Oireachtas recap
I'm trying to decide if the photo in my icon, or the image of Matt hyperventillating while waiting for his results was the highlight of the weekend... I think I'm going to have to go with watching two students from my school in the parade of champions...
You can view photos of the weekend here http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=1BatmrFs5YuPA&emid=sharshar&linkid=link3
Sorry there aren't many of me, I was behind the camera most of the time.
A quick run-down of the weekends events:
Thursday night I went ot my parents house so we could get a super-early start on friday. I played with Buster (who is now the size of a small horse!), and showed off my dress for my dad. We left at 6 in the morning on Friday and arrived at the competitions around lunch time. I missed the kids that danced in the morning, but saw some of the afternoon kids dance. Nearly all of our dancers recalled, and we had some truly excellent results.
We have 3 world qualifiers this year, two of them in the youngest group able to qualify, who are also First place winners of thier respective categories. Boys U10 Matt, and Girls U10 Libby. Matt had won his competition last year, but I dont think he believed it would happen again. Libby took second last year, and what you see in my icon (its kinda dark) is her head exploding when they called the only number left besides hers for second place. I have a similar picture of Matt. Little kids are sooo cute. I think its really funny how they all stand there holding thier nationals qualifier certificates proudly in front of them like trophies. While its a great accomplishment, if you are in the top 10, its kind of a given, and the majority of them are pre-qualified by being in open championships anyway. Its also funny how the top 10 dancers squeal when they announce that the rest of the places are world qualifiers. DUH! like you didnt know that when they called you for top 10.
Our other World Qualifier is of course Nicholas. He pulled out of his 3rd place slump (poor guy has been 3rd for several years in a row), and took 2nd. We think he deserved better, but thats Irish Dance for ya.
On Sunday was my competition and it went well. I was seriously worried about recalling when I saw all the really good dancers in my competition. 42 danced, which was the same # as last year, so once again we get 21 recall spots. My jig went well, and our old workshop teacher Margaret was there judging and she came by to see me between rounds. It was kinda nice to chat with her again. My slip jig was not as nice as I would have liked it. My feet got tangled up in the beginning so my start was not as pretty as it should have been. Then in the last step, the other dancer went backwards right into me. Smack in the middle of the best part of my slip jig. Eventually I was able to pull away from her and finish the dance, but my whole turn-ey fluttery spin in the middle of the last step was a total wash. Still, I did manage to get recalled. I was waiting in line at starbucks, and never made it to the front because my mom called me and I had to go get dressed for my set round.
I did my set, and then we waited for awards. While they were waiting for all the results to be tabulated, they had a dj play music and we all got up and danced on the stage. Silly stuff like the Macarena and YMCA. I ended up getting 19th, which was good because it was better then last year. My whole goal was to get a better place then last year, because for 3 years straight my places for the O's have gone down.
My dress looked wonderful, and I got a lot of complements on it and my headband which I made myself.
You can view photos of the weekend here http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=1BatmrFs5YuPA&emid=sharshar&linkid=link3
Sorry there aren't many of me, I was behind the camera most of the time.
A quick run-down of the weekends events:
Thursday night I went ot my parents house so we could get a super-early start on friday. I played with Buster (who is now the size of a small horse!), and showed off my dress for my dad. We left at 6 in the morning on Friday and arrived at the competitions around lunch time. I missed the kids that danced in the morning, but saw some of the afternoon kids dance. Nearly all of our dancers recalled, and we had some truly excellent results.
We have 3 world qualifiers this year, two of them in the youngest group able to qualify, who are also First place winners of thier respective categories. Boys U10 Matt, and Girls U10 Libby. Matt had won his competition last year, but I dont think he believed it would happen again. Libby took second last year, and what you see in my icon (its kinda dark) is her head exploding when they called the only number left besides hers for second place. I have a similar picture of Matt. Little kids are sooo cute. I think its really funny how they all stand there holding thier nationals qualifier certificates proudly in front of them like trophies. While its a great accomplishment, if you are in the top 10, its kind of a given, and the majority of them are pre-qualified by being in open championships anyway. Its also funny how the top 10 dancers squeal when they announce that the rest of the places are world qualifiers. DUH! like you didnt know that when they called you for top 10.
Our other World Qualifier is of course Nicholas. He pulled out of his 3rd place slump (poor guy has been 3rd for several years in a row), and took 2nd. We think he deserved better, but thats Irish Dance for ya.
On Sunday was my competition and it went well. I was seriously worried about recalling when I saw all the really good dancers in my competition. 42 danced, which was the same # as last year, so once again we get 21 recall spots. My jig went well, and our old workshop teacher Margaret was there judging and she came by to see me between rounds. It was kinda nice to chat with her again. My slip jig was not as nice as I would have liked it. My feet got tangled up in the beginning so my start was not as pretty as it should have been. Then in the last step, the other dancer went backwards right into me. Smack in the middle of the best part of my slip jig. Eventually I was able to pull away from her and finish the dance, but my whole turn-ey fluttery spin in the middle of the last step was a total wash. Still, I did manage to get recalled. I was waiting in line at starbucks, and never made it to the front because my mom called me and I had to go get dressed for my set round.
I did my set, and then we waited for awards. While they were waiting for all the results to be tabulated, they had a dj play music and we all got up and danced on the stage. Silly stuff like the Macarena and YMCA. I ended up getting 19th, which was good because it was better then last year. My whole goal was to get a better place then last year, because for 3 years straight my places for the O's have gone down.
My dress looked wonderful, and I got a lot of complements on it and my headband which I made myself.