The basics irish dance videos

So someone on DDN mentioned this youtube list wich contains more than 30 videos of Irish dance basics. I loved it!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLALQuK1NDrgE_EyUJoS-QujzBbFb2hGZ

Enjoy :)

Organizing Irish Dance Workshop update no.3

Besides sewing and crafting xmas gifts, I'm still on the road of organizing the Irish Dance workshop we are having in january.

I am almost done!

1) Transportation. The teacher will be buying the connection bus ticket so if the bus is late he doesn't lose the ticket.

2) Accommodation. Ready!  from 4 to 6 he is staying in my house then from 7 to 11 in a cottage (oops. don't know if that is the exact word)

3) Ceili Night. Looking for sponsors to print the flyers, we are going to make a radio advertisement too!

This is the almost finished flyer the sponsors go on the bottom.

4) Last Day. Either gathering together to have dinner, drink some beers and dance, or have one more class or having a nice day together, when we get together we will decide how the last day of the work will be

5)Place to hold the workshop. Still need to buy the big mirror.

Organizing a workshop! Update2

This is what we got so far.

1) Transportation. Almost ready. We need one more bus ticket that isn't for sale yet.

2) Accommodation. Need to talk with a lady who was in charge of this.

3) Ceili Night. All set. We defined the place, we made some fancy flyers. The day of the ceili we need to decorate, buy some food and get some drinks (it's with a late tea before dancing). We need to print the Flyers. And fot printing the flyers we need to find 6 sponsors. (The idea is having a little advertising place in the bottom part of the flyer)

4) Beer Night. That happens when all dancers are adults haha. Didn't find a place where to do that yet. Our idea was hanging out in a pub and then dance. Session way. Once set the place we can make a big flyer with the Ceili one and print them together. 

5)Place to hold the workshop. We got it! It's an Old house from my mother in law that happens to have a nice wooden floor. Need a big mirror! Asked for prices in only one place. Kind of expensive.

I think that sums up much everything we needed and we need. There are some things I have pending


See Organizing a Workshop Part 1

X mas gifts for the Irish Dancer!

I was thinking of making some little gifts for my irish dancing friends.
First thing I thought was sewing a little bag for carrying shoes. I was thinking of doing a machine embroidery like this one to it:

Since we Irish and scottish dance I loved this design!

A little bit more simple though.

I came up with some other ideas that I might use this or other time:

*Nail polish and treatment for feet.
*Cleaning kit for shoes.
*Printed cups,stickers or maybe a calendar
*Make cord knots and use them as key rings, embelishments or wristbands. ( TONS of tutorials for making these http://www.youtube.com/user/TyingItAllTogether )
*Thought this for a smaller irish dancer, how about printing designs and make a little colouring book?

Organizing a workshop!

I'm in charge of organizing a workshop for january 2013; it's mainly for our group but other intermediate dancers are welcome.
So it's a big challenge but I got it on track so far:
We are having this schedule:
Every activity is in the afternoon.

Monday
Hardshoe

Tuesday
Softshoe

Wednesday
Hardshoe

Thursday
Ceili (open to all public)

Friday
Dance night in a pub

So far I've arranged:
transport and contactos with teacher.

What I need to arrange:
Accomodation: Will see it on monday, there is a chance the teacher stays at home
Studio: Will see it on monday afternoon
Pub: on monday morning will aswell at least one of the pubs, I've got 3 options so far.

Our school's new website

So after lots and lots of working I finished our school's website I love it :)
http://www.erindanzacelta.com.ar

Oh it's in spanish

Mom vs Dancer

Mom vs Dancer

This is my everyday struggle. And though motherhood is challenging I've found myself in a very deep hole of frustration trying to combine the things I love most, being a mother AND a dancer.

