Return of Memoryfest - Day 24/31

[bironic]

Hrrrrrrmmmmm. Wiped out. My fingers are slurring on the keys here. Thank goodness for Backspace.

In honor of the activity that sapped me energy [insert brogue here], a memory about the first time I encountered Irish dance. elynittria, I know you’ll have something to share on this one. :)

24. High School

Comments

[daasgrrl]

I enjoyed your previous account, you champion dancer, you. I must say I do like the idea of Irish dance - are the shoes just plain heavy shoes, or is there something particular they have to conform to?

[bironic]

*g* Like I was just telling elynittria, there aren't many adult competitors from other schools who show up to our feis -- it's mostly a kids' sport/event -- so a lot of the time it's just our classmates competing with each other and one or two women from somewhere else.

The soft and hard shoes must follow some set of guidelines, since (a) they all look the same except for minor stylistic variations and (b) the national and world competitions have strict rules on costuming, steps, and just about everything else involved. The hard shoes are made of leather with polymer taps on the toe and heel, lacing in the front and a strap to secure it. They probably have regulation shapes and heel/toe tap size. I should take a picture of mine to show you. Getting a pair has been the highlight of my dancing "career"! The icon here is a photo I found on Google.

[elynittria]

Nice shoes! I could have used a pair like that when I was on a rapper sword team in college.

[bironic]

...Rapper sword team?

Those aren't my shoes -- just a photo found on Google -- but the design is basically the same. I don't have those elastics that twist up the ankles and shins either, although I should get something like them to keep the heels of the shoes from slipping off, which they do when my socks aren't thick enough.

[bironic]

Okey-dokey, here you go, fresh off the digital camera:

[elynittria]

Yeah, these definitely would be good for rapper dancing (which is a form of clogging). They look nice and sturdy, with good thick heels.

For more info about rapper (if you're curious), see this page.

[bironic]

Oh, nifty. I was definitely thinking rap like the music instead of like the sound/action, so I was all startled and confused. If rapper dances are now danced in Irish jig time to Irish music, I'd say Irish shoes wouldn't be inappropriate! In those photos at the bottom of the page, though, it looks as if the men are wearing soft shoes. But it's hard to tell. Maybe they're just a form of hard shoe that looks like a sneaker?

[elynittria]

In those photos at the bottom of the page, though, it looks as if the men are wearing soft shoes.

Hmmm. I think they're actually wearing typical Oxford-style men's shoes, which I consider a hard shoe. Rapper doesn't use taps, but you do have to create rhythmic patterns of sounds with your feet, so the shoe has to make a noise when you slap it against the ground.

BTW, I put some sound files of gaida music on my LJ entry about dancing in Bulgaria.

[bironic]

Oh, yay. I will try to download them at work before 9 a.m. tomorrow to listen to.

[daasgrrl]

They look lovely - very solid :)

(I actually looked up the various shoes last night before reading your first comment - it was more complicated than I'd envisaged *g*. And then came back to tell you I'd done so, at which point lj seemed to go down entirely and I gave up. It was something about having wondered whether there were 'taps' on the shoes but not being able to remember the exact sound. Or something.)