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Volume 4, Issue 6
Athletics, yoga, dancing and the zone
Peak performance may be one deep breath away
Finding the zone is what athletes refer to when everything is going right. Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner described feeling like he was "rising above myself, doing things I had no right to do." Baseball great Ted Williams said there were times he could see the seams on a fastball and who could forget Sarah Hughes' solo skating performance at the Olympics — she had nothing to lose and skated the best performance of her life.
All were physically and mentally prepared to compete but when that moment of perfection is achieved in competition it is metaphorically referred to as the ZONE — that feeling during your routine sometimes described when you can hear yourself breathing or an out of body experience, surrealistic, balanced, all is in harmony ... profound in execution. Each competitor has managed to overcome the distractions of their own mind and achieve that state which effortless concentration leads to peak performance...
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Volume 4, Issue 6
Smoothies: the perfect mix
rehydration is necessary to perform your best
The human body is composed of about 55 to 60 percent water and fluid replacement is essential for healthy work-outs. In addition to regulating body temperature, fluids serve as solvents for minerals, vitamins and other nutrients. Water also lubricates joints and act as shock absorbers around eyes and other organs. It carries nutrients around the body and fill cells and spaces between cells. Fluids must be replaced during a strenuous dance class to attain maximum performance. The loss of body water through sweat can be significant and should not be under-estimated...
Sport drinks, energy drinks - be careful of what you are drinking
Avoid drinks with sugar in them. Sugar in drinks slows down the absorption of the fluid by the body. Be aware that too much liquid at a time can make a person feel sluggish. Avoid this sluggishness by consuming amounts more often.
Breakfast for champions
- ½ cup skim or soy milk
- ½ cup low fat vanilla yogurt
- 1 banana
- 1 & ½ cup of frozen blue berries
- 2 tsp Barlean's Omega Twin flaxseed and borage oil
(more smoothie recipes featured in article.)
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Volume 4, Issue 6
Hard Shoes: There are no quick fixes, only hard work and focus
Mary Ann McGrath Swaim, TCRG, answers questions regarding dance submitted by readers to hardshoes@hornpipe.net
Hard Shoes said goodbye to the year 2002 in the company of giants. The last two editions prided generous contributions of great worth from a myriad of most esteemed teachers and adjudicators of Irish Dance from around the literal globe.
Now, as we enter the early days of 2003, would it not do us well to remember, to crystallize the keep? Should we not consider where their words of advice converge, differ, reinforce? Would we not do well to observe their answers in the making, in the proof of the proverbial pudding — in the dance and in the dancers themselves? Dare we ask why their observations mean so much — as much they do, indeed?
All these answers, - like most answers worth arriving upon - are obvious only after the pointing out of them by those who see. But we do see - don't we all who care enough to look long enough? We see that Irish Dance, for all its "artsy" qualities, is also a rigorous course of DISCIPLINE. And disciplines run on rules, on roads, and on rudiments.
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Volume 4, Issue 6
2002 Oireachtas results
- Midwest Oireachtas, Rosemont, Illinois
- Western Oireachtas, Phoenix, Arizona
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Volume 4, Issue 6
Catch the rhythm and improve Irish dancing
A developed understanding of rhythm makes a performance more interesting for both the competitor and the audience also. We all can identify poor rhythm. The vital question, however, is do we know how to make rhythm effect in a dance performance?
Rhythm is vital to good performance by every dancer. It is especially important for those who compete in feiseanna on a regular basis. How therefore can the relationship between rhythm within the music of Irish dancing and the execution of dance steps to a high standard be achieved?
Appreciation of dance tunes
We all have our favorite dance tunes. In the reel for, example, you can relate to particular tunes that enable you to dance better. This is the experience of every dancer. In fact we can all recall having a nice feeling and sense of enjoyment with our performance because of the opportunity to dance to a tune we are familiar with and like very much. This is a psychological issue. Our feelings about the tune can enhance performance.
