Day 5 Blog

Going through life you will have great and awful memories; my most prized memory of my entire life would be the 2011 Southern Region Oireachtas. Southern Region is fourteen states in the southern part of America including Mexico, and Oireachtas is the Irish word for Regionals.  The event took place in Orlando Florida the first weekend of December. Besides the fact of being in the warm sun tanning during a winter season, I placed third in my competition out of one hundred and thirteen dancers. Getting third means that I have qualified for the Irish dance World Championships in Belfast Ireland 2012, and for the Irish dance North American Championships in Chicago 2012. All of the hard work I put into wanting to be a world qualifier paid off, and the feelings were amazing. Just like how all of my hard work in the Bridge Program to get into Columbia will pay off in the end.

Getting to an Oireachtas is more complicated than just showing up to dance. You have to go through five levels before you can even qualify for a major dance competition. Being at the highest possible level an Irish dancer can be the pressure is on to be one of the best dancers at your regionals. How regionals works is your split by age and gender, so in 2011, I was the boys under 17 competitions. You dance two dances which are a hard shoe (tap sound), and a soft shoe (no sound). Then half of you competition will get a recall which means you places, the other half is sent home with nothing. Being in the recall you will dance a third hard shoe dance which will make your final scores for awards.

Remembering the weekend as it were yesterday, arriving on a Thursday night, before the first day of dancing. We would practice our solos and teams every night, as a different age’s would dance every day. My big day was Sunday, and I have never been more confident then that particular day. I start my day at 7am to check into my stage as my competition will be ready to start at 8. Being the most anxious to dance, I warmed up and stretched like crazy not able to sit still. Finally it was time for our first dance, Not always my best round but I pulled through and was pleased with out I danced.  Next we moved on the our second round which my former dancer sat in the front row giving me a nasty glare. I thought to myself well if he’s waiting for me to fail it’s time to perform, and that’s exactly what I did as I won the soft shoe round. Waiting for the recalls is one of the worst moments you will have because you are more anxious than ever, always being a on the recall I was not too nervous about them. The third round was almost perfect except one tiny rhythm which cost me from winning the third round by getting second.  Having three different judges for each round is refreshing because if you had the same three who don’t like you, it would end bad.

Being the oldest age group on Sunday, my awards were the last presented which is a killer waiting to know did I qualify or not. Its time for my results and the first thing that happens is they go in numerical order to call out the world qualifiers and to step on stage. Standing there with nine of my best girl friends shaking in nerves of whether or not I could qualify for a fourth time. They got to 100, as my numbering being 104, I’m freaking out when they say 103 because I know mines next.  When they say 104 I run instantly on stage to join my fellow world qualifiers yet again. Waiting for the top 55 results is driving me crazy as it takes forever, finally top 15 and  I’m still in the game. Top ten and  I’m still in the game, Top five and  I’m still in the game, Finally top three and it’s the most nerve racking because I really wanted to win. I got third place but was still more thrilled then ever being as highly ranked in such a hard competition.

All of my hard work paid off in the end because it’s such a great feeling to accomplish so much and knowing that you really worked for it. Being in the bridge program is no walk in the park, we have a lot of hard work to stay in the program and pass it. Knowing that I will put my all into all of my work and try as hard as I can. When I do hopefully pass this program, the feeling will be amazing and completely worth every second of all the hard work.