Erin competed against 7 other, sometimes much bigger Beginners.
At this rate we're going to need a special dance award display case, just for her and Kate.
Showing posts with label scottish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label scottish. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
end of the season
At the end of September Erin's last dance competition of the year took place. We didn't enter Kate to dance because, having turned 7, she'd need to dance in the Beginner class and she doesn't know enough of the dances to really compete there yet.
Erin competed against 7 other, sometimes much bigger Beginners.
I still think the judging at these things is strange. The one dance I noticed some obvious mistakes was the dance Erin ranked highest in. But all day she was confident and it turned out to be her best competition yet. She took her very first FIRST place, two second places, and two fourth places.
At this rate we're going to need a special dance award display case, just for her and Kate.
Erin competed against 7 other, sometimes much bigger Beginners.
At this rate we're going to need a special dance award display case, just for her and Kate.
Monday, September 5, 2011
the big time
This was another dance competition weekend for us, which is always very exciting, but there was an especially large among of anticipation for this competition because of the location--at the Western Regional Championships in Pleasanton. This is the largest competition venue I can imagine the girls entering unless we want to do some major traveling someday.
Three years ago I decided to take the girls to these Highland Games for a day because I'd heard that they were the biggest in our region and one of the largest Highland Games festivals in North America. Many thousands of people attend over the two days and there are bands and dancers from all over.
During our second visit to these games the girls and I were watching some of the Highland dancing when Erin announced, "I want to do that." I didn't take her very seriously but over the next many months she kept telling me that she wanted to learn Scottish dancing. We came again last year and watched quite a bit of dancing, just a few weeks or so after the girls began dancing too. Now here she is again, finally able to compete on that big stage herself.
I registered Erin to compete here several weeks ago but I'd been telling Kate for some time that I thought she could begin competing next year, if she wanted to. A few weeks later however, Kate let me know that she really wanted to compete in Pleasanton too, so at nearly the last possible minute I signed her up.
Erin competes as a Beginner, which starts at age 7 and can go up to adults. This competition occurred a week before Kate's 7th birthday, so she got to compete as a Primary, for 4-6 year-olds.
All dressed and ready to start:
The Beginners always dance first. In Erin's past competitions there were eight Beginners. Here there were twice that many but luckily they divided them into ages 9 and under and ages 10 and older. Erin was really only being judged against 6 others.
Kate sat with her teacher for a while and watched very intently.
And then it was time for the Primary's first dance, The Fling, which was the longest and most complicated of their three dances.
Kate's first place Fling (she hesitates a little near the end and makes a mistake, but still was far better than the others):
The Beginners today could do four dances, and in those Erin earned a 6th, 4th, 3rd, and a 2nd place. Her best dance today was the Seann Truibhas (you'll hear it pronounced at the beginning of the video, as the announcer calls up another class to get ready). This is a bad video. I put one camera on a tripod and get it going while I take still photos with another camera. I was having all kinds of problems with the still photos so I didn't notice when Erin danced off to the side and I didn't follow her with the video camera very well.
I was really, really happy with the way Erin placed. Among her competition was the super star from her school and in her age group, Elizabeth. Elizabeth (deservedly) took first place in all 4 beginner dances and she was so good that she was declared the overall beginner class winner, which included those dancers from the older beginner group. The fact that Erin was next best in one dance was great. Erin took overall 3rd place.
In a couple of dances Elizabeth was right next to Erin. Here they are doing the Fling, you can see the difference in technique. Erin took 4th on this one.
Here are the big winners. proudly holding their medals for the day:
Three years ago I decided to take the girls to these Highland Games for a day because I'd heard that they were the biggest in our region and one of the largest Highland Games festivals in North America. Many thousands of people attend over the two days and there are bands and dancers from all over.
During our second visit to these games the girls and I were watching some of the Highland dancing when Erin announced, "I want to do that." I didn't take her very seriously but over the next many months she kept telling me that she wanted to learn Scottish dancing. We came again last year and watched quite a bit of dancing, just a few weeks or so after the girls began dancing too. Now here she is again, finally able to compete on that big stage herself.
