the family entry fee included in registration, so neither Mike nor I nor anyone else had to pay an entry fee "at the door." I prefer this method.
It went slowly through novice. I think Mike saw Treble Jig and Hornpipe, both hardshoe dances, and yes, different speeds were allowed for Hornpipe. I really liked this fiddler's style of playing, always a live musician, and Niall also seemed to be attuned to when a dancer was ending the dance, anyway, scheduled or not:) (Jig, slip jig, and reels, are all soft shoes / ghillies).
I'd forgotten about the wigs -- we talked more about colors and designs and a touch on level of competition and how it's all run. It'd have likely been more fun to see a SHOW, or a hanging out hearing a band and feeling compelled to dance moment. Anyway, MikeV's comments (copied from his journal I'm Going Sane in a Crazy World : It was a lot of fun. I also got to see and learn a bunch about Irish dancing. My ex used to play the Fief, but no dancing. I can pick up the beat of anything so the differences of the dances was lost on me since the difference seemed to be speed. The funny thing was that if you needed to find someone and said the one with the Shirley Temple curls it would have been like being in Mexico and saying yeah the tanned guy with black hair.
My reply: Yeah, that is true:) Readers, imagine Mike's face when I tried to explain sock glue to him, lol, albeit he could see my daughter reapplying duct tape onto the tips of her hardshoes, so explaining that duct tape is a necessity was easier:) Ah, but Mike left JUST before the treble reel, which is more fun for the audience who claps along, and at the end, ALL the dancers (many) dance the same step together, and it's fun:) (Okay, proud feis Mom -- M tied for 3rd in that!) Yawn. Is a long trip down and back. Wish I could have spent more time, actually seen a beach there and not just highway and the hotel, and focus more on meeting up instead of the feis. Ah, well, next time:) -- Robin
We hadn't traveled to a feis before (well, Delaware Feis is just a couple hours away, so we did that and back in one day, but not previous to THIS summer, as she wasn't that interested until this summer). It was really fun to go down Saturday night -- even if we spent Saturday DAY with M finalizing research and some homework, and me housework and laundry and the dog walker/feeder scheduled, etc. M hosted a few of the girls in our room which worked out as ours was the only one with a microwave, and I'd brought popcorn. Some of us parents got together for a bit, also, including teacher Ma, and we met a musician, Mark Annigan??? who recognized me from helping often at two other feseana's closer to his home area, and an impeccably dressed woman who I noticed on Sunday was one of the judges (she never had M, but also didn't meet M).
Being tired is something to watch for, but being relaxed and closer-knit, being supportive of each other, has it's good points, too.
Naturally, M slept the entire way back, so the "quick" last bit of Spanish and the math she was to finish in the car didn't get done (both started on, and science study guide finished enroute down and other stuff before we left). BUT, it does mean she felt wide awake and somehow really on a roll with it, her mind able to just jump to the right ideas, etc. Persona Secretivo ended up being Sponge Bob for this week, rofl, I helped her look up words like pineapple and porous. Others are to try to guess it. We did some last touches on her science presentation due today, she wide awake, lol, me, NOT.
I remember when she started putting all her research and ideas on the boards for this project. Um, honey, perhaps get it all organized into sections, separate your papers out into groupings, start off talking of the mountains in Maryland in general, and then get more specific as to each one you're presenting about. She was, surprisingly to me, really appreciative, "THANKS MOM!" Okay, great! She hadn't thought to get it organized first. Guess that's part of what they are learning now, and what will always be a struggle for her, and me, but I also analogized it to a paper in terms of organizing this. This morning, she retweaked some wording, and decided to demonstrate how a, um, nanock??? have to look it up, Sugarloaf Mountain was formed this way, by everything else around it eroding away, instead of a, um, the type where two ridges push up against each other. Dag, I even studied this, in depth, read a lot of it with her, or in addition, I really LIKE the great variety of geology in Maryland. Anyway, removed the dog treat that'd fallen into the sand pail of tiny shells, and she'll use shaking (wind) and water (rain) to demonstrate erosion, with a little coffee measuring spoon holding up some that'll not be eroded away. Somehow.
So, feis? Ack, next time, know in advance when going down, or if too much else going on, don't go. This was further than I was thinking, some of it nice driving, but not on 95. Then again, I think M's aware of anything to work on for the one coming up, this was a really nice feis, even all broke for lunch at the SAME time which means no stressing over when each stage will go, and trying to not miss a competition at another stage, etc., meaning, she ATE lunch. Hard to get her to eat during a feis, too wound / nervous, or too pumped up, or both. She had a great time, and wanted to do this. And, she DID get ALL of her homework done. Yawn!
No comments:
Post a Comment