July 26, 2000
So, wondering where I've been? Well, it's a long story. Back in December, I went to New York
City for a winter vacation. While there, let's just say I was being my clumsy self (gee, what a
surprise?), and injured my ankle. No, not the right one - the left one, the worst of the two to
injure. So, I spent about three months in pain, trying to get over a severely sprained ankle,
and was unable to attend class. I'm all better now, but still haven't returned to class (didn't
want to jump right back in, since I wouldn't know anything that she taught while I was gone!).
However, the class starts over again in late August, and I'll be there!! Then I will start my diary
again, to keep everyone out there informed as to what is going on with Irish Dance in Ohio!
PS - I'm going to post up the ankle exercises my physical therapist gave me soon - they might help out some of you who have been just as clumsy as me!
November 8, 1999
More links have been added to the site. I have added a bunch of your
personal dance pages, a few more vendors, and a dance troupe! I will
be reorganizing the page a little, so everyone hang in there while
the changes are being made! I still want everyone to keep sending me
links to their dance pages - I love seeing new pages! After I finish
working on the Links page, I'll be turning my attentions to the Tips
page, adding a bunch of tips that everyone has been sending me. Thanks
gals!
October 12, 1999
Check out the new survey I just added!
October 8, 1999
Good news! I had some spare time, and now the Music and Video sections
of the Irish Dancer's Online Book & Music
Store are up and running!
Please go check them out, and let me know if there's something that
you like that's not there - I'll see if I can get it listed!
Also, the About me section of my page has been added. Everything is now up and running - yea!
October 7, 1999
Well, I have started a new year of dance classes at a new dance
school. Click here to go
see my new diary entries about my first practices. I'll probably be
changing the survey soon so keep watching, and thanks to all who
have voted in the current survey!! I'm still working on my Online
Book and Music store - I should have the videos available soon. If
you want to see any music CD's for sale, please let me know. I'll also
be expanding my links soon, so send me all your Irish dance webpages,
OK? Happy dancing!
August 13, 1999
Now, about this web page - well, I admit I let it go and forgot about
it for awhile. But I'm back and ready to make some major changes so
it will be better than ever! I appreciate everyone's patience while
I move things around on the site. I'm hoping to add a survey soon,
as well as on online book & music store, so everyone can have easy
access to books about Irish dance, as well as Irish music and
instructional videos!! I'm really excited about all these changes.
Oh, and once I start classes again, the diary will continue. If you
want to give me any suggestions about what to add to the site, or
just give me feedback on how it looks, please e-mail me! Thanks!
Oh, and one last thing - I'm happy to report that Doras rated my
site, and gave me three shamrocks! Yea!
January 19, 1999
You'll also notice that I added a little music to my homepage. Thanks again to
Jess for her archive of Irish music clips (if you would like to see her page of
Irish music clips,
click here.
January 13, 1999
December 22, 1998
September 29, 1998
September 11, 1998
August 15, 1998
July 27, 1998
July 19, 1998
July 9, 1998
I'll bet you've all been wondering what happened to me? It has
been a BUSY year, and I'm hoping things will slow down sometime soon.
Let me fill you in: I just wrapped up my first year of Irish dance
classes, and I had a blast! I can't wait for fall classes to start.
As many of you know, I was living in Cincinnati and going to McGing's
for dance class. Well, I quit Graduate School in the winter (long
story - e-mail me if you really want the details) and in mid-February
moved to Columbus, OH. I still continued to drive to Cincinnati on
Tuesday evenings for dance class (yes, I'm either dedicated or just
insane). Since I was busy with a new job and all, I didn't get to
compete in any of the feisanna this summer.
Hey, guess what? I just won TWO awards! Pretty neat, eh? They're both from my
buddy Jess (AKA Ciara). Wow, I'm honored! Take a look at them! Also, if you
click on the first one, it will take you to Oscail An Dorus, Ciara's webpage
(and the second will take you to her Crystal Shamrock Award page). Thanks!
Updated again! I've finally had some time to pay a little attention to my
webpage, and so you'll notice that the tips page has been updated with all
the great tips other Irish dancers have sent me - thanks everyone! Well, I
used some of my Christmas money to go buy Feet of Flames. I liked it. Some
of the new stuff that was added was nice, and some of the costumes looked
a lot sharper than the ones from the first Lord of the Dance video. True,
true, Michael Flatley was once again in full-ego, but let him - it's his last
performance - he's allowed to take some pride in what he created. The shooting
of the video was better than the LOTD video also - not quite so many fast
cut shots, leaving you wishing they'd just use one camera and set it still.
In my opinion, it was well worth the money I spent on it, as watching the
dancers still makes me sigh and hope I can one day be as good as them! Well,
enjoy the updates, and if you would like me to add your Irish dance web page
to my links, please e-mail me! Happy dancing!