I registered Erin to compete here several weeks ago but I'd been telling Kate for some time that I thought she could begin competing next year, if she wanted to. A few weeks later however, Kate let me know that she really wanted to compete in Pleasanton too, so at nearly the last possible minute I signed her up.
Erin competes as a Beginner, which starts at age 7 and can go up to adults. This competition occurred a week before Kate's 7th birthday, so she got to compete as a Primary, for 4-6 year-olds.
All dressed and ready to start:
The Beginners always dance first. In Erin's past competitions there were eight Beginners. Here there were twice that many but luckily they divided them into ages 9 and under and ages 10 and older. Erin was really only being judged against 6 others.
Kate sat with her teacher for a while and watched very intently.
And then it was time for the Primary's first dance, The Fling, which was the longest and most complicated of their three dances.
Following the other Beginner's dances and those of the higher classes, the Primaries did their last two dances and then the awards ceremony began with the Primary class first, where there were seven dancers. Kate took 3rd place and 2nd place in the last two dances, but in the Fling she got FIRST place!
Kate's first place Fling (she hesitates a little near the end and makes a mistake, but still was far better than the others):
The Beginners today could do four dances, and in those Erin earned a 6th, 4th, 3rd, and a 2nd place. Her best dance today was the Seann Truibhas (you'll hear it pronounced at the beginning of the video, as the announcer calls up another class to get ready). This is a bad video. I put one camera on a tripod and get it going while I take still photos with another camera. I was having all kinds of problems with the still photos so I didn't notice when Erin danced off to the side and I didn't follow her with the video camera very well.
I was really, really happy with the way Erin placed. Among her competition was the super star from her school and in her age group, Elizabeth. Elizabeth (deservedly) took first place in all 4 beginner dances and she was so good that she was declared the overall beginner class winner, which included those dancers from the older beginner group. The fact that Erin was next best in one dance was great. Erin took overall 3rd place.
In a couple of dances Elizabeth was right next to Erin. Here they are doing the Fling, you can see the difference in technique. Erin took 4th on this one.
Here are the big winners. proudly holding their medals for the day:
And one last bit of good news: with this weekend's wins Elizabeth immediately moves up to the Novice class, which means Erin won't be competing against her again anytime soon ;)
Sunday, August 14, 2011
nevermind the music, just dance
We stayed at the outer banks as long as we could but we had to be home in time for Erin to do her next dance competition at a small Highland Games not too far from home. So we got home on friday evening and the next morning Erin and I were there.
This was Erin's second competition and I have a lot to learn about this all of this, though I'm learning more and more as we go along. One thing I'm learning is the same thing I'm learning about what goes on at some other activities my kids have been doing, like softball for example. There is a level of precision and professionalism and attention to detail that I just assume in everything, but almost always reality falls short of that.
This was a serious competition with no trophies given for merely participation. The kids have worked very hard, winners are determined, the dancers in the top skill level are competing for prize money. It seems kinda important to get the details right.
In girls softball the umpires are trained and paid but you just wouldn't know it when you watch them work. In Highland dancing I saw some very strange judging by a paid professional during Erin's first competition and though I think the judging was better this time, there was a big problem with the music. Commonly they have a live piper play the music at competitions but at this one they used recorded music.
The beginner group was first, dancing the Fling. When the music started I thought, "Hmmm, that sounds weird. I've never heard Fling music like that before," but dismissed it as my own ignorance. After all, I don't even sit in on the girls' lessons, but I know it isn't the same as the practice music we have at home, on a specific CD the teachers directed me to get as being standard Highland dance music.
The music here was sorta kinda similar, but really kinda not. None of the beginners were able to step off at the right time when it started. The judge ordered the music stopped and restarted. They did a little better the next time, though she also signaled them, which normally wouldn't be done and wouldn't be necessary. Erin looked a little off while doing this first dance and then she became lost and missed several parts. The other kids looked kind of off too.
Erin was furious as she joined me off stage.
"WHAT was that music?!?"
"I screwed up the WHOLE THING!"
