Our Trip to Ottawa – Part 1 – the Competition
Our family traveled to Ottawa, Canada July 3-9 to attend the North American Championships. I have severely procrastinated posting stories about this trip, so I’ll skip to the main event first, then fill in the fun details of the family vacation later… eventually…
The North American Irish Dance Championships is an event that is also known as the “Nationals,” which baffles me because first of all Canada and USA are two separate nations, and secondly the competition is open to (and well attended by) dancers from any nation in the world.
This was the first time that our TCRG, Maureen Berry, has taken dancers to Nationals, and Katie was one of the lucky four to represent Teelin School of Irish Dance. (Three of the four are pictured above – Katie, Mollie and Bridget.)
Maureen is a fantastic teacher. She competed at Nationals many years herself, so she knew well how to prepare her dancers. The extra practices that Katie attended in preparation for this competition were at times grueling, but have certainly brought her dancing to a new level.
Training for Nationals was not without a few bumps in the road. As I mentioned in a previous rambling, asking a nine-year-old to commit to the time and self-discipline required to train at this level requires almost equal commitment by her family. More than once tempers flared, tears flowed, and long discussions ensued confirming that yes, indeed, this was worth the effort, and no, we would NOT let this experience scare us all away from any future Irish dance competitions. (And if you assume that all of those tears were Katie’s, think again.)
Once the trip began, there were no further opportunities for second-guessing therefore some of the stress level actually diminished.
Attending this event was definitely a “wow” experience! We arrived in Ottawa on Tuesday and competitions began on Wednesday, so we were able to see quite a lot of amazing dancing before Katie competed on Saturday.
When watching such advanced level dancing, there is a fine line between being inspired and being intimidated. Thankfully, Katie was inspired. She saw a level of dancing that she hasn’t seen very often. Sure, her teacher dances that way, but that’s different – she’s a teacher, she’s supposed to be that much better of a dancer. But to literally see hundreds and hundreds of dancers of all ages doing such difficult steps with precision, confidence, and beautiful execution is quite an experience.
There are some negative aspects of any high level competition event, and yes the “greed to succeed” can bring out the worst in some people. It is unfortunate, though, that the negative aspects of the greed, the glitz and the glamour often get more attention than the positive aspects of these big events. Some “glass-half-empty people” may look at top-level Irish dancers and see only a view of eye-of the-tiger dancers attempting to claw their way to the top. But truly, at the heart of every champion dancer is a kid (regardless of age) who LOVES to dance. Looking beyond the fancy costumes and the sometimes intense quirky competition behavior, what I saw in the eyes of each and every dancer at Nationals was a spark that shone so bright it sang. The light from their eyes shouted, “This is why I’m here! Let me dance, let me soar, let me do what I love to do!” That indeed was inspiring!
Some of the best networking opportunities among dancers occurred in the practice rooms. Each hotel had a designated practice room, usually an empty conference room. The few days that I took Katie to our hotel’s practice room we met dancers from Illinois, California, New York and Alberta. Amidst well-disciplined rehearsals dancers chatted amicably, shared iPod speakers, and wished each other luck.
On Friday, Maureen called a rehearsal to work with Katie, Bridget and Joe who would all compete on Saturday. (Mollie competed on Thursday.) Because we were all staying in different hotels, we met in one of the competition halls after that day’s competitions had ended, hoping to practice on an actual competition stage. It didn’t quite go as planned…
So many dancers were practicing at the same time! For the most part, dancers waited along the back of the stage looking for an opening to run their steps, but still there were at least seven or eight kids dancing at any given time. That just seemed frighteningly dangerous for anyone, especially my small nine-year-old who looked half the size of most of those kids.
Check out the expressions on Katie and Bridget as they observed some of the activity from the edge of the stage while stretching…
So instead Maureen found an area along the side of the room to practice. We then took an obligatory picture of Maureen and her four dancers in front of the Canadian flag...
The next morning was the big day.
Katie and I arose before Scott and Ellie and walked to the Congress Centre. (It was GREAT not having to drive anywhere the entire time we were in Ottawa! More on that in another post….) I purchased my daily entry wristband that morning from my friend FeisMom Denise who was volunteering at the admissions stand.
Speaking of friends, do you remember me mentioning the “Three Katies” in my post about our Oireachtas experience? Well one of the most exciting parts about this Nationals experience is that “Katie, Katie, and the emergency back-up Katie” all competed together again!
Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of all three of the girls in their dresses.
Upon arrival at the event, each of the girls were handed a Canadian flag and a promotional-size zipper make-up bag with glitter eye shadow enclosed. (Propaganda, sayeth I!!!! Yikes.) Well, after a brief discussion with the other Katie-Moms and a nod of solidarity, we each did succumb to the tender pleas of our daughters and allow them to wear glitter eye shadow for this big event. But ONLY for this big event!
