Irish Dance

1: when people refer Irish dancing as “clogging” or “tap dancing”

2:when people say Irish dancing isn’t a sport

3: when your Tc says “one more time” at least 50 more times before they mean it 

4: the struggle of dancing or blocking on a tile or any other slippery type flooring

5: the struggle of performing outside in the rain or in over 100 degree weather 

6: waiting 900 years for recalls to be announced, just to wait another decade for awards 

7: two words: oireachtas season, nationals season, worlds season, any season

8: the looks you get when you Irish dance to normal music, or any music that isn’t Irish

9: always saying “sorry I have dance” whenever people try to make plans with you 

10: dancing first

11: dancing alone

12: dancing last 

13: doing a treble jig full, or any full for that matter, especially in heavies 

14: when your Tcs go from really chill to really scary in 2.0 seconds 

15: when you are at a feis and you line up for your comp just for the judges to go on lunch break so you wait 4 score and 7 years for the judges to come back 

16: breaking in new heavies

17: after a really intense workout or full you get jello legs 

18: that annoying competitor that tries to push you off stage or cuts you off 

19: when the musician plays the wrong music or ends too early or too late 

20: when 2 water bottles aren’t enough for class so you die of thirst

21: when non Irish dancers ask you to teach them something, so you try to teach them the jig and even that is too hard -.-

22: the exhaustion of competing whether its a feis or a major 

23: the pain of a full wig 

24: when your spray tan goes wrong and you look like an oompa loompa or a carrot 

25: the gross feeling of putting sock glue on / off 

26: the frustration when people who danced after you, get their results before you when you’ve waited 40 years and they’ve waited like 5 minutes 

27: when your friends think Irish dance is easy but when they try to do it they look like a drunk leprechaun 

28: the pain of missing a click and hitting your ankle instead 

29: the struggle of stepping on or tripping over your own feet 

Okay, so I’ve been wanting to share my stamina tips for awhile! I most certainly don’t have perfect stamina but I have developed some ideas which really help me stay strong until the end.

Stamina is very mental. If you go in thinking about how long your dance is, your stamina is not going to be good. Instead, tell yourself that you are about to do your best dance ever. Another tip is to take it one step at a time. Tell yourself you’re only doing one step, than add another and another.

Do your full dances frequently! You can do as much cardio and strength training as you want but if you don’t practice doing your full dances, your dancing stamina will not improve. I try to do my full dances at least once a day (with a rest day) and coming up to competition I try to bump it up to two or three times a day. Do what’s right for you. It’s important for me mentally to be able to know that I’ve done my fulls frequently.

BREATHE. After each step, I try to check my breathing and make sure that I am actually breathing. I have a tendency to hold my breath and that does not help endurance!

Drink plenty of water.  Make sure to drink plenty of water throughout each day and especially on days you exercise! It makes a bigger impact that you think!

My Favorite Stamina Exercises:

1. Full dances + extra steps: Self-explanatory…Usually I only add one extra step but I occasionally add two steps or go twice through my dance.

2. Backwards Step-About: This one is difficult but rewarding! Start with left foot of your last step, then wait eight bars. Continue with your entire last step, wait eight bars. Add your left foot of your second step into your entire last step, and so on until you end up doing your full dance.

3. Stamina Step-About: This is my favorite at the moment. I do my first step then go directly into 8-16 bars of jogging in place while kicking all the way up behind. I then directly go into my second step and again go into 8-16 bars of jumping jacks, then I do my last step and go into jogging again. Sometimes I do my last step one last time. Feel free to switch out cardio moves! I often just do whatever cardio move I feel like, or sometimes I do basic dance moves instead, like skips.

Here’s sister duo Kara & Clare dancing it up at their photoshoot. 💃💃