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Volume 4, Issue 5
IDTANA convention report
By Russell F. Beaton, ADCRG, Assistant Regional Director for the Southern Region
The annual general membership meeting of the Irish Dance Teachers Association of North America (IDTANA) is always a well-attended gathering. It is the one time each year when teachers and adjudicators from across the USA and Canada get a chance to meet as a group to discuss important issues and to make decisions for the good of the organization and to improve the world of Irish dancing in North America. This year's meeting on July 4, 2002, in Boston, was no exception, with over 180 members of the IDTANA attending (out of over 490 members). In addition, special guests were also present, including Seamus O'Shea, President of An Coimisiun, and Paddy Lambe, Treasurer of An Coimisiun.
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Volume 4, Issue 5
Hard Shoes: How can Irish dancers improve the technique of their art?
Continuation from last issue
Mary Ann McGrath Swaim, TCRG, answers questions regarding dance submitted by readers to hardshoes@hornpipe.net
As promised last edition, my dear readers, Hardshoes is privileged to present yet again more wonderful words of advice from contributing Irish Dance teachers on the topic of how to improve your technique. Again, on behalf of us all, many thanks to contributing teachers and a warm welcome to all my colleagues to join the forum.
Meighan Osborne Carpenter, TCRG, Inis Cairde School of Irish Dance, North Carolina, USA:
"ARMS: One trick I use to teach my dancers to keep their arms down is to have them visualize holding the top part of their arms in, rather than concentrate on holding their hands close to their bum. I have everyone hold their arms in tight by their sides, very straight, and then shift them back just a bit at the top. This way their upper arm is held in, and the arm is very straight - no loose elbows! This also causes the hands to be out of the Danger Zone - no fear of kicking them with cuts in front or when the foot is coming up to the bum. To help even more, sometimes I have students practice with an index card under each armpit (we pretend it's a $20.00 bill), and then, to control loose hands, a handful of pennies in each fist - for that we use the real thing...."
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Volume 4, Issue 5
Irish roots inspire American cousin ... Appalachian Clogging
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Volume 4, Issue 5
Christmas wish for a dancer
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Volume 4, Issue 4
Hard Shoes: How can Irish dancers improve the technique of their art?
Mary Ann McGrath Swaim, TCRG, answers questions regarding dance submitted by readers to hardshoes@hornpipe.net
A very popular question among all Irish dancers is one posed recently to Hardshoes: How does an Irish dancer go about improving dance technique?
First, let me say this - because it is so important. Your own teacher is the best person to address that question for you, individually. We are each unique. General answers are just that - general. When there is any semblance of conflict between a general rule and a specific rule, the specific rule controls. That is a basic tenant of the law, and of logic. So read what follows with that reality in mind, please - your own teacher is the specific giver of rules and best advice for you, the student particular.
That having been said, it also does well to consider general rules observed by your teachers' colleagues in this Irish dance world we share. And so, my dear readers, I have consulted on your behalf respected colleagues among some of the finest and most willing-to-help teachers and adjudicators I know, for starters. Some could answer in time for this edition; some will answer later; and some are yet to be asked, for limitations of time and access. Here following, alphabetically quoted, are some sampler responses. Enjoy.
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Volume 4, Issue 4
Mirror's reflection, videotape review can create great dancing
Practice is of course, the very foundation of any great dancer's performance. But practice without a means of observing one's self in the doing is often futile. Dancers can continue to make the same small mistakes because they are unable to actually see themselves making the repeated error.
Many dancers have home practice places such as a basement or garage floor. Some even go so far as to build a platform upon which to work their steps. Having such a spot for practice is good but can be especially enhanced by two extra amenities, which cost a few bucks but are not prohibitively expensive.
Installing a set of mirrors in a home practice location may take a little sweat from the brows of dancers and their supporters, but being able to watch themselves as they practice their steps is an immeasurable aid to dancers; forms.
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Volume 4, Issue 4
Irish dancing in Argentina gets first qualified teacher
The traditional tango of
The groups put together enough money to import noted instructor Devin McCormack to bring
"This was a great opportunity to advance Irish dancing and we just couldn't let it go by," Kevin said.