My baby is 8 months now, she is the most adorable baby ever :-) She is in a very demanding phase though, and last weeks I felt like all my energy was being drained by her.  Seriously I couldn't even go to the bathroom relaxed because if she didn't come with me (on my lap) she would scream and cry as if I was the worst mother in the whole word (and I felt like it lol). So imagine getting time to dance, imposible, the chores I had to do at home yes or yes I did them with her in the mei tai. If not I had her on my lap while watching tv, or playing with her outside, or doing anyhting I could do with her sitted (my back hurts so bad that carrying her is like a torture).

So I got really depressed, when I felt I had no energy for nothing I just took a brake and danced and I got really boosted. But now there is no room for that. I can't find more than 10 minutes to do something... the time is always short.

Last week I've been working with her so she stays playing a little while alone (well not so alone, she can still see me but at least not ON me). I know it's part of her development because every baby has a stage when he discovers he is not part of his mother and just goes crazy. And it's very hard, specially when you have something you love so much and you can't do it. Last week's dancing class I took her with my mom and she spent crying the whole hour. My mother was " I don't want to take care of her anymore", and I was "Can someone kill me please?".

Now things got better, this week class she stayed with her father OK, and I've been using some of the spare time with her playing to do some abs and excersices with my theraband to get in shape. And guess what? I don't want more Mom Vs Dancer, I want to proudly say I'm a dancing mom!!

Some lovely vintage irish themed postcards!

Found one, then came addicted to them; The images are not mine, found them browsing.

A two hand reel!! :P

It's been a while!!

It's been a while since my last post, everything in life has been weird and when I put myself for practising more dancing I find my son struggling to get my attention. The time that my baby doesn't need me m son does. And my baby is always with me, on me, it's so hard to find some time to practise. I can't rely on my husband on this so last weeks have been very quiet. I stopped almost all sort of excersice and practised the minimun. Althoutgh I see my kid happier I am  tired and frustrated. I know It shouldn't be this way but I can't help it... Dancing gives me that extra burst of energy and I miss it.

A photo of our first performance, the only celtic thing we had where those skirts!!
Sofia, my teacher Camila and me!

On the other side I am trying to not give up on dancing; Our group is pretty dead, my teacher had her baby last week, the other girls that came with me to classes couldn't make it anymore and I felt pretty lonely. But then I received an email from another teacher who offered doing some workshops through the summer and I decided I won't give up on what I love most, that was a little reminder that we still can make a nice performing group and delight people with our dance. So I am trying to figure pout how to bring this teacher here and also making a nice website for our little school. I hope all my effort gets paid someday. The only thing I can do now is trying to do my best, with what I have and what I can.

A cute irish gift for the baby.

My best friend/teacher/dancer is having a baby in a week!!! I wanted an irish themed gift so decided to sew this little things. I think they look adorable!

Update on my assistan teaching class!

Since one of my students is studying we decided to have only one class. per week. That left me with one hour  free on thursdays in the studio. So this idea came to my mind. I wanted to include my son in my classes so he could have some time with me doing what I love. I decided then to open a class for little kids. From 3 to 6 years old.  Thats an age group neither my teacher or I have experience with. Since classes will be until December It would be a "test" group and we will see how it goes.

So This are some of the activities

I have thought for them: 

Mimics

Simon says (let's see if a celtic name can occur to me haha)

Doing rounds

Jumping

The statue game

I want to do little skirts and vests, so they play to dress up and dance.

Storytelling (wanting to find some celtic stories nice for kids) and roleplaying with dance characters  we choose from the story.

Dance freestyle

Dance in the mood of the music (listen to a song and dance depending how it makes you feel)

The train (one kid leads the train and the other follow, trying to go in skip 123), or the teacher leads and all kids grab their hands.

Make little cloth clovers so they put in a pot , but to get there they need to move in a special way (like sidestep or jumping with one leg, with two, skip 2,3) 

Listen to music and clap. 

Put marks on the floor and make each kid go to an assigned mark.

Things I'll try to encourage:

Good posture

Streching after class

Learning to have conscience of legs and arms and to move in a "Stage"(aka marked place)

Start to develop core strength

Teach them to wait for turns

My objectives are:

Teach them sidestep and skip 2 3.

