Longs Peak Feis

{ Longs Peak Feis - Softshoe }

In Irish dancing a Feis is a competition. There are several different categories you can dance in according to your age, level, and type of dance e.g. soft shoe, hard shoe, reel, jig, hornpipe, etc. Since I am old now, ha, I dance as an adult. There are rules limiting adults to traditional steps, which are slower and not as complex. That is the only frustrating aspect to adult competition. Dancing with adults as apposed to younger dancers is great! No one tries to stab you in the bag and no one is trying to make it to Worlds. Adults are there to have fun, enjoy the music and great company.

This feis was early in the morning and it was cold - two combinations adults don’t like. I was running late, as a result I didn’t warm up or stretch enough. I almost didn’t make it to my first dance, the reel! When I told my legs to move, they just didn’t want to. I could feel how stiff my muscles were and knew it probably wasn’t going to be pretty! But I had fun anyway.

In my favorite dances I ended up getting two 2nds and one 3rd. In my hard shoe dances I places 1st in both! I didn’t think I would place at all… so I considered myself to be lucky. I was extremely happy for everyone I danced with! Our school swept the competition! My dear dancing friend, Emily, placed first {among her other top place finishes} in the slip jig. I was so proud of her and her beautiful moves! All of us from Bennett huddled in the first two rows to watch our teacher, Mary, compete in the 18-over open champions! She looked great and had a smile the whole time! She makes it look so easy.

Joseph was a trooper and braved through all the accordion music and crazy dresses. I got him a few beers, deep fried food, good laughs and he seemed to enjoy the whole experience. Although he was a little upset about the festival’s under representation of the Manx {Isle of Man} culture. He likes my family heritage - a lot. Mark and Erin got to learn first hand what Irish dance culture is all about. I can’t tell if they are fascinated, or just scared about the whole thing! We were thinking they could come up with a new part of the competition - whoever can dance with a beer in their hand and spill the least amount wins! I think that was the Guinness talking…