Recital at the Mothergoose Progressive Coffeehouse (Spokane, WA - March 2002) Ahem, ahem. Is this thing on? ::taps mic:: Ahem. I HAVE NO BLOODY IDEA HOW THIS RECITAL IS SUPPOSED TO WORK!
We have a nursing home show for St. Pat's the day after, but apparently we're doing the same stuff at the recital as we are at the nursing home show, except for the fact that it is all classes, so they aren't going to have two Opening Reels, two 8-Hands (of the exact same kind) and all that. But, of course, if the floor is large enough, they could put two on stage, or combine the Opening Reel into one big dance, but this is of my own inference. Who knows what we are really doing! I know I don't.
I haven't really been thinking about the recital much, what with a feis (and mind you, my first) preceeding it and all. But when the time comes, I think I'm going to be filled with more pride and joy than anything else.
I am an Irish dancer, hear me treble!

Okay, so the coffeehouse was huge! We did some warming up, joked around with Alex, Devon, and Johnathan. Rebekah came with her sister Bridgette a little later, and we joked around some more.
We ran-through the performance, which combined both of the St. Pat's shows into one. It worked really well.
We ran through the Opening Reel (our class was to be the first to dance), then we practiced lining up, went through the figures, then once we finished, we discovered that some Highland dancers (two) and a pipe band would be there for the end of the show to do a little performing. We also discovered we'd be teaching the audience The Waves of Tori. Of course that dance took us three days to learn.
We rushed into the changing room, had a quick "dinner" (during which Cait congratulated me on the feis), changed into costume, practiced a little in the back hallway (wow, was there a ton of blue and gold dresses...), and lined up for the Opening Reel.
A little guest speaker who was talking about things that clearly no one was interested in, talked for about five minutes, during which Cait told us to sit. A lot of pictures were taken, blinding me at random times.
We lined up, went through the Opening Reel reely well, had a ball, smiled a lot, kicked high, leaped high...it was so fun!
After the Opening Reel the next dance I was in wasn't for a while, so we talked about camp, a lot. It was really funny. We laughed a lot, did some heel clicks, and had a ball.
We sang Tell Me Ma for the little kids (well, only the chorus...only Deirdre, Cait and Claire sang the rest), then after a time, it was time for our Long Reel. That was fun. The three hand went quite well.
After the Long Reel, we had another break for a few dances, until Glenaid Rince (the 8-Hand). We messed up at the beginning because only our half stood in first, then did the set-up, but that's alright.
We did really well! The audience roared, cheered, shouted, wooped, hollered! It was great! Sooo much fun!
We were done after that, and that's when the Highland dancers arrived. One was in the Irish Jig costume, one was in the traditional vest and kilt. A few of the younger girls had really in depth conversations with these high school-aged Highland dancers, about the dancing types, then they danced for the Highlanders, and the Highlanders practiced the Jig for the little kids. Rebekah and I practiced butterflies and flutters (which Cait calls diddlydums), then we went out and listened to Deirdre. Alex had us fetch his water bottle, only Rebekah and I didn't know which was Johnathan's and which was Alex's, so we got Johnathan's on mistake, so Alex had us go get his. He sooo owes us ;)
When the pipers came in, most of us cringed at first. They were loud! The Highland dancers were cool. One of the pipers commented that when the Haran dancers performed at their recital last October (which I went to), they stole the show. Needless to say, it was great!
The room was really, really, really hot! Come to think of it, every room was hot, but we had a blast! Can't wait to do it again!
The live band definitely helped!