I’m starting to follow a bunch of fellow Irish dancers here, so this is my dancing intro post to explain where I am in the sport. (For everyone else, sorry, and if you still want to read it I have some footnotes for further explanation.)
I took up Irish dance in January 2015, which means I’ve been dancing for a little over two years as of this writing. Some of my cousins had done Irish dancing when we were little (mid-late 90s), but I never had. I’d done some tap and jazz in high school, and in grad school I started learning ballet and then took dance classes at the community college (mostly ballet, some tap, and one ill-fated hip-hop class) for a few years. So picking up the basics of Irish dance was pretty straightforward. I had a baby in May 2016 so I took about 4 months off from dance, but I’m back into it now and working to get better and stronger.
I dance at the Adult level– I lucked out and found a school with an *enormous* adult dancer community. We took 20 adults to the most recent (2016) Western Region Oireachtas* and probably have double that if you include the people who come to class regularly but didn’t go to WRO. We are big into teams too– we had three 8 hand teams at WRO and there is a contingent practicing for Nationals right now. (I’m just subbing for Nationals practice because it was too much time/$ to actually go.) Going to a feis with a bunch of people from my school is like a big party; we always have mimosas and snacks for everyone after our competitions are finished. Our school just hosted its first feis and we actually had an adult special called the “Mimosa Special” and if you competed, you got a commemorative wine glass with a mimosa in it. It was popular.
After two years, I have four dances in Prizewinner (light jig, slip jig, treble jig, trad set), two in Novice (reel, single jig), and my poor hornpipe is still stuck in beginner because I cannot seem to find the intersection of “Five People In A Competition” and “Me Dancing My Best.”** Prizewinner is as far as I can go, though, so I’m not in a tearing hurry. My school doesn’t allow adults to try their luck by dropping down to the &overs; I don’t know exactly why.*** They are incredibly supportive of adult dancers in all other ways, though. But even if they did, I don’t think I could commit the time (or money) that the &overs would require. From what I understand, the Western Region scene is pretty great for Adults, so I’ll just keep dancing and enjoying myself and getting better, and who knows what might happen someday? We do get to compete in Traditional Set at Oireachtas, and in 2015 I recalled at the very bottom and this time I was two places up from the bottom of the recall, so there’s lots of room to grow and improve!
I’m just starting to become aware of the adult Irish dance community on Tumblr (whether they dance as Senior or Adult) and I think it’s awesome! I would love to follow more people so let me know if you’re out there.
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*Oireachtas: think “Regionals.” It’s where you qualify for Worlds, which is the Huge Big Deal competition. Adults don’t compete at Worlds though, so for us it’s as far as we can go and it’s the biggest competition of the year, unless we decide to go to Nationals that year.
**To move up levels, you have to place first in a feis (competition), and you have to be competing against at least four other dancers for it to count. Especially in Adult, it can be hard to get five people in a competition!
***In Irish dance, as you improve and place well at competitions, you progress through Beginner, Novice, and Prizewinner levels, also known as “the grades.” After that you compete at the Championship level (Preliminary and then Open). There is no Championship level for adults. If you start learning as an adult and you want to someday compete at the champ level, you have to “drop down” and compete in the “& Over” category, which is the highest kids’ age group. (Sometimes it’s 14 & Over, sometimes it’s 16 & Over or 20 & Over– depends on the competition. It can also be called “Senior,” I think.) There are plenty of actual adults competing at the 20 & Over level! Some have been dancing since they were kids, and some started dancing as adults and progressed through the grades. Some schools allow adults to try and compete at that level; mine doesn’t (unless you were a champ when you were younger, and you’re coming back to the sport after a few years away).
Welcome to tumblr! I'm the young side of the &overs