They have fun!!! It's a recreational class, if they want their kids to be in the ultimate dance lessons they should sign them for ballet, this is playing and dancing to one of the most beautiful music and introduce them to one of the richest cultures.

Oh well that is what I have now, I think that the more I am with the kids the more activities will go through my mind.

Also I thought a nice Idea to atract young kids is whenever we do a performance include a slip jig or a jig and dress as a fairy, 

PD: I love doing lists, it just keeps me organized!

Update...

So I haven't updated lately because I got sick, then my baby got sick, then I had an allergy and I just couldn't focus on anything.  Actually I was feeling a little depressed after all this. But this tuesday I had this little revelation. I didn't do any physical activity during this sickness period so I was feeling like a real lazy ass. That afternoon I went to my mom's house earlier and I was feeling very hungy, as if I hadn't eaten in the hole day (but I did). So I pretty much emptied my mom's fridge and I still felt so hungry. We had to go and look for some papers in town and I felt I had this huge belly and still hungry and I was really freaked out haha. I also felt so tired.

I went to my Irish Dance class. I started dancing and I felt I was so light, I jumped so high, and when I saw my reflex I saw me being so graceful. Something inside me changed.

I finished the class as if I had just woke up from the most refreshing nap. I felt my body again and my hunger actually dissapeared, I felt satisfied and happy. I came to my house at night and felt like it was the early morning.

Dancing is one of the best things I have. And when I don't dance I am not me anymore. 

Making up a dance

So I spent 2 days (as much as I could dedicate to it taking care of my 2 kids) making a three hand reel for my classes.

The reason behind is because we have work more on confidence and need at least a dance to dance in front of public.  So a three hand reel is perfect. I can dance with them and that will give them an extra confidence factor. Plus if they forget something they just follow. I also made it lovely to watch and easy to dance, the dance includes 32 bars of teapot, and two different kind of rounds, also sidesteps and 1,2,3 without looking too simple, I love it!!

this is the first dance I coreographed and I hope It looks nice, I can't wait to teach it!

The leap pictureee

Of course after seeing everyone has their leap picture I want one aswell.
Yesterday we did the try but... I guess I didn't hold it as much as I should for the "perfect picture".
Plus my husband was in bad mood because he had a headache. So he took some photos and looked me with his bad mood face so that's all haha.

Fairly decent photo

This one is closer so it has more flash.

Next time I'm taking the pictures in the daylight!

Let's go to the Eisteddfod!

Sooo, after talking with my students well, I'm not reaaaally their teacher, (but for this year I am muehehee). I asked them what did they thought of live performances.

First they were like "oh haha you are joking, I would go to the stage but only with my face covered up"

"I am no joking guys, interested or not?"

Well they were. This is nice because it is a competition but the category is foreign folk dance. So our competitors will probably do some other dance like Arab, Greek or whatever you can think of. No one will be comparing us to other Irish Dancers ;-). I still want them to do a good job though.

Maybe this is what they got in their mind?

The Eisteddfod is on October , so we have plenty of time to prepare ourselves! (plus it's a 4 minutes dance only)

PD: If you wanna know what on earth is a Eisteddfod go here.

Singers performing in the Eisteddfod!

My students finally got the jig!

So after some weeks of trying and trying my students finally learned the complete steps of our beginner light jig.

The timing made it harder, those fast little steps in the end were very hard to get. (they are even hard for me when there is slippery floor).

So after a "we are stuck" class I came home  with one thing in my mind: They are learning this dance next class. So I watched a video of myself and my teacher dancing the jig to have it super incorporated. Next I looked through all of my music to a more "slow" light jig. Seriously I only could find one song that is slightly more slow.

It seems that more determination payed well. Not only they learned the last step, they performed the full dance in time with no mistakes!


This is a caption of the video:

I'm the one on the left. YES I KNOW MY ARMS !!!

aw I didn't even have my ghillies <3

I need to take more actual pictures.