We talked a while and I told her I noticed the music was strange also and it seemed to be throwing off a lot of people but if she just listened for the beat and did the she knew that she'd be fine.
The next dance was the Sword and though the music was still strange, she did better this time.
And the music apparently was an issue for most everyone. I was watching some of the Premiers (the dancers at the very highest skill level) and some of them were being clearly thrown way off by the music too, something I've never seen before since those dancers have been dancing for YEARS. Among the six Intermediate dancers (the class right below Premier, still a couple of classes above beginner), four of them were disqualified during one dance for being so out of step with the music. The judge let all six redo that dance. This was all entirely unheard of.
I walked over to Erin's teacher and asked her what's going on and she was positively furious that they weren't using standard recordings. As kids were making huge mistakes and the judge ordered songs restarted throughout the morning she was visibly very annoyed. I thought she was annoyed at the kids for their mistakes, but as it turns out, Erin's teacher explained that she was annoyed at the organizers for having screwed up.
Erin danced in all five possible beginner dances. At her last competition she only did four because she didn't feel that she knew the fifth one, the Flora, well enough yet. I guess the whole music problem caused someone to finally change the CD because when it came time for the Flora a conventional recording was finally used.
Erin's timing here is a little better than the girl next to her:
And later the eight beginners were lined up together to receive their awards. Erin got a fifth place medal for one dance, a fourth place for another, and for the Flora, the newest dance for her, she took second place!
She explained her much better performance in the dance she's had the least practice with by saying it was the only dance that used the right music. In that she was absolutely correct.
As much as these events are clearly stressing me out, Erin enjoys them. Competition #3 is coming on labor day weekend.
This was Erin's second competition and I have a lot to learn about this all of this, though I'm learning more and more as we go along. One thing I'm learning is the same thing I'm learning about what goes on at some other activities my kids have been doing, like softball for example. There is a level of precision and professionalism and attention to detail that I just assume in everything, but almost always reality falls short of that.
This was a serious competition with no trophies given for merely participation. The kids have worked very hard, winners are determined, the dancers in the top skill level are competing for prize money. It seems kinda important to get the details right.
In girls softball the umpires are trained and paid but you just wouldn't know it when you watch them work. In Highland dancing I saw some very strange judging by a paid professional during Erin's first competition and though I think the judging was better this time, there was a big problem with the music. Commonly they have a live piper play the music at competitions but at this one they used recorded music.
The beginner group was first, dancing the Fling. When the music started I thought, "Hmmm, that sounds weird. I've never heard Fling music like that before," but dismissed it as my own ignorance. After all, I don't even sit in on the girls' lessons, but I know it isn't the same as the practice music we have at home, on a specific CD the teachers directed me to get as being standard Highland dance music.
The music here was sorta kinda similar, but really kinda not. None of the beginners were able to step off at the right time when it started. The judge ordered the music stopped and restarted. They did a little better the next time, though she also signaled them, which normally wouldn't be done and wouldn't be necessary. Erin looked a little off while doing this first dance and then she became lost and missed several parts. The other kids looked kind of off too.
Erin was furious as she joined me off stage.
"WHAT was that music?!?"
"I screwed up the WHOLE THING!"
We talked a while and I told her I noticed the music was strange also and it seemed to be throwing off a lot of people but if she just listened for the beat and did the she knew that she'd be fine.
The next dance was the Sword and though the music was still strange, she did better this time.
And the music apparently was an issue for most everyone. I was watching some of the Premiers (the dancers at the very highest skill level) and some of them were being clearly thrown way off by the music too, something I've never seen before since those dancers have been dancing for YEARS. Among the six Intermediate dancers (the class right below Premier, still a couple of classes above beginner), four of them were disqualified during one dance for being so out of step with the music. The judge let all six redo that dance. This was all entirely unheard of.
I walked over to Erin's teacher and asked her what's going on and she was positively furious that they weren't using standard recordings. As kids were making huge mistakes and the judge ordered songs restarted throughout the morning she was visibly very annoyed. I thought she was annoyed at the kids for their mistakes, but as it turns out, Erin's teacher explained that she was annoyed at the organizers for having screwed up.
