The Return of the Feis

Ok, I haven't posted in a while and for this I apologise, but you'll be pleased to know that it's because I've been working on the content for today's blog!

I haven't competed in around 2/3 years...long enough anyway that I can't remember when my last feis was, but I believe it was the All England's in 2009... possibly 2008 but I think it was 2009. So, understandably, I'm a little rusty. Well, more than a little rusty. I have recurring nightmares where I forget all of the (admittedly simple) feis rules and falter on the step down the line by starting too early, forget to bow to the adjudicators and dance a slip jig when I should be dancing a reel for my Championship. I'm nervous, to say the least and hoping that I can place in all my dances but I'm not expecting too much, I'm sure a lot has changed at Open level since I last competed.

So, the question is; how do you make a comeback? I'm trying to return to the original level I competed in under a new teacher, with new steps and a 2 year break, having only been dancing again for 6 months; the odds are not in my favour. It's for this reason that I've been devising my own strategy, one that I think any dancer could incorporate easily, and I'm happy to say that it's working. It's what I call the 2 week cram.

The 2 week cram is simple, and I'm holiday now so easy to work on. It involves 1hr45mins of non-dance related cardio and 1 hour of practice per day. You can do one in the morning and one in the evening, fit it around your day and if you really work in that 2hrs45 you make massive improvements within the 2 weeks, improving not only stamina but also confidence. My issue up till now has been that my stamina has been pretty pathetic, and whilst I can complete a dance I can't complete it well. So I've started to get my heart racing every morning by going to the gym, where I work out on the treadmill, bikes, cross-trainer and incline-trainer, which all involve a great deal of you using your legs. My favourite of these is the incline-trainer, which is sort of like a cross-trainer in that you  push and pull with both your arms and legs but it's at an incline as if you're going uphill. The best part of this is that it also stretches out my legs into almost a hamstring stretch - flexibility and strength! I rotate on all the machines for 10-15 minutes at a time with 15 minutes at the end for a slow jog to walk on the treadmill to warm down. Of course if you don't have a gym membership you can actually do the activities the machines mimic; go for a run, a cycle, hill-walking if you have some nice steep ones nearby. Just make sure that you're working hard and pushing yourself just that little bit further, you'll know what you can do without hurting yourself and the aim is to improve day by day not all at once.

For my one hour drills practice in the afternoon I split it up this way;  10 minutes for warm-up/warm-down, 10 minutes stretching, 20 minutes drilling specific parts of my steps that I think need more precision and 20 minutes running my steps in front of any reflective surface I can find. This I find creates a good balance and I get everything done without causing any damage to myself...well, in general. I'm still too accident-prone not to fall over. During my drills I work on the movement directly before and into the movement I want to perfect, trying to make the transition smooth, precise and the next movement as perfect as possible. I do this over and over until I'm satisfied that it looks great then move on to the next part of that step before drilling the whole thing at the end. This way of doing things may not work for everyone - you may prefer just to work on one dance at a time and do drills and whole dance together, but this is just how I work.

It isn't all hard work though, during my 2 week cram I make sure to take care of myself, especially my muscles and my feet. In the evening I relax by taking a warm bath to relax my muscles with some nice scented bubble bath - dancing is sweaty work after all! I also treat my feet to a homemade foot scrub every few days using a recipe from Skin Care Recipes and Remedies, I personally love the brown sugar and oatmeal scrub. The foot masque is also brilliant for softening your feet overnight, and you can find other easy recipes online that involve peppermint which is brilliant for cooling and refreshing tired and sore feet! The better your feet feel, the more confident and happy you're going to feel on the dancefloor.

This system works for me, my dance class last night was the best I've ever had and I'm feeling strong and ready for Sunday, I just hope my dancing reflects this on the day! I'll be at the Carroll School's Emerald Feis in Chertsey for any UK An Comdhail girls reading this, look out for my dress and please say hi! My friend JK will also be there, dress-spotting and probably taking a few photos for his fashion blog; check it out at www.unlimitedbyjk.com for his brilliant style-spotting tips and tricks, and keep checking back here for more ID-related gems.