Rince Go Bragh: Rhythm of Ireland Feis

The day before the feis, I developed pink eye. The day of the feis, I developed a cold.

Despite the odds, I placed for the first time in open champs.

I liked how this feis ran soft shoe first for a three-round open champ competition. It cut down on the amount of times we had to change shoes, and in a quick local feis setting, I thought was perfect. I also was quite a fan of running open U18 and prelim/open 18&O competitions co-currently. Hello breathing time, which was much needed due to the runny nose, cough, general wheezing, and stamina that needs improvement.

I don't know what it is about performing my set at the past few feiseanna since (and including) Oireachtas, but I seem to be so exhausted that I make more mistakes than I should, like falling off of pointe, and generally being more sloppy. If it's a stamina issue, that's being worked on. If it was an 'I'm getting sick' issue, that will be solved in a few days. If it's a general sloppiness issue, then clearly I need to work harder.

One of the many of the things going around the message boards is about the choice in judges at this feis. What you have to understand about this world is that it it all 100% completely subjective. Unlike gymnastics which has an intense code of points and micro-manages how much of a deduction you get for not pointing your toes, Irish dance is purely about judges' preferences. One of the judges in question happened to place me really high, while placing another dancer from my school lower. I've seen that this is pretty normal; I've been to feiseanna before where a judge has placed me first, and another near last. Again, it's all judges' preference, and not something that's under any of our immediate control.

Goals for the year: