Celtic Storm (June 2002) Practices:

June 10, 2002
We practiced in a gym at an elementary school. The floor was really slippery and so my dancing was pretty bad because I wanted to keep my grip as best as I could, so I didn't make high leaps or high kicks.
We did the Opening Reel a thousand times and condensed it a little. After that we did the Long Reel over and over and over, and finally did the 8-Hand over and over and over. Nothing special.

June 28, 2002
There was a feis practice a few days before, but it's just the same as the above practice, except we used Gonzaga Prep's auditorium, and it was much better.
We arrived five hours early by request of the parents and Cait so that we could run through the entire show. We started rehearsing about two hours before show time and so did all of the other acts.
The stage was really slippery, but very large, which was good.
I ran around with people for quite a while, browsed the auction items and watched other acts rehearse.
Once showtime hit, we were already completely ready, but we had to wait for about a half-hour for the Highland dancers, pipers, and Irish Roots Band to end before we went on. And boy, was it awesome!
The little kids went out, the music started...what's this? Clapping? No, more like whooping and shouting! As they started to dance, more clapping and shouts could be heard. It was so awesome!
The clapping got louder as each act went out, and when we started, it was like this roar of shouting and clapping and whistling, and all we were doing was softshoe! Once we got off and the boys started, the crowed jumped a few hundred decibles (but that always happens when the boys dance).
The clapping stayed like that through most of the program, and it increased when the Kettle dancers did their hardshoe a capella (which always rocks) and kept on going as Logan danced to LOTD music with some ballet dancers (although the spotlight was on Logan and his hardshoes - the guy is nothing short of amazing! He did these double back clicks, and WHOA that was awesome!)
Celtic Storm went great! Deirdre came and wished us luck, which was really awesome. I hadn't seen her in so long. I'd talked to her frequently on the phone about feis stuff, though.
You know a performance goes well when the audience is on their feet, and they were! It rocked!