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Just a few things I never wanted to hear while I was still dancing, but I wish someone had told me…

1. It’s not about how hard you work. This is the number one misconception I see on tumblr and in Irish dancing in general. We’re told from the time we start dancing that if we work our asses off we’ll win, and if we don’t we’ll lose. But I’m here to tell everyone out there that this isn’t true. In the end when you step on stage no judge is going to care if you spent 4 hours every day practicing and the girl you’re dancing with practiced once a week for an hour, if the girl you’re dancing with is better, the judge is going to place her higher. It’s an ugly truth, but it’s 100% accurate. In competition it’s not about how hard you work, it’s about how good you are. Often times in Irish dancing we train with the mindset that we want to work harder than the rest of our competition and then we’ll win, when in reality we should be training to be the best. Effective training is better than training in excess, and the reality of our world is that just because you practice more than anyone else, doesn’t mean you’ll be the best and win. 

2. Your look doesn’t matter that much. I see dancers saying all the time “I probably would have recalled except my sock fell down,” or their shoe laces came untucked, or their tan wasn’t dark enough… I’m calling bs. If you are the better dancer, you will get the highest placement regardless of how you choose to present yourself. This past oireachtas I forgot to take my shorts off from under my dress for my softshoe round and that was my highest placing round. Your look is to make you feel better when you walk on stage, it’s not some almighty power that’s going to save you from not recalling or send you to the despairs of last place. 

3. School is more important than Irish dancing. I know half of you are probably belligerently opposed to this assertion but it’s so true it hurts. We all love Irish dancing, but the fact of the matter is nearly 100% of us are going pro in something other than dance. And even if right now you think you may want to get your TC or be in a show one day, life changes. You figure out who you are as a person and discover other things you love in the world and if you’re blowing off school so you can win the worlds then you might not have the opportunity to pursue any new dreams that come your way. This time last year all I wanted in the world was to get my TC and have a dance school, and now I’m going to the Congo to help develop infrastructure and then coming back to the US to build rockets and satellites. Don’t give up everything for dance, it’s possible to keep that passion while still exploring your options and opportunities.

So in conclusion, this will probably be a pretty controversial post, but I don’t really care. This is what I realized over the past few months while I was on my way out, and I’ve decided to spread the knowledge whether the dance world is ready to hear it or not. 

Happy Dancing, 

U8 Champion Felix, taught by Tanya Cunningham with the McLaughlin School of Irish Dance, Austria!

Incredible Rhythm and intricacy of choreography for someone this age (drop heels etc) 👏😮

“How do I improve my stamina?”

I’d agree that this is probably one of the hardest things to improve…

Firstly- because the types of exercises dancers tend to gravitate to get fitter are not specific to the goals they are looking to achieve…

And secondly- the way our energy systems work, it is nigh on impossible to maintain true 100% effort for the length necessary for a full dance.

The solution?

SPECIFIC exercises working SPECIFIC energy systems in a SPECIFIC time frame…

Get the gist?

The key to effective strength and conditioning programmes is specificity- ie doing stuff that is actually relevant to your sport!

This means scratching pointless gym sessions, saying goodbye to 100 sit ups a day, and not even contemplating running for longer than 20 minutes!

In order to get FIT for IRISH DANCING you need to work on doing an exercise such as squat jumps with MAXIMUM effort, for around 60 seconds, resting for a couple of minutes, then repeating giving 100% every time..

Ensuring you MAINTAIN that max effort no matter how tired your legs get, and how little height you get off the ground.. (keeping your technique sound of course)

And pressing on until you can do MORE in the allotted time.. Keeping that jump as high as you did at the beginning!

When your fitness improves…you will then be at a point where you can maintain (only slightly) sub max effort for the entirety of your dance :)

Give it a go and let me know how you get on..

(warning-you may vomit!)

Good luck!

#danceportrait #dancingqueen