Erin danced in all five possible beginner dances. At her last competition she only did four because she didn't feel that she knew the fifth one, the Flora, well enough yet. I guess the whole music problem caused someone to finally change the CD because when it came time for the Flora a conventional recording was finally used.
Erin's timing here is a little better than the girl next to her:
And later the eight beginners were lined up together to receive their awards. Erin got a fifth place medal for one dance, a fourth place for another, and for the Flora, the newest dance for her, she took second place!
She explained her much better performance in the dance she's had the least practice with by saying it was the only dance that used the right music. In that she was absolutely correct.
As much as these events are clearly stressing me out, Erin enjoys them. Competition #3 is coming on labor day weekend.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
hooray number 103
On saturday Erin had her first official competition as a Highland Dancer, which is something she's wanted to do since about week three of dance lessons last summer. She's been asking when and where she can begin competing for many months. She's registered with the american highland dance association and has her regulation dancer's photo card and her regulation dress highland kilt outfit and finally seemed all set.
We picked a very local small-ish competition hosted by her own dance school as her first contest, which unfortunately conflicted with her sisters' softball game, so John and Kate and Allison couldn't be there. But Uncle Brad and her cousin Jacob and his mom Cindy came to watch and cheer her on.
It was a cool, overcast day that threatened to rain off an on, so we even had some Scottish weather for the event. First, some warm-ups after everyone signed in.
Erin's class partner since day one, Andrew, the only male dancer in the school and in this competition, was set to compete also. Erin and Andrew are registered beginners, which is the lowest class of dancer you can be if you are seven years old or older. Besides the two of them, I wondered how many more beginners we'd have today and as it turns out, there were six more.
I didn't recognize a couple of the girls so they must be from out of the area, but the rest of them I did know, I just didn't know they are beginners because they are older than Erin and Andrew, have been dancing for much longer, and are in more advanced classes at the school. As soon as I saw who Erin would be competing against I knew this was going to be a rough contest.
Erin didn't seem to mind. She competed in four dances overall and I thought she did really well. The lone judge was flown in from Denver for the day for this event.
Her last dance is one of the "national" dances and requires a different outfit.
Video of her last dance, "The Lilt" (the dancers had to wait for the piper to tune up, this was after a break)
Afterwards she posed with her teacher, who told me she thought Erin did really well.
Here are all the beginners lined up ready to hear how they placed at the end of the whole competition. The adult second from right is an experienced Irish dancer, who started doing Scottish as well a few months ago, so she's a "beginner"? Um, yeah, sure. The tall dancer in the middle is eleven and has been dancing for 2-3 years, and the girl second from the left is Andrew's older sister, Elizabeth. She's nine and has been dancing about 3 years also. She's GOOD...really good. Everyone knows that. She does both Irish and Scottish dancing and seems to be a natural at both. I thought for sure she'd be competing in a higher class, but nope. My heart kind of sank when I saw that Erin would be up against these three dancers in particular.
I watched Erin and the other beginner class dancers as objectively as I could and I thought Erin fell somewhere in the middle of the pack. She wasn't the best, but she sure wasn't the worst either. For each dance the top six dancers were given medals. After the top six was announced for the first two dances, Erin hadn't won anything, and I was kind of stunned. She was better than some of the others, I know she was. Obviously I'm missing something here...then for the third dance, Andrew was announced as the second place winner, but his sister didn't place in the top six at all. Huh? Andrew and Elizabeth's parents were seated right next to me.
"What the...?!? That isn't right!" said their mother after she heard the results. Their father's jaw just kind of fell open in confusion.
Erin didn't place at all in the third dance either.
Then the last dance for the beginners, and Erin was announced in place #6 which earned her a medal, Andrew got #4 there if memory serves.
The results of the third dance notwithstanding, Elizabeth placed first in the other dances, making her the winning overall beginning dancer, no surprise there, she really was the best and the recipient of a big trophy.
And finally all the competitors from all the different competition levels from Erin's school posed together.
We both congratulated Elizabeth and Andrew, who we've come to know quite well.
