Debut and Colleen Selection

Two little shamrocks, Tessa and her co-shamrock

Yesterday, Tessa did her Little Miss Shamrock Debut at the 2011 Arizona Colleen Selection. 

She got all dressed up in her formal gown and was presented to the Irish Community in grand fashion at the Herberger Theater. It was a wonderful night and we are so proud of Tessa. She was more well spoken than most of the Colleen contestants (if I may say so...I am a little biased).

The links below are to YouTube videos of Tessa's performance last night. I can't get them to embed right now, I will try to fix that later.

Tessa's Introduction

I love her talent piece; a little dance we put together last summer for her attempt at the National American Miss pageant. She won 3rd place for it out of about a hundred entries. It is really quite the crowd pleaser, and Tessa puts her charm and sparkle to good use!

Tessa's Talent

Tessa in the program

Me and two of my favorite former colleens, Mary (1999) and Erin (2003)

 I got to visit with friends that I see only at Irish Community function like this one. I am really lucky to have been a Colleen myself (in 2004). And I feel like part of a select group of women who grew up in this community together and share a common history. We love having been Colleens. We really do. Its something we looked forward to from the time we were little girls and the memories are cherished forever.

Me in 2004

And I really enjoyed last night's event. It was different from past events. Those events included dinner and people pretty much stuck to their tables. During the two intermissions last night, everyone wandered around and visited with people. We discussed the contestants, who our favorites were and what we thought the judges should look for and who we thought would win. It was really a lot of fun! It was also really nice to be able to see all of the contestants perform their talents on a real stage with real lights and sound. A much better show!

2011 Irish Community Royalty

Tessa and her Daddy

Dancing with my...dancers?

My performance "look"

So today, we restart something that hasn't been done in ages. I am going to perform with my students. Just a couple of them, at a private performance that requested a high caliber of dancers. I don't plan on doing a lot of the dances, but a couple of them...this required me to brush my hair and put make-up on. Sigh. Its going to be a loooooong weekend :-)

Pre Dance Class

One of the greatest surprises of my year has been predance class.

I never intended to start teaching predance. I like my Irish dancers, thank you. But when we needed to find a new predance teacher, I kind of had to pick it up.

I figured it was no big deal. I had been teaching small children for years. Just not a whole group of them in a class by themselves. Normally, the younger ones dance with, and learn from, the older ones in Irish dance classes.

But I was a bit nervous because these classes are geared specifically towards 3-5 year olds and the teacher (me) has to keep them focused and entertained for the entire class.

My first predance class was bitter sweet. A beautiful three year old who was very suspicious of me. She refused to dance. Flat out refused. So I did the only thing I could. I made her dad do the class. It was funny and cute, but man was I sweating! In all of my years of teaching, I had never been so intimidated. And by a three year old! Oh my!

Since then, I think I have found my stride with these classes. In fact, they are quickly becoming my favorites. I found that if I used the same combinations and music every class, the kids knew what to expect and were, generally, more cooperative and focused. The added benefit was really getting to see that 3 year olds can memorize combinations, begin to use their hands and feet together in combinations and learn basic Irish dance technique (I can't leave that out!)

I am working on new combinations for my predancers now that they have more or less mastered the other ones.

The challenges involved here include finding the happy medium between what is too easy and what is too difficult. Movements that we might think are so simple (like jumping from one foot to another) are really difficult for a child that is just learning to walk. And little ones get frustrated easily. I have done a lot of research to find out what a predance students should know by the time they enter a beginning ballet or tap class. I have also looked into what yoga poses are appropriate for toddlers and small children and other fun games and exercises to help them develop their gross motor skills.

I throw in the basics of Irish dance halfway through the class. Since the class is so small (usually 5 students), I do these movements one on one with each child. It gives the other ones a chance to rest and gives me a chance to interact with each child personally.

Another challenge is music. Do we use Disney? Personally, I can only handle so much Ariel and Cinderella. Plain old classical? Maybe...but the little ones seem to like words. I wanted to find stuff that the parents wouldn't mind listening to their kids sing over and over again, too.

I found a couple albums that I think I will be able to use for a while. Really, truly, the sweetest songs.

Many Hands-Family Music for Haiti
A collection of artists (including They Might Be Giants!) I love this album. Love it. Some of the songs are funky and fun, some are touching and sweet. I also love that children are singing on some of the tracks.

Sunny Day by Elizabeth Mitchell A really nice album of folk tunes with children singing on every track.

I like to sing along sometimes while we are doing our combinations (this only works after a couple weeks of doing the combinations). The kids get confident in their movement and start singing too. Its really cool.

I might go the Disney track at some point for a couple tunes. But I have found a real wealth of music by folk musicians that is appropriate for kids, the kids really like it and doesn't annoy me. Win!

Things I want to add to my predance class in the future?

More props! Flowers, scarves, hoops, jump ropes, things like that.

And tumbling! I never learned to tumble when I was little and it bummed me out when I was older. I can't wait to get my hands on a balance beam and some tumbling mats. I will have to bring in a tumbling teacher at first to help me learn to teach rolls properly (nothing too hard, but I want to make sure I am teaching it right!) I am really looking forward to adding this aspect to our class.

Parrot Intelligence

Indiana Jones

My last post got me thinking about one of my favorite subjects. Animal intelligence. Especially the intelligence of MY animals :-)

We all look at our dogs and cats and wonder what they are thinking. Our dog, Indy, has a really expressive face and our other dog, Allie, always seems to know when you are feeling sad.

When I got Whiskey a year ago, it was after a lot of research about what kind of parrot to get. The African Grey species won my heart. They are the clearest talkers and the idea of an animal that could say "I love you" was really a charming thought. (Whiskey says "I love you" quite often.)

Allie

Here is a lady whose work I really respect and admire.

After getting Whiskey, I read her book, Alex & ME. It is a wonderful read and I loved it. The thing that blew my mind was how she proposed, in a way, that all animals, not just African Greys, have the ability to think and comprehend. They have WANTS. And her research is repeatable. She has a new bird (Griffin) who is showing similar capabilities.

If you spend enough time with a bird like Whiksey, he WILL start to understand what he is saying. Just like a toddler, he will learn language and communicate with you.  I am not saying that my bird does, I think he just mimics what he hears around the house. We don't spend as much time with his as Dr. Pepperberg spends with her birds. But it is kind of thought provoking...can you say animal rights issue?

Whiskey the parrot

Most people know of my love for my little African Grey Parrot named Whiskey. She is the sweetest little bird... and so talented!

This morning, Whiskey flew down from her cage and made her way into the bedroom. She saw us and greeted us with a cheerful "Hi Whiskey!" The funniest part was, shortly after I picked up my bird from the floor, I head a little squeaky noise coming from the doorway. I looked to see Tessa's bird, Scooter, coming through the door. What funny animals!

While I was away in NM last weekend, Sven made a little video of some of Whiskey's new vocabulary. She was apparently calling my name a lot this weekend. I love this bird.

Valentine's Day

This morning, Sven and I were greeted by two outlandishly dressed teenagers bearing coffee.

SO glad I showed them how to use the coffee maker!

Shannon also serenaded us with the history of Valentine's Day. I have NO idea where she gets this stuff. She might have made it up. But I don't really care.

Happy Valentine's Day people!

New Mexico Trip

 What a drive!

Left Sophia's house at 9pm. A little earlier than we had originally planned on leaving. I, somehow, slept for the entire drive. 

I had wacky dreams, though. In one dream, Sophia was driving 85 mph in a residential zone. The police pulled up next to us and told her that she was driving with her emergency brake on. Wow. She was also leaning out of the car to wipe something off the windshield.

Then, when Steve changed the CD to a classical CD, I dreamed that I was a concert cellist. But I was only faking it...so I was like lip synching...but with a cello.

So it was kind of disturbed sleep, but it went by so fast!!!


We got into Albuquerque at 4:13am. The hotel said we could check in, but not for an hour...so, we went to Denny's for an early breakfast! I am so glad the hotel let us check in early, because it is FREEZING cold here. Freezing.

So, we got about an hour of sleep before we had to go downstairs to watch our beautiful beginners dance. So proud of them! And they did so WELL! And looked so pretty in their little beginner outfits. I think we have the best beginner outfits anywhere! I expect people will start copying soon. :-)

 

 

Anxiety and Attachment, a teacher's tale

So.

I am going to take the ADCRG in a year. Eleven months, actually. I am riddled with anxiety over this fact. When I took my TCRG, I was so relieved that I passed that I pretty much swore off ever becoming a judge. Teaching was good enough, thank you. But, now that I have been a TC for ten years, I feel like I cannot reasonably just stay in one place. I feel like I am reading water. Taking the AD exam is the next natural step in my career. Besides. Who will take me seriously in another ten years if I am still a TC?

The dancing part scares/annoys me the most. I can friggin' dance. I took that test ten years ago and passed it just fine. Besides. NINE set dances? SEVEN traditional sets? Seriously? You know what this means, right? I have to practice.I have to wear hard shoes. All of the tortures I have inflicted upon my young and beautiful dancing students for the past ten years are about to come back and haunt me.

This kind of brings me to the other part of my story for today. I get really attached to students. I love them. I look forward to seeing them every day, every week. I get really sad when they leave, for whatever reason. Leaving is part of the natural progression of being a dancer. They all grow up and leave. And some of them leave long before they grow up. Some of them leave behind hurt feelings when they go. That, obviously, is the worst. I have mentioned this particular fault of mine to a few of my colleagues and they all say the same thing. Its a problem.

For example, I have a new student. A wonderful child who is so full of talent. I am so excited to see where she goes with her dancing. And already, I am worried about when she will leave. Sigh. I just don't see how you can be a teacher without being a little attached. Dancers are wonderful creatures. They are smart, funny, cute, and wonderful. Even if their talent isn't for dance, they all have talents and I am ever so thankful for the impressions each one makes on my life. I have a couple students who have been with me ever since I got my TCRG. They will be leaving for college in the next year or two. I am already planning (in my head, preparing myself sorta) for their last Nutcracker, last recital, last Oireachtas, last feis, last class. I hope they get to see me pass that AD exam before they leave.

School again

We are back at it. I am making lesson plans and the kids have to sit at the kitchen table and do schoolwork. This time, I have them doing almost all the same lessons. They have their own vocabulary and spelling lists, but all of their Math, Grammar and Social Studies is the same. Its just easier that way.

Word.

We did the Unschooling thing. I like it. I think it is a GREAT idea. If you have different kids. Shannon and Tessa just don't cope with it very well. Like, as in, Shannon sat on her butt all day and whined if she was asked to do ANYTHING other than read whatever fantasy novel she was reading at the moment and Tessa drove everyone nuts all day long. If she wasn't preening in the mirror.

Now, we can fight about grades again. Oh joy.

I need to call Desert Marigold and see about enrollment :-)

Cinderella Sweetheart Open

Today, Tessa competed in the Cinderella Pageant's Sweetheart Open.

We left Glendale at 8:00am to make it in time

for check in at 9:15. It was held at a former middle school, converted to a church called Centerstage Church.

We were a couple minutes early and so we made our way to the dressing room to get sorted. The pageant was held in

what used to be the gym. Easy enough...right?

Ok, it was dark in the gym when we arrived, the girl who showed us to the dressing room said, "I think they will turn the lights on soon..." Okay.

We plugged in Tessa's straightening iron and were really thankful we had already done her hair at home. Because the outlets in the dressing room did not work. NONE of them.

Fortunately, curls were never in our plans and we were only thinking about touching up her hair. Other people were not so lucky...there were extension cords and surge protectors everywhere.

Since the lights weren't even on when we got there, I figured the heat would also eventually be turned on...nope. Wrong again. It was really cold. Refrigerator cold. The ENTIRE pageant. "Its just so expensive to turn on the heat."

Oh my...at least give us a head's up...right? Something like Come to the Cinderella Sweetheart Open...and bring your Sweetheart to snuggle with 'cause its gonna be COLD.

Through all of this, Tessa was a total trooper. She made friends with the other girls in her age group. They giggled and ran around together. They even hugged and high-fived during awards.

No, She didn't win the title for her age group, but she won "best talent" for her age group. And trust me, her competition was not easy. It wasn't just acrobatic dance, it was really good acrobatic dance. But she also did really well in her modeling and introduction. That kid positively lights up a stage. She carries herself really well and her talent...well...I have seen Irish dancing in pageants before, executed both well and badly...and Tessa pulls it off with a lot of grace. She isn't just a champion Irish dancer, she mixes it with a sort of magic that I can only call Tessa.

She had a really good time. She feels really good about herself. And really, I did not mind sitting in a refrigerator to cheer her on. I got NO good video because I was shivering. (Sven pointed that out when I tried to share the video I took with him) But I had a few good laughs

about it with the other moms.

Later this week, I will get the judge's comments and we will find out if her rogue bra strap in casual wear did her in...or perhaps her choice of red dress when it SEEMED that all the other girls were wearing white...

I always enjoy doing pageants with Tessa. I really love being her support. Not her teacher, her Mom. Her biggest fan. The one who picks up her shoes and makes sure her next outfit is where it needs to be. I fix her make-up and her hair and we laugh when I accidentally poke her in the eye with the mascara wand. I like how Tessa responds to me at these events. She looks at me as though she likes me, almost like she is proud of me. I get to be the cool, goofy, mom that doesn't freak out over everything. We watch the other moms do enough of that for everyone.

And because it is so very different from Irish Dance, its almost what you might call chill. Pageants are almost stress-free for us. Its weird. In a life that we share that has always been anything but normal. Its odd to say that these moments are the closest thing to normal that we have, and I find that exceptional.

Pre-Pageant Prep

Tessa is competing in the Cinderella pageant tomorrow morning. I have spent most of my day getting ready for this. Its not as big as the National American Miss pageant she did, but I did have to gather her things. It took forever to find that beautiful headshot that Jacqui took a while back for the Photogenic category. Tessa tore apart the garage looking for it. I had to put the garage back together.

Here is her list:

Party wear dress and shoes

Casual dress and shoes

Interview dress and shoes

Talent dress and shoes

Photogenic headshot

CD for talent

Tights in brown, nude and flesh colored dance tights for talent

Directions to the pageant

More stuff than a feis!!!!

Laundry Day

Today is laundry day. I cannot wait to get my new washer on Monday! Its nice to get all the laundry done in and hour or so at the laundromat, but I hate having to leave the house, lug laundry and do all of that folding and putting away all at once...I also can't understand how its already 10:00am...the days go by too fast!

Today

Today I got up. Then I called Holly. Holly and I talked...its what we do best.

I paid bills and sent the kids to the dance studio to "practice" or whatever it is they do while they are there. The Maytag repair man came over to tell us that our washing machine is beyond repair...and charged us $75. I paid more bills. Sunshine came over and we talked dresses. She left her kids at the studio to join S & T in whatever they were doing at the studio. Sophia came over to get her dress from Sunshine. Steve came with Sophia and the boys played Scrabble. Now we are deciding whether to got to the studio and practice or go to the screen printer to see about t-shirts.

And I am wondering how it got to be past noon...

I think it is funny that the repair man at least had the decency to tell us that we are lucky our washer lasted THIS long. Sigh. Shrug. All that stuff.

Alright, Jacqui. I'm back.

I read through my last posts, which were like from forever ago. And I thought they were funny. So, since I never deleted this account. I will try and continue. I will not try and recap anything from the past year and a half. Because the more things change, the more they stay the same. So really nothing has changed...except, a lot has changed and it really doesn't seem efficient to go through all of that. So we will just repeat it again in case you missed it...the more things change, the more they stay the same. Now to figure out pictures. This blog needs pictures...