Along with a bit of lipstick, it was very glamorous.
Zipped up and ready to go, Katie headed off to the stage… (Do I look nervous? I was!)
Katie danced beautifully! On stage she smiled and looked confident, her treble jig dances were loud and clean, and her reels were gracefully energetic! Many of the dancers in her U9 competition had been dancing Open Champion level for quite a while, and even though Katie was still dancing Prizewinner level, she certainly danced as if she belonged on that stage. Maureen was so proud of her, we were so proud of her, and most importantly, Katie was thrilled with how it felt to get up on that stage and dance her best. It was a very positive experience!
The recall experience, unfortunately, was not so positive. Not wanting to dampen her confidence, I apparently did not prepare Katie quite well enough to not hear her number announced for an invitation to the third round. Katie was crushed.
As with everything, this too was a learning opportunity. Katie’s sobs and her inability to accept praise from her teacher for approximately 10-15 minutes after the recall announcements was poor sportsmanship. It’s alright to be disappointed, and it’s alright to have a good cry now and then, but there are times and places when the fortitude of good sportsmanship must prevail.
Katie and I have had many conversations about this experience and we’ve both learned a lot about handling some of the pressures of championship competitions. Some of the first discussions were whether or not Katie was ready to move to Preliminary Champion level. Scott and I certainly were NOT going to allow her to, when she qualified, if she was going to have these kinds of reactions for not placing. Other discussions involved hypothetical role plays of appropriate reactions for friends placing or recalling when Katie did not, and vice versa.
When our Katie finally snapped out of the doldrums, the three Katies enjoyed some more time together in the hall before hugs goodbye. By the way, neither of the other two Katies recalled this year either, and although disappointed, they each handled the announcements gracefully. All three of the Katies danced very well and overall had a very positive experience. We had hoped to connect in the city later that evening for some celebratory dessert together, but unfortunately we were unable to make that happen. (Lack of cell phone use was a struggle in Canada.)
Before leaving the Congress Centre on Saturday Scott managed to get a group photo of Maureen with her four Teelin dancers. Mollie was even convinced to wear her costume again for the photo! Joe had already changed, but his current Guinness t-shirt “costume” met with great approval from the photographer.
There are many more stories to be told from our week in Ottawa, and I hope to find time to write again soon…
The North American Irish Dance Championships is an event that is also known as the “Nationals,” which baffles me because first of all Canada and USA are two separate nations, and secondly the competition is open to (and well attended by) dancers from any nation in the world.
This was the first time that our TCRG, Maureen Berry, has taken dancers to Nationals, and Katie was one of the lucky four to represent Teelin School of Irish Dance. (Three of the four are pictured above – Katie, Mollie and Bridget.)
Maureen is a fantastic teacher. She competed at Nationals many years herself, so she knew well how to prepare her dancers. The extra practices that Katie attended in preparation for this competition were at times grueling, but have certainly brought her dancing to a new level.
Training for Nationals was not without a few bumps in the road. As I mentioned in a previous rambling, asking a nine-year-old to commit to the time and self-discipline required to train at this level requires almost equal commitment by her family. More than once tempers flared, tears flowed, and long discussions ensued confirming that yes, indeed, this was worth the effort, and no, we would NOT let this experience scare us all away from any future Irish dance competitions. (And if you assume that all of those tears were Katie’s, think again.)
Once the trip began, there were no further opportunities for second-guessing therefore some of the stress level actually diminished.
Attending this event was definitely a “wow” experience! We arrived in Ottawa on Tuesday and competitions began on Wednesday, so we were able to see quite a lot of amazing dancing before Katie competed on Saturday.
When watching such advanced level dancing, there is a fine line between being inspired and being intimidated. Thankfully, Katie was inspired. She saw a level of dancing that she hasn’t seen very often. Sure, her teacher dances that way, but that’s different – she’s a teacher, she’s supposed to be that much better of a dancer. But to literally see hundreds and hundreds of dancers of all ages doing such difficult steps with precision, confidence, and beautiful execution is quite an experience.
There are some negative aspects of any high level competition event, and yes the “greed to succeed” can bring out the worst in some people. It is unfortunate, though, that the negative aspects of the greed, the glitz and the glamour often get more attention than the positive aspects of these big events. Some “glass-half-empty people” may look at top-level Irish dancers and see only a view of eye-of the-tiger dancers attempting to claw their way to the top. But truly, at the heart of every champion dancer is a kid (regardless of age) who LOVES to dance. Looking beyond the fancy costumes and the sometimes intense quirky competition behavior, what I saw in the eyes of each and every dancer at Nationals was a spark that shone so bright it sang. The light from their eyes shouted, “This is why I’m here! Let me dance, let me soar, let me do what I love to do!” That indeed was inspiring!