Erin did great, I'm really proud of her, I only told her only that.
She's now put this day behind her and is looking forward to the next competition, out of our local area and about 2 hours away in the beginning of June.
Most importantly, I want Erin to have a good time, but I also wouldn't mind seeing a different judge there.
It was a cool, overcast day that threatened to rain off an on, so we even had some Scottish weather for the event. First, some warm-ups after everyone signed in.
Erin's class partner since day one, Andrew, the only male dancer in the school and in this competition, was set to compete also. Erin and Andrew are registered beginners, which is the lowest class of dancer you can be if you are seven years old or older. Besides the two of them, I wondered how many more beginners we'd have today and as it turns out, there were six more.
I didn't recognize a couple of the girls so they must be from out of the area, but the rest of them I did know, I just didn't know they are beginners because they are older than Erin and Andrew, have been dancing for much longer, and are in more advanced classes at the school. As soon as I saw who Erin would be competing against I knew this was going to be a rough contest.
Erin didn't seem to mind. She competed in four dances overall and I thought she did really well. The lone judge was flown in from Denver for the day for this event.
Her last dance is one of the "national" dances and requires a different outfit.
Video of her last dance, "The Lilt" (the dancers had to wait for the piper to tune up, this was after a break)
Afterwards she posed with her teacher, who told me she thought Erin did really well.
Here are all the beginners lined up ready to hear how they placed at the end of the whole competition. The adult second from right is an experienced Irish dancer, who started doing Scottish as well a few months ago, so she's a "beginner"? Um, yeah, sure. The tall dancer in the middle is eleven and has been dancing for 2-3 years, and the girl second from the left is Andrew's older sister, Elizabeth. She's nine and has been dancing about 3 years also. She's GOOD...really good. Everyone knows that. She does both Irish and Scottish dancing and seems to be a natural at both. I thought for sure she'd be competing in a higher class, but nope. My heart kind of sank when I saw that Erin would be up against these three dancers in particular.
I watched Erin and the other beginner class dancers as objectively as I could and I thought Erin fell somewhere in the middle of the pack. She wasn't the best, but she sure wasn't the worst either. For each dance the top six dancers were given medals. After the top six was announced for the first two dances, Erin hadn't won anything, and I was kind of stunned. She was better than some of the others, I know she was. Obviously I'm missing something here...then for the third dance, Andrew was announced as the second place winner, but his sister didn't place in the top six at all. Huh? Andrew and Elizabeth's parents were seated right next to me.
"What the...?!? That isn't right!" said their mother after she heard the results. Their father's jaw just kind of fell open in confusion.
Erin didn't place at all in the third dance either.
Then the last dance for the beginners, and Erin was announced in place #6 which earned her a medal, Andrew got #4 there if memory serves.
The results of the third dance notwithstanding, Elizabeth placed first in the other dances, making her the winning overall beginning dancer, no surprise there, she really was the best and the recipient of a big trophy.
And finally all the competitors from all the different competition levels from Erin's school posed together.
We both congratulated Elizabeth and Andrew, who we've come to know quite well.
Erin did great, I'm really proud of her, I only told her only that.
She's now put this day behind her and is looking forward to the next competition, out of our local area and about 2 hours away in the beginning of June.
Most importantly, I want Erin to have a good time, but I also wouldn't mind seeing a different judge there.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
easter saturday
Easter itself seems to involve enough stuff to do but no weekend is uneventful around here and the day before Easter, Erin and Kate volunteered to be in a local Easter parade with some of the other Highland dancers.
They first posed for some pictures with a local pipe and drum band that they would be following in the parade, and then they were off.
It was a really short parade route of about a half mile and they stopped at about mid-way to perform a dance for the crowd.
Then they came around the block and back to the beginning and did the route a second time. John and Allison passed out candies on one side of the street to kids along the parade route, and I passed out candy on the other side. And Erin and Kate got to practice their "parade wave" while walking down the street in between dances.