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Volume 4, Issue 3
Scholarly winning essay shows guiding principals of good dancers
by Kris Lambert
For many years, the
Financial support for this scholarship for students of Irish dance came from Mr. and Mrs. John Clark of
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Volume 4, Issue 3
Family support creates a confident champion - Leslie Adelman
Into the patchwork of light at the Westin Copley Hotel Ballroom she sat with her parents as streams of dancers with their entourage of family and friends moved in and about like fire ants on a disturbed mound. Oblivious to her surroundings there was a sphere of serenity in her waiting for the competition to begin that only a seasoned competitor develops.
Idle conversation mingled with random inventory checks and glances in a mirror. Everything was in place. It all must be perfect; hair, last minute make-up prepping, accessories, shoes polished, socks glued and costume within arms reach. She looked for a distraction, anything that would keep her from thinking about dancing and wondering .... What would become of her this day? What would she prove to be?
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Volume 4, Issue 3
Irish dance enhanced by music study and 'mature' dancer
It has long been apparent that great Irish dancers know the music that they dance to intimately. It is often the case that a dancer will play music, too. What are the advantages to such interactive studies? Do they make for well-rounded students? The first two sections here answer those questions clearly and urge Irish dancers to study traditional Irish music, to learn to play and to be at one with the spirit of it all.
The tradition of Irish dancing in the US as a young person's activity has largely stemmed from the fact that in their late teens or early 20's the young people find more of life's maturing moments demanding their attention and dance seems to fade away. Hornpipe has always believed that encouraging older people to take up Irish dancing, or return to it, offers a special dimension to expanding the art that is not being explored. The third section in this piece addresses the joys and demands of a "mature" ...
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Volume 4, Issue 2
EXERCISE: To jump higher, leap farther
Physical training is as important as practicing and could mean the difference between first and second place. Assuming that you have been immersed in Irish dance enough to know your steps and dance to the rhythm of live music, there are the subtle differences that define a champion.
The most obvious difference between an Irish dancer and a North American dancer is the Irish seem to have faster feet and powerful leaping ability giving more "hang-time" to their leaps. It may be that your lifestyle may already dictate vigorous exercise but I suspect that the majority of dancers don't reap the benefits of strength conditioning. Strength can be defined as the force of tension a muscle group can exert against a resistance in one maximal effort.
The question you need to ask yourself is, how much weight can you lift? Ariel Bennet, TCRG, of the
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Volume 4, Issue 2
"Special" feis competitions add to event's excitement
by
As the feis is to the Irish, festivals are universal to every culture with the first early records indicating that they were celebrations surrounding religious belief. Tribes being of nomadic nature annually convened, often in a sacred place like
The feiseanna today owe their origin to this initiative not only in the form of the dance but in the special competitions of song, poetry, painting and music. Developing interests in the fine arts are often overlooked but a necessary and intricate part of the Irish Feis.
Some teachers like Helen Gannon, TCRG in
Most recently at the Lone Star Feis in
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Volume 4, Issue 2
HARD SHOES: Ar Rinncide Foirne, thirty popular figure dances
Mary Ann McGrath Swaim, TCRG, answers questions regarding dance submitted by readers to hardshoes@hornpipe.net
And how history happens
Often times, good things can be bad things, too - even for good reasons. The Irish Dance world is not immune to that all-too-human syndrome, of being less than perfect. Take, for example, the book that has become the veritable bible for all step-dancers who pursue the straight and narrow of the certified path: Ar Rinncide Foirne, Thirty Popular Figure Dances. Bold reality dictates that no legitimate Irish dancer can be free today to ignore the mandates of that one book - down to the details of the grossest minutia - if he or she will comptet in the ceili competitions at feiseanna or oireachti anywhere in the world.
It has to be the way it is "in the book." Tradition demands...
