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4th in a series of posts being featured in Diddlyi Magazine. The series will cover my progress from Preliminary to Open Championship.

Click here to read it

A fantastic clip from a 2009 performance of Riverdance. Click play to watch.

3rd in a series of posts being featured in Diddlyi Magazine. The series will cover my progress from Preliminary to Open Championship.

Click here to read it

We had auditions for Shelley Irish Dance Company Saturday. It was a lot of fun. We have a lot of new girls trying out this year. I’m excited to see who makes the group!

Normally I don’t do well with auditions. It’s sort of a curse. I get that stage fright freeze-up thing. This time I didn’t and had probably the best tryout of my life! No kidding. When I used to play on my high school volleyball team I would have horribly dreadful tryouts. I couldn’t hit the ball, dig it up or set. Yet any other day it was easy for me. It was so bad that my sophomore year I didn’t make the team. It was a couple weeks later I got a call back from the coach and she let me be on the team anyway. I had done so well at volleyball camp weeks before that she believed I was good enough.

My auditions for the dance company the past couple years weren’t so hot either. Some phsycological thing about someone testing you. If you don’t do well, you don’t get to do what you want to do! Doing a feis is entirely different, you’ve got nothing to lose. It’s not like you won’t get to compete again if you don’t get 1st place.

So anyway, having a good audition this time was a pleasant surprise!

2nd in a series of posts being featured in Diddlyi Magazine. The series will cover my progress from Preliminary to Open Championship.

Click here to read it

Tina Shelley just choreographed a switch leap into my Reel for the Oireachtas. Way excited. I love this move!

Read my first of a series of posts being featured in Diddlyi Magazine. The series will cover my progress from Preliminary to Open Championship. I’m very excited to be featured on Diddlyi!

Click here to read it

I just booked my flight and hotel for the Oireachtas being held next November in Denver, CO. I was so surprised that after only a week the headquarters and overflow hotel were fully booked.

So I did some searching and found that The Crown Plaza is just as close to The Denver Convention Center as the 2 fully booked hotels. I was even more pleased to find that the room rate per night is nearly half the price. $76.00 for a standard room with king/double bed. The headquarters/overflow are charging $139.00 per night for the same type of rooms.

So if your competing in the Western Region next November, I suggest booking now. Here are some links to help speed along your reservation process. Ya, I know, I do travel a lot.

Flight
I always book my flight @ Yahoo Travel to get the cheapest rate
( travel.yahoo.com )

Crown Plaza Hotel Denver Downtown
If you’re flying as well, you can book this hotel and a rental car with your flight all together on Yahoo Travel. Or just book the hotel alone thru their official site
( www.hoteldenver.net )

Oireachtas Info
( Schedule ) ( Venue )

Hope to see everyone there!

If you’re interested in more feis travel tips, Listen to World Irish Dancer Podcast.

It never fails. Today while trying to perfect my Treble Jig I found I was dancing it too tight and a bit clumsy. I couldn’t get it right and as I kept trying I would get more and more tired. I only have so much energy to go all out in one day. So obviously as I got more tired, I got more clumsy and less precise.

Then I remembered that in my mind I dance far better that I do in real life. I closed my eyes and just focused on the music. I danced the whole step, right and left in my head. I focused on the beauty and flow of the dance. Then I danced it one more time.

It was like the dance was brand new to me. I danced it light and precise. I think I did the first step better than I ever have before! And while I did it I hardly felt how tired I was. Of course as soon as I finished I felt how out of breath I was. LOL! But it never fails, dance is 90% mental, 10% physical. Maybe even more.