Later than afternoon the twins had a softball game and they had a great time. Kate made another out while playing first base again. Allison had a couple of great hits and here are some of the better pictures I managed this time:
They first posed for some pictures with a local pipe and drum band that they would be following in the parade, and then they were off.
It was a really short parade route of about a half mile and they stopped at about mid-way to perform a dance for the crowd.
Then they came around the block and back to the beginning and did the route a second time. John and Allison passed out candies on one side of the street to kids along the parade route, and I passed out candy on the other side. And Erin and Kate got to practice their "parade wave" while walking down the street in between dances.
Later than afternoon the twins had a softball game and they had a great time. Kate made another out while playing first base again. Allison had a couple of great hits and here are some of the better pictures I managed this time:
Sunday, April 3, 2011
divide and conquer
For the past two weeks we've had tons of rain so the twins' first two softball games were cancelled, but finally we had a sunny saturday and the girls would finally get to play. Unfortunately for me, Erin had an activity scheduled in another town at about the same time so John and I had to split up and I didn't get to see their first game. I wouldn't get to take any pictures of their first game either, and that is equally upsetting. Instead, I gave a camera to John and since I have a friend on the opposing team who is much more skilled at taking sports photos than I am, I did end up with some really great photos. The girls have had several practices with their team and they were raring to go.
Things are a bit different in this league. The softball fields for the 6 year-old division is smaller and they don't keep track of "outs", or even make a runner who is tagged out leave the field.
According to John, the twins played pretty well. They each did okay at hitting and fielding, and Allison in particular ran the bases just as hard and fast as she could.
Here is Allison batting:
And here is Kate playing first base, and successfully making an out at first.
It sounds like the game was tons of fun and I'm sorry I missed it, but there is always next week, if it doesn't rain anyway. Meanwhile, Erin wanted to dance in a small local Scottish fair along with a few others from the dance school. I recently ordered Erin her own official Highland dance competition outfit (used...wow those things are expensive) and here she is before the performance along with her teacher, who would also be dancing.
This was a small fair and a small stage compared to the huge Highland games we have taken the kids to each year, but it was good for Erin to have some extra performance practice because next month is her first real competition. A local pipe band provided the music for the dancers.
And there were 6 dancers altogether, including two of the three instructors at the school. Erin was by far the youngest, and the only beginner. She danced one number on her own.
And after the others danced individually or in pairs they did a final dance together.
Afterwards the dancers posed together for some pictures and they also posed with the band since one of the drummers is the father of one of the dancers.
I know there are another couple of games that Erin and I will likely miss because of upcoming dancing events, and I guess for now I should just be glad that between John and I we can manage to get everyone where they want to be. Don't ask me what we're going to do when the day comes when all three of them have different activities at the same time.
Things are a bit different in this league. The softball fields for the 6 year-old division is smaller and they don't keep track of "outs", or even make a runner who is tagged out leave the field.
According to John, the twins played pretty well. They each did okay at hitting and fielding, and Allison in particular ran the bases just as hard and fast as she could.
Here is Allison batting:
And here is Kate playing first base, and successfully making an out at first.
It sounds like the game was tons of fun and I'm sorry I missed it, but there is always next week, if it doesn't rain anyway. Meanwhile, Erin wanted to dance in a small local Scottish fair along with a few others from the dance school. I recently ordered Erin her own official Highland dance competition outfit (used...wow those things are expensive) and here she is before the performance along with her teacher, who would also be dancing.
This was a small fair and a small stage compared to the huge Highland games we have taken the kids to each year, but it was good for Erin to have some extra performance practice because next month is her first real competition. A local pipe band provided the music for the dancers.
And there were 6 dancers altogether, including two of the three instructors at the school. Erin was by far the youngest, and the only beginner. She danced one number on her own.
And after the others danced individually or in pairs they did a final dance together.
Afterwards the dancers posed together for some pictures and they also posed with the band since one of the drummers is the father of one of the dancers.
I know there are another couple of games that Erin and I will likely miss because of upcoming dancing events, and I guess for now I should just be glad that between John and I we can manage to get everyone where they want to be. Don't ask me what we're going to do when the day comes when all three of them have different activities at the same time.
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