Some of the best networking opportunities among dancers occurred in the practice rooms. Each hotel had a designated practice room, usually an empty conference room. The few days that I took Katie to our hotel’s practice room we met dancers from Illinois, California, New York and Alberta. Amidst well-disciplined rehearsals dancers chatted amicably, shared iPod speakers, and wished each other luck.
On Friday, Maureen called a rehearsal to work with Katie, Bridget and Joe who would all compete on Saturday. (Mollie competed on Thursday.) Because we were all staying in different hotels, we met in one of the competition halls after that day’s competitions had ended, hoping to practice on an actual competition stage. It didn’t quite go as planned…
So many dancers were practicing at the same time! For the most part, dancers waited along the back of the stage looking for an opening to run their steps, but still there were at least seven or eight kids dancing at any given time. That just seemed frighteningly dangerous for anyone, especially my small nine-year-old who looked half the size of most of those kids.
Check out the expressions on Katie and Bridget as they observed some of the activity from the edge of the stage while stretching…
So instead Maureen found an area along the side of the room to practice. We then took an obligatory picture of Maureen and her four dancers in front of the Canadian flag...
The next morning was the big day.
Katie and I arose before Scott and Ellie and walked to the Congress Centre. (It was GREAT not having to drive anywhere the entire time we were in Ottawa! More on that in another post….) I purchased my daily entry wristband that morning from my friend FeisMom Denise who was volunteering at the admissions stand.
Speaking of friends, do you remember me mentioning the “Three Katies” in my post about our Oireachtas experience? Well one of the most exciting parts about this Nationals experience is that “Katie, Katie, and the emergency back-up Katie” all competed together again!
Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of all three of the girls in their dresses.
Upon arrival at the event, each of the girls were handed a Canadian flag and a promotional-size zipper make-up bag with glitter eye shadow enclosed. (Propaganda, sayeth I!!!! Yikes.) Well, after a brief discussion with the other Katie-Moms and a nod of solidarity, we each did succumb to the tender pleas of our daughters and allow them to wear glitter eye shadow for this big event. But ONLY for this big event!
Along with a bit of lipstick, it was very glamorous.
Zipped up and ready to go, Katie headed off to the stage… (Do I look nervous? I was!)
Katie danced beautifully! On stage she smiled and looked confident, her treble jig dances were loud and clean, and her reels were gracefully energetic! Many of the dancers in her U9 competition had been dancing Open Champion level for quite a while, and even though Katie was still dancing Prizewinner level, she certainly danced as if she belonged on that stage. Maureen was so proud of her, we were so proud of her, and most importantly, Katie was thrilled with how it felt to get up on that stage and dance her best. It was a very positive experience!
The recall experience, unfortunately, was not so positive. Not wanting to dampen her confidence, I apparently did not prepare Katie quite well enough to not hear her number announced for an invitation to the third round. Katie was crushed.
As with everything, this too was a learning opportunity. Katie’s sobs and her inability to accept praise from her teacher for approximately 10-15 minutes after the recall announcements was poor sportsmanship. It’s alright to be disappointed, and it’s alright to have a good cry now and then, but there are times and places when the fortitude of good sportsmanship must prevail.
Katie and I have had many conversations about this experience and we’ve both learned a lot about handling some of the pressures of championship competitions. Some of the first discussions were whether or not Katie was ready to move to Preliminary Champion level. Scott and I certainly were NOT going to allow her to, when she qualified, if she was going to have these kinds of reactions for not placing. Other discussions involved hypothetical role plays of appropriate reactions for friends placing or recalling when Katie did not, and vice versa.
When our Katie finally snapped out of the doldrums, the three Katies enjoyed some more time together in the hall before hugs goodbye. By the way, neither of the other two Katies recalled this year either, and although disappointed, they each handled the announcements gracefully. All three of the Katies danced very well and overall had a very positive experience. We had hoped to connect in the city later that evening for some celebratory dessert together, but unfortunately we were unable to make that happen. (Lack of cell phone use was a struggle in Canada.)
Before leaving the Congress Centre on Saturday Scott managed to get a group photo of Maureen with her four Teelin dancers. Mollie was even convinced to wear her costume again for the photo! Joe had already changed, but his current Guinness t-shirt “costume” met with great approval from the photographer.
There are many more stories to be told from our week in Ottawa, and I hope to find time to write again soon…
posted by Meg | 11:29 PM
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