This time ten years ago, I would be preparing for an onslaught of performances. St. Patrick’s Day was always the day where I’d skip school to get on a bus and tour around my hometown with my troupe, dancing everywhere from schools to retirement homes to the cheese section in a grocery store. While I don’t dance anymore, I will forever have the stories and memories to look back on and oftentimes chuckle about.
In the spirit of the holiday, here are five confessions from yours truly, a former Irish step dancer:
1. The first time we used curlers in my hair, I cried.
Because ringlets were part of our required performance attire in the troupe I was in, I’ve spent many a night sleeping with those ugly plastic curlers wound tight against my head. The very first time we tried them out, it was a mild disaster. While everyone was telling me I was adorable, in reality I looked like a combination of SNL’s Gilly and Little Orphan Annie. I was probably in the second or third grade, and I’ve always been very sensitive about my hair. So really, can you really blame me for bursting into tears?
2. When I hear Irish music, I have a tendency to get “happy feet.”
The dances we learn, for the most part, can be performed to a lot of different Irish songs because of similar rhythmic patterns. My dad coined the phrase “happy feet” for me as a child when he noticed I was shuffling my feet and clicking my heels under the table. To this day, if an Irish reel or hornpipe song is played, I can still hear my old instructor singing the steps to me in my head. What happens with my feet next is merely the natural progression of things. ;)
3. I never really washed my costume.
There are days where I wonder why my instructor chose to line our heavy velvet dresses with white satin. In the winter months, the long sleeves and general thickness were much appreciated, but summer shows were another story entirely. A lot of the time, it was sweltering underneath all the layers. But the combination of fabrics and the amount of embroidery meant that I couldn’t just throw my dress in the washer or dryer. My mom and I came up with technique that was 15 percent spot cleaning, 15 percent spraying it with Febreze, and 70 percent praying that no one would ever have to see the sweat-stained lining of my dress in the first place.
4. I had a massive talent crush on Michael Flatley.
In case you’re unfamiliar with him, Michael Flatley is the guy from Riverdance and Lord of the Dance. He’s arguably the most well-known Irish step dancer in the world. I had a chance to see Lord of the Dance with my old dance troupe, and my life was never the same. There’s something to seeing a professional do something that you yourself love to do that is inexplicably awe-inspiring – hence the talent crush. I guess there’s just something about a fit guy in a cummerbund.
5. I miss it – a lot.
I was an Irish step dancer for about eight years. No one can dedicate that much time to a sport, art, etc. and not feel this way. I miss lacing up my soft shoes and I miss the click-clack of my hard shoes on the floor. I miss the sense of pride and accomplishment that would swell in my chest after I did a solo, or even after I had simply kicked my leg higher than before. Most of all, I miss the inherent feeling of family and tradition that was laced into our troupe, and that is laced into Irish step dance as a whole.