BACKSTAGE

Take a look behind the scenes of Irish dance competitions

MMOST PEOPLE LIvING in Dublin are accustomed to seeing curly-haired Irish lasses in sparkly dresses and handsome lads with fast feet dancing at festivals or bars on St. Patrick’s Day.

Occasionally the girls are compared to the stars of television show Toddlers in Tiaras, which follows the pageant scene, because of their makeup, glitter and spray tans. The boys are compared to Michael Flatley, one of the original leads in the show Riverdance. What many don’t know is that these dancers are serious athletes who spend hours sweating in the gym and the dance studio, balancing school work and battling injuries, while trying to achieve their competitive goals.

Most of my dance mom friends wonder how they ended up in this crazy world, but I came upon it honestly. My Irish father started taking me to lessons at the Gaelic-American Club in Fairfield, Conn. when I was 5. He would socialize in the bar while I learned my skips and hop, two, three’s. During St. Patrick’s week, we danced at many social events and I would fall asleep in the back seat of the car in between performances. I wanted to compete, but those lessons weren’t held at the GAC and I was already a competitive gymnast.

When my husband and I moved to Dublin many years later, we quickly became involved in the Dublin Irish Festival, and soon my little girls were clapping their hands and tapping their feet to Irish fiddles and accordions. I hoped that my daughters would love the Gaelic music and culture that tied me to my father, and now Courtney, age 15, and Catie, age 12, are both championship-level Irish dancers. I love watching them shine on stage, but I get weary of the subjectivity. Any sport that leaves your success in the hands of judges is tough to handle. I always tell the girls that dance is not like swimming; the first one to touch the wall doesn’t always win. You have to do your best and dance for yourself because you can’t guess what the judges are looking for that day.

An Irish dance competition is called a feis (pronounced fesh), and levels range from Beginner 1 to Open Championship. Dancers move from one level to the next by obtaining a certain number of first, second or third place finishes. Adjudicators are certified through the Irish Dancing Commission to judge the competitors, give comments and suggestions, and help dancers to move through the ranks.

I make the arrangements for the Columbus Feis adjudicators and we fly them in from all over the U.S., Canada, Ireland and England. Dancers aim to compete at Regionals, called Oireachtas (pronounced a-rock-tus), where they try to qualify for Nationals and the World Championship. The 2012 Senior Men’s World Champion is actually a Dublin, Ohio resident named Michael Holland from Richens-Timm Academy, so our city was well represented in Belfast, Ireland.

Top level dancers take group classes several days a week, along with private dance lessons and a fitness class. Injuries to the foot, knee and hip are common, but strength and flexibility training can help prevent problems. Unfortunately there isn’t much that can be done about blisters on toes and heels that are constantly ripping. The shoes are partly to blame. Dancers wear hard shoes made of stiff leather with solid tips and heels, as well as soft shoes that are like ballet slippers with long laces crossed and tied. The hard shoes take months to break in and the soft shoes offer no support, so both contribute to foot problems.

The dance mom or dad job is certainly a hard one, especially with multiple dancers in a family. Parents need to have a feis bag filled with food, water, hair and first aid supplies, and extras of everything. Most of that is manageable, but the price of costumes is over the top. Solo dresses, one-of-a-kind costumes that dancers purchase around their third year of competition, cost between $1,000 and $3,000. Fortunately they can be resold for about 75 percent of the original price, as champion dancers usually only keep their dresses for a year or so. Here is a breakdown of some other costs: wig – $150; tiara – $100; shoes – $150 hard, $80 soft; crystal buckles – $35; makeup/hair accessories – $100.

Then add on the price of lessons and travel. Most dance schools try to offset the cost of trips by holding fundraisers and sending their dancers out “bar hopping” or performing at schools, weddings and festivals where they receive donations.

So what do these dancers do after high school if colleges don’t offer Irish dance scholarships? Some of the top athletes will try out for a show such as Lord of the Dance or Feet of Flames. My daughters’ teachers, Katie Regan and Nicole Rankin, both toured with Riverdance and they encourage their dancers to reach for that goal as well. Auditions are held regularly and there are multiple Celtic music/ dance shows touring the world right now.

If dancers are looking for a less competitive route, some schools have clubs such as The Ohio State Irish Dance Club that was started last year. Students enjoy the Irish music, camaraderie, dance and fun, just like the people of Ireland did centuries ago when step dancing began – and just like you and I can at the Dublin Irish Festival every year! -CD

Children’s Reads

By Tamra Headrick, Library Assistant, Youth Services

Look What Came From Ireland

By Miles Harvey

Harvey describes the many things that originally came from Ireland, such as holidays, food, sports and musical instruments, all illustrated with great pictures. (Ages 4+)

Adult Reads

Flying Feet: a Story of Irish Dance

By Anna Marlis Burgard

Two champion dancers compete to become the village dance master in this story inspired by a true event. (Ages 6+)

Planet Tad

By Tim Carvell

Carvell writes this hilarious story of a boy who starts a blog and posts his adventures as he tries to survive seventh grade. First featured in Mad Magazine, the book will appeal to fans of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. (Ages 8+)

By Mary Biscuso, Library Assistant, Adult Services

Dubliners

By James Joyce

Joyce’s collection is the best portrait of Dublin at the turn of the 20th century ever written. In these 15 stories, Joyce captures Dublin and its inhabitants with his unsentimental eye for detail. The main character in this collection is Dublin itself: brawling, sooty, a beast that would devour its own.

On an Irish Island

By Robert Kanigel

Kanigel details early 20th century life on the Great Blasket, a wild and beautiful island off the coast of Ireland. Throughout the book are accounts of some of the hardworking, fun-loving folk of Great Blasket and the many scholars who visited the island to collect legends, fairy tales and more.

Angela’s

Ashes

By Frank McCourt

McCourt details his life of poverty while growing up in Limerick, Ireland. His father spent his meager earnings on alcohol, leaving the responsibility to feed his family on young Frank’s shoulders. The story is also a love letter to McCourt’s mother, Angela, a woman who refused to be cowed by poverty, and a testament to the collective Irish spirit.