Note: the skirt of the picture doesn't fit me yet :-(

Dancing to not traditional music.

I love celtic music, I really do. And Irish folk music... I love it more.
But sometimes it's refreshing to watch Irish Dancing to other kind of music.
Here are some pop songs danced by irish dancers!

The Nashville Irish step Dancers dancing Black Eyed Peas (Hardshoe mainly)

Nora Pickett Irish Dance Academy dancing to Katy Perry, Fireworks. (SoftShoe)

Hardshoe to a Maroon 5 song (I don't know who is the dancer so I can't say anything about her!)



Soft Shoe Dance from NAIDF dancers Shakira, Waka Waka

Some funny irish dance pictures and memes

I took all of them from pinterest, some of the sources it quoted were these:

http://peaceloveirishdance.tumblr.com/

http://awkwardirishdancemoments.tumblr.com

http://treblejigs-solos-andcrazywigs.tumblr.com

Omg!! I found this picture around the web and couldn't help laughing!!

Dealing with ankle pain!!

Well I do not like dealing with pain in my ankles, who does ? This Saturday after practise I was feeling lots of pain and used this method to reduce pain that my orthopedic gave me: 

Ice

(15 mins approx,  or less if you can't deal with it)

Yeah, well you could put ice directly on the area or just put cold water with some ice in a pail.. I personally put some ice inside a fabric tissue and put it over the treated area.

Hot Water + Salt

Same amount of time of ice

+

I surprised you! I know you already knew about Ice, but this treatment goes like this: 15 minutes cold, 15 minutes hot and it will have more  inflammatory results. You should add some salt to the water to have an even better result. Do it as many times a day you can and try to take a rest from dancing for at least one day 

This is a good thing to do after a long practise, or before a competition. There is no contradiction to this though always see a doctor if your pain is persistent. 

Fleece Ghillies Baby Boots TUTORIAL

 Remember these?

This is how I made them!!! I hope you make an Irish Dance Mommy Happy!!!

TUTORIAL! 

Well here is the pattern. Very simple.

For the sole (1) you could just trace the foot part of some leggings or even another pair of boots. If you trace it add some extra for seam allowances.

The next piece (2) has to fit inside the sole and be smaller from the sides. (Woa I don't know if I explained it well)

The long stripe will be the perimeter of the sole.(3) (I cut it larger, so no risks)

The short stripe will go round the ankle.(4)

And a thin strap (A)  that I didn't do pattern for it.

So this is how you do it:

This fleece had wrong side and right. Put the pattern (1) in bias position, then fold the fabric leaving wrong sides inside. 

Pin it and cut.

Those are the wrong sides facing each other. (Lame photo, sorry!)

Cut a 0,5 cm long strap.(A)

Cut each strap 4 cm, then fold. (A)

Cut this pattern piece (2) in white.

Also cut the stripes. (3)black  and (4) white

Sew the black pieces (A) On top of the right side of (2). (Good thing you have photos haha)

Sew the long stripe (3) along all the border of the sole. Wrong side should be facing up. (in the sole It won't matter unless you have a side you want to use as an actual sole)

This is how it looks like!

I trim and sew the edge.

So now you got this 2 pieces.

Remember the shoe is inside out. Sew the white part to the shoe borders.  

This is how it looks like when you turn it to the right side.

Now you got something that looks like a shoe and a white strap (4).

Match the edges of the strap with the edges of the shoe. And Zig zag sew them. If your (4) has wrong side and right, wrong side should be facing out and right side touching the outside of the shoe.

*Note: go for a big zig zag so it's strechy. I didn't do the bigger but it was big enough.

I start this way.

I have to turn out the shoe at some point because it gets hard to sew (4).

Finally zig zag the end.

You are almost there!!

Cut a black lace of desired length

This would be more or less the length, you can cut excess.

Sew each stripe to the side. (you didn't think I tied it, didn't you?)

:-) It's done!!! Looks lovely! plus warm for that baby's feet!