A Bit O' Irish Dance

The last notes of a song play, and the light dims.  The soloist walks to her spot on the stage.  The spotlight turns on, and the crowd cheers!

The high notes of a fiddle begin to play along with the steady beats of a piano across the speakers.  The dancer jumps and twirls to the music, then leads four little dancers in a row onto the stage from one side, then goes to the other side to bring four more on.  She jumps and twirls, her feet are flying, and brings yet another four dancers onto the stage.  The excitement builds!  I'm in the fourth and last row of dancers.  Bright lights on either side of the stage reflect off the costumes, making the red sparkles shimmer.  Here she comes to lead us on to the stage!  We come out from behind the curtain, our arms (hopefully) glued to our sides... and dance!

I feel so happy!  I smile.  I look out to the crowd, and soak it in.  Bliss.

The crowd even claps to the beat!  We finish that dance, and wait for the other dancers to complete their steps.  We watch from the side behind the curtain, and listen as their feet hit the floor in unison sounding like drum beats!  They leave the stage little by little, until only the soloist is left.

She dances another solo, jumping and twirling about, and once she is finished, my group goes onto the stage again to dance "The Walls of Limerick."  Up, two, three, four, five, six, seven, hop back, two, three, and back, two, three... Advance, retire, advance, retire, up, two, three, four, five, six, seven, hop back, two, three, and back two, three...

We complete this dance and leave the stage.
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Last Friday and Saturday night (13th and 14th of May), I had an Irish dance performance.  I said last fall that I'd write about it sometime, so it seems I should do so now!

In case you weren't aware, I've been taking Irish Step Dance since September.  It has been a very fun experience!  We dance with soft shoes called ghillies, and we keep our arms glued to our sides unless a step calls for them not to be.  When I take Irish 2, I will be learning to dance with a hard shoe and really make some noise! ;)

The class I was in this year mainly consisted of 15 girls (mostly around 4th grade, however, thankfully there was a teenager and two moms, so I wasn't the only "tall one"), and one boy (also 4th grade).  I love kids, and it was fun to get to know them.

I am SO glad I've done Irish Dance!  I had some of the most fun I've ever had those two nights we performed!

So, grab your ghillies, and let's dance!