But did you know that, originally, there were three different booklets, each with its own publication date? That's the truth, and some who remember among us still have old editions of those 10-dance booklets in their cherished libraries to prove it. Not that it's a secret. The next time you pick up your own copy of "the book", not the opening cover under the title, and read the phrase "Leahhar 1, 2, 3." That's what it means: three books - Books 1, 2, and 3 - the salvaged mother-load of Irish ceili dance history.
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Volume 4, Issue 1
Competition fosters achievement but can bring out the worst in people
One of the ugliest confrontations between humans I've ever witnessed, outside of warfare, came about for the ostensible good of a group of children whose once civilized parents turned into a brawling pack of thugs right before the innocents' eyes.
It was a muggy summer afternoon in a small town in
I was visiting my cousin, John, who coached his son, Richard, who was the star of this Little League venue. Richard's performances and athletic prowess, like his father's before him, were phenomenal by age 12. No one was surprised when he became an All-American football star at a western university.
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Volume 4, Issue 1
Killarney hosts Oireachtas Rince na hEireann 2002
Russell Beaton, ADCRG
On
It was a special honor for me to have been asked to be an adjudicator, representing the
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Volume 4, Issue 1
Sexton School dances on water
Feis Cruise is more than a competition
The First Annual Feis Cruise sets sail from
While at sea, there will be a full feis on the ship. The feis will be held at different areas of the ship with the Championships held in the main
Aboard ship with the dancing group, there will be a well known local
There will also be an optional tour in
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Volume 4, Issue 1
What are GRADE EXAMINATIONS?
HORNPIPE has received numerous inquiries regarding Grade Examinations from our readers and in an effort to inform parents and students we have provided a copy of Grade Examinations from An Coimisiun Le Rince. It has probably been updated since this publication and you would be best served to ask your teacher or email directly to An Coimisiun for more information.
Grade Examinations were first introduced by an Coimisiun in 1943 and have been conducted in
There are 12 grades. Each must be passed before a dancer can then attempt the next grade. A certificate is awarded for each grade passed. A dancer who passes all 12 grades receives "Dioploma An Coimisiún le Rinci Gailacha" (The Diploma of the Irish Dancing Commission). Grade examinations are not like competitions in that each dancer is individually examined and also receives the written assessment sheet already mentioned.
Rules and regulations
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Volume 4, Issue 1
Hard Shoes
Mary Ann McGrath Swaim, TCRG, answers questions regarding dance submitted by readers to hardshoes@hornpipe.net
As I write, dear dancers, the Annual World Irish Dancing Championships are ongoing, where the very best among us throw their hopeful hats into the proverbial ring to become this year's World Champions. Of course, not all Irish Dancers qualify for Worlds, and of course not every dancer who qualifies wins. But it would be less than honest to deny the fact that, at every level and to some extent, Irish Dance is - dare I say the word? - competitive.
No, that does not mean feiser do not dance for love of it. Of course you do. One who fabricates lines between "dancing for love" and "dancing at feis" is likely one who has no access to feis, and so must conjure up some otherwise excuse for not feising. Still, many feis competitors will insist to say - as if fearful of the very word "competitive" - that they enjoy feising only for the fun and camaraderie, and don't care about adjudicator results.
There's wisdom in that. After all, not all of us can be first - anymore than we can all make "A's", or make the team, win the scholarship, get the job, the girl, or the prize. But why do we shy so from the word "competitive"?
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Volume 4, Issue 1
2002 World Championships
Spring is the premiere time in the world of Irish dance with All-Ireland competition and the World Championships held within a few weeks of one another. As you read the results of those two events listed in the following pages a few things will become apparent.
First, while the natural dominance of Irish competitors in both the All-Ireland and World championships holds fairly steady, there is a growing group of world class dancers emerging from other parts of the world including
If you are a competitor, look further down our list of top 10 winners in each category. Those are the up-and-comers like you. They are the people you will learn from in years to come and who will become your friends and rivals. 'Tis a good thing.
2002 World Championship and All-Ireland results:
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