Yes, I've FINALLY updated my page!! The Dancer's Diary has been updated - I'm
sorry I went so long without updating it. I wasn't skipping class or anything,
I just didn't have the time to type it all onto my web page. So be sure to
go check out the further adventures of my Irish Dance class!(the link is below)
In other news, grad. school is out for the holiday break - yea! School has
kept me very busy, and it is the main reason that I have not updated this page
much. The tips for dancers has yet to be updated, but I still have all the tips
you've sent me, and I promise they will be put up eventually! I want to thank
everyone for visiting my web page and sending me all the great e-mail. I'm
sorry I haven't had time to reply to everyone. I hope everyone out there has
a great holiday, and that we all remember to practice over break! :)
I'm so excited! My web page has over 1000 hits! I honestly never thought it
would do so well - it's great to see how many Irish dance lovers there are out
there. I have expanded my links page to include a few more homepages and vendors.
A few people have e-mailed me asking where they can get Olive Hurley's videos,
so I have included in the vendor section a link to where I bought the video:
Gael Force Imports. They are reasonably priced, and ship very quickly, so be
sure to check them out (and they have a lot more than just videos - if it's
Irish or Scottish or just Celtic, they'll probably have it!). I will be updating
my Tips page in the next week, so be sure to stop back and see all the new tips
dancers have sent to me. My dance lessons are going really well, also. If you
want to read about that, be sure to check out my Irish Dancer's Diary.
Well, that's about it for now. Happy dancing!
Wow, my first lesson was great! I was a bit nervous, since I was the only "old
person" in the class (the other girls were all high school age), but we had a
lot of fun, and I can't wait for my next lesson on Tuesday! Our teacher was very
surprised at how fast we learned the first step of the reel, and she thinks we
might even be in hardshoe by January! Well, I won't give you all the details of
the lesson here. I've decided to set up a seperate page that will give the full
story of each lesson, so only those who are really interested in my lessons will
have to read it. :) Just a side note as well - I won't be writing as much on
this page in the upcoming month, due to the fact that I am starting graduate
school, and will probably be very busy until I get adjusted to it. But I am
still building my links page, so please send me the addresses of all your Irish
dance webpages!! I also want to thank everyone who has sent me e-mail in praise
of my webpage - I really do appreciate the feedback, as well as the support from
older beginning dancers!
Yahoo!! Yesterday I received confirmation that I will be in the beginner's class
at McGing! Wow, I'm excited. Practice starts on September 8, and we will get
information about ordering shoes and all that then. 'Course, I already have a
pair of gillies, but I could always use another! The thing I look forward to the
most is going to feisanna to compete. I guess I'm just competitive in nature,
but having been to one as a spectator, I was amazed by the entire event. Anyway,
once practices start, I plan on keeping a weekly web-journal about what I am
learning in class (don't worry, I'll make it a seperate page so those who don't
feel like reading about a beginner practice session can skip it). I'm also
trying to expand my links right now, so if you have an Irish dance webpage, send
me the web address and I'll add it to my links!
I got my registration info. in the mail from the McGing Irish Dancers (they're
the main Irish Dance school in Cincinnati), and I sent in my info. right away. I
can't wait to start Irish Dance classes! By the way, the Olive Hurley tape is
really great - I'd advise everyone out there to get it! I think I'm going to
go ahead and buy the hardshoe video as well! Yep, I have gillies and hardshoes,
and I'm not even in a school yet! Am I crazy or what???
UPDATE! I just got the Olive Hurley
video, Irish Dance Step By Step Vol.1 in the mail yesterday (July 18). It is a
great video!! She goes very slowly through a reel, a jig, and a slip jig. The
dances she shows are very basic, easy examples of each type of dance. I like
that she goes very slowly through each step, first walking you through the
step, then "hopping the step" very slowly, then at full speed. One funny
thing I should point out: Olive Hurely uses some of her own students to
demonstrate these dances, but the dancers aren't any older than about 12!!
When you're 22 years old, watching little kids ace these steps is a little
depressing! :) Oh, and I almost forgot - there is a brief appearance by
Bernadette Flynn at the beginning of the video! To sum it all up, I think
it's a video well worth buying!
OK, here goes my first attempt at my own web page. If you couldn't guess
from the title and the background design, I love Irish Dancing! I have always
enjoyed exploring my Irish roots, but my facination with Irish dance began
one night about a year and a half ago when I saw Lord of the Dance on PBS. I
was amazed at the quick movement of the dancers' legs. And so I decided to look
into it further. I have found lots of great web sites and lots of information,
and I hope to start learning Irish dance in September at a dance school in
Cincinnati. Until then, I have been learning a few steps with Colin Dunne's
video, Celtic Feet. Colin teaches a basic reel and a slip jig, as well
as a few dances in hard shoe as well. I can only hope I am doing the steps
correctly, since Colin can't exactly give input through the TV! :) It's a
great video, except he goes WAY too fast at times, so I have to stop it and
rewind a lot! I just ordered Olive Hurley's soft shoe instructional video,
also - I'll let everyone know what I think of it when I get it!
Back to my homepage
