Set In Stone

Set In Stone by Brian McFadden

It's been quite a while. I don't have much of a reason. I was either really busy or nothing was happening. Let me tell you about the first two days in April and how they were basically the happiest weekend of my life. April first, we had two main Riverdance dancers come up to our studio and do a workshop with us. Caterina Coyne and Maeve Croke. A number of local newspapers covered it, there were reporters and photographers in the corner of our studio. It was so incredible. I have never been so exhausted and exhilarated. Pushing the gas pedal driving home from the studio hurt my calves. They helped with some technique pointers, and taught us some drills and choreography from the show. It made me want to be like them. I know my chances of that are, well, non existent. But even a local thing like that would be cool.
The next night, Mindy (a good friend from dance) and I went to Riverdance at Kingsbury Hall. From the beginning dance, Reel Around the Sun, I was enthralled by Irish Dance all over again. By the end I had cheered so much through it I lost my voice a little. Who looses their voice at Riverdance?!?!? Oh yea...I do. heh.
Here's some pictures from the workshop.
In this first picture-my legs are on the right. In the black shorts.




Then a few weeks later, my "best-good" friend, Jacki came home from her mission. I went up to Logan the week after she got home to see her. As well as Tim. It was nice to be around Jacki again. And to have the three of us (Jacki, Tim and I) together again was a bit strange cause we've all changed in the past three years. But it was still as comfortable and easy as it has always been.
This week, my niece and sister were here for a visit. Jason was on a business trip in California-so instead of staying home alone, Nicole brought my Muppet for a visit. It was really fun having the two of them here. My niece is now a year and a half old. And she loves me. She's not talking "real" words much-she uses a lot of sign language she's learned. I swear she said "Hi Stacy" when she would see me. I'm pretty sure my cat got jealous of me spending my time with "the tiny human". If you've ever read Pet Diaries I could imagine my cat's inner dialogue every time he would see Syd. "Dang. The tiny human is still here." She loves Tiger. I think she talked to him more than any of us.
I had quite a bit of dancing the past few weeks. We had our studios spring recital, and then, One of my dreams came true. I got paid to Irish Dance. That's right. I had my first paying dance gig this week. There's a local famous Celtic band called Idlewild (I'm not sure how big they are outside of Utah), they had a thing Wednesday morning and wanted two dancers to come and do dances to their songs. So my teacher picked me and one other girl to go. I was so nervous! I normally don't get that nervous before a performance. I'm fine up until about 3 minutes before I go onstage, then I get nervous and forget all my dances. But as soon as I'm on stage and going I'm fine and everything goes great. This particular performance, however, I was nervous about two hours after I got the phone call up until I was done with the performance! I had a few rehearsals at the studio, and practice on my own. I had this "Dancer's Prayer" going through my head the morning of the gig:
Dear angel, Ever at my side,
Be there today, my feet to guide.
Help me dance high, and light, and free,
So everyone will be proud of me.
Every dance I'll remember with pride.
And angel, please keep my shoelaces tied.
The gig went well. The crowd and the band loved it. One of the band members said we made the show. It was pretty cool. I'd have done the gig even if I didn't get paid-but the fact that I just got paid to do dance is pretty great.

Here are a few videos for your enjoyment. The first one was shared by my friend Marné It's so incredible.

This one I stumbled upon after watching the first one.