Irish

How Irish Are You?

There is definitely Irish blood on my mother’s side.  My mother’s maiden name is Reidy and my grandma’s maiden name was Flanagan.  My mom has it all traced back to the 1600’s.  My wife Karen received some great genealogy information from her aunt and uncle tracing her family back to Scotland to the 1400’s.  I think it’s all a great hobby if you have the time, but I don’t have the time.  I’ll let all the relatives do the dirty work and probably latch on sometime in my fifties or sixties to help the process along.

My grandmother on my father’s side always like to talk about our Irish blood.  She had all kinds of limericks and would even do an Irish jig every now and then.  My father always bristled at her so called Irish ancestry because her mother was from France and her father was Canadian making him English or French.  I don’t think my grandfather had any Irish blood in him even though he was born in New York.  My father always contested his mother’s claim to Irish heritage because he insisted there just wasn’t any evidence to the fact.  She was somehow orphaned as a child and was adopted by the McClain family of Chicago.  Who knows, maybe grandma did her research and it just never got to my dad.  I think she just liked to tease him.

The Irish are a proud bunch for all the negative stereotypes.  A lot of people don’t like catholics and most of them are catholic.  The Irish have been painted illiterate, bad tempered, heavy drinkers who like to fight a lot.  Wow.  Blacks and Jews thought they had it bad.  I’m sure there’s a lot of good that comes from being Irish also, but I don’t know what that is either.  I do know that St. Patrick’s Day could use a good makeover.  Corned beef, cabbage and green beer is just going to give you a lot of gas and it doesn’t taste any good either.  Leprechauns are like clowns.  They’re kinda scary.

May the wind be always at your back and a pot of gold at the end of your rainbow.  Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Share

Irish

Is Dance a Sport?

The world of dance is something I was introduced to ten years ago when my wife signed my daughter Jennifer up for dance.  We signed her up at a local dance troupe at the age of three.  The world of dance was like landing on the moon to me.  It was an alien world.  I am the football/baseball guy that dances with his wife once a month on a Friday night.  There’s not a lot of rhythm or hip movement much beyond the robot or the sprinkler.  I found it comical to watch the little three year olds fumble around in their tights and tutu’s.  The whole affair is really cute, but do we need to spend fifty bucks a month on it?  As the years go by, the practices, rehearsals and monthly payments stack up, a transformation takes place that is a joy to behold.  These gals can actually dance.  These gals are physically fit, disciplined, serious and work hard at what they do.  It is an eye opener to learn about all of the work that is involved in putting a single dance together.

First, you need to decide what kind of dance you’re going to perform.  It could be tap (my favorite), ballet, lyrical, hip hop, Irish, clogging or whatever other genres might be available to you.  Out of the millions and millions of songs to choose from, you need to pick some music and it can’t be anything you’ve done in the last couple of years.  Choreography is the next step.  How many dancers are we going to have?  How should we dance this thing?  What steps should we use?  How long should it be?   The practice is the impressive part.  For all of the creativity and self expression that you see at the recital, months of practice goes into that three minutes on stage.  These gals practice week after week doing the same steps to the same music over and over again.  Each week they add a couple of new steps until the dance is perfected.  The girls also get to do a lot of stretching, yoga, and core work to get themselves physically fit.

We’re not finished yet.  You can’t go on stage without a costume.  The theme, style, colors and all that other shiny stuff needs to be selected and purchased.  What about all of the glitter, lashes, mascara and whatever else you ladies put on your face.  Now, it’s time for rehearsal.  Two weeks before the big recital there is usually a rush to the finish line with extra practices and rehearsals.  A dance recital is no small affair.  Most of the ones I have attended, usually have forty to fifty dances, and this is put on by a dance studio that only has one room to teach all the girls from preschool to high school.

I’m looking forward to the big recital coming in July.  It’s great to be a proud dad and sit in the auditorium to watch your beautiful daughters have so much fun.  This year Jennifer will be in nine dances and Jacqueline is in two dances, so about every fourth I get to see one of my girls.   

Is dance a sport?  No, it’s so much more than that thanks to Ellen and her staff at Shadowridge Dance in Vista, CA.

Share