When my oldest turned five, we enrolled her in a summer Irish dance camp. That led to classes in the fall. In the spring, we were told she would be ready to compete in a feis (Irish dance competition) and to register her. We arrived the day of the feis only to discover I was supposed to register as a pre-beginner. No one had told me this. Luckily two other moms from our school had done the same thing so our girls were all competing together.
Sitting at that first feis and seeing the older dancers in their sparkling (and very expensive) dresses with curly wigs, diamond tiaras and makeup was a big jolt. I mean, I'd spent two hours putting curlers in my daughter's hair and she wore a little plaid skirt and one of her school uniform shirts. These girls looked like they were ready for a Vegas show or, gulp, a beauty pageant. What had we gotten ourselves into?
When one of the newer moms started talking about teacher certification and all these different things regarding levels and moving up, I had no idea what she was talking about. I realized it was time to educate myself.
I discovered a world wide web full of MAIDs (Mothers Addicted to Irish Dance.) These women knew everything from stuffing socks under wigs for added height to using vodka to get rid of body odor from dresses. They studied the trends from Ireland and knew words I had no idea how to pronounce. I read their posts on the various forums and tried to soak in all the information I could.
But some of it was disturbing to me. I remember when someone posted a new rule about no makeup on dancers under the age of ten. Shouldn't that have been a given? Tanning before a big competition seemed to be the norm which I didn't understand. And the dresses! The posts about solo dresses boggled my mind. Who would spend $1500 to $3000 on an Irish dance dress? That's more than my wedding dress cost. Yet these MAIDs made it seemed like that's what you had to do to compete at the higher levels. Maybe their daughters, but not mine.
I finally started figuring out stuff like dance levels. In case you're interested, here's a brief rundown on what they are and how (at least in the new school we transferred to almost two years ago that thankfully tells parents how things work) you move to the next level.
If it's a dancer's first time competing, they dance in the pre-beginner/first feis dances. They have special solo dances and trophy dances for them. If they win, they don't change levels, but it's a nice intro to competition. The dance levels are as follows (for the Western Region that is, these can be called different things in different regions):
• Beginner/Beginner 1 (must place 1, 2 or 3 in a dance with at least five competitors to move up)
• Advanced Beginner/Beginner 2 (must place 1 or 2 in a dance with at least five competitors to move up)
• Novice (must place 1st in a dance with at least five competitors to move up)
• Prizewinner (must place 1st, twice in each dance with at least five competitors to move up)
• Preliminary Champion (must win 2 championships with at least five competitors to move up)
• Open Champion
There are solo competitions for the levels up to and including Prizewinner: Reel, Light Jig, Slip Jig (girls only), Single Jig, Treble Jig, Hornpipe, St. Patricks/Traditional Set.
There are also special trophy dances. If you win or place, you can't move up in your level, but you do get a nice trophy to take home. I've seen the following trophy dances: Reel, Light Jig, Slip Jig, Hornpipe and Treble Reel (my fave to watch!)
In the championship levels, the dancers perform a soft shoe, a hard shoe and another hard shoe dance called a traditional set. Each of the three dances has a winner and then there is an overall Champion of the competition.
People with the initials ADCRG after their names judge the dancers. It's a special certification that enables them to call themselves adjudicators, but really just seems to make them targets of criticism after major competitions (such as Nationals, Great Britain, All-Ireland, Worlds) when the Internet boards are full of posts complaining and gossiping about favoritism and fixes.
Most dancers wear a class dress (each school has their own design) until they reach a certain level. Then they can get a solo dress to wear (if they choose.) Some dancers wear solo dresses in Novice. Others wait until Prizewinner. Some wait until they reach Champion level.
We told Mackenna that she wouldn't get a solo dress until all her dances were Prizewinner, but there was a dress we'd seen on a dancer at our school that we loved. I asked my friend Alison, who is also the school dressmaker and had designed the solo dress we liked, to tell the family to call us if they ever want to sell the dress. Imagine my surprise when they called a month or so later.
Mackenna tried on the dress and looked beautiful in it. She wanted it so badly. I wanted her to have it even though it cost as much as my wedding dress. Unfortunately the dress fit her perfectly. That wasn't going to work. She still had novice dances and really didn't need a solo dress right then so her friend bought the dress instead.
I started paying attention to the number of class dresses vs. solo dresses in Mackenna's competitions. The novice level dancers wore mainly class dresses, but prizewinner dancers were almost all wearing solo dresses. I mentioned this to hubby. "It shouldn't matter what she wears because it's about the dancing," was his reply. Still I started asking moms with daughters in Prizewinner how much they had planned or were planning to spend on a first solo dress. Of course what people wanted to pay and ended up paying varied.
I'm not sure if it was the money we'd be spending or the time to find a dress that intimidated more when I snuck down to the award room alone and saw she'd received the first place she needed to be all Prizewinner. Probably a combination of both with emphasis on the time aspect due to the book deadline. I knew we'd be buying used, not new. But that would take searching the Internet, ebay, dress racks at feis. Imagine me in a panic.
I went straight to the dress consignment room next door and looked at the used dresses for sale. I noticed a pink one for sale by one of the families at our school. The price seemed reasonable $350 and the dress looked as if it might fit Mackenna. Alison happened to be nearby so I asked if she'd look at the dress. She did and pointed out another dress for sale by the same family. It was more expensive, but gorgeous. Alison said it would be worth trying because it was a great price for a dress of that quality. All I saw was two chances to be done with my dress shopping ASAP. I was ready to dance a jig!
I found the person with the dresses for sale. Unfortunately she was going to be leaving before Mackenna finished dancing. I asked if she would bring the two dresses to the dance studio on Tuesday. Then I told hubby about the dresses. I won't tell you his response. Needless to say, when it came time to decide who would stay with the girls at Irish dance and who would pick up son and drive him to First Reconciliation class on Tuesday, I chose the dance.
Luckily for me, Alison was at the studio that night. I put Mackenna into the pink dress first. She looked so cute, but the skirt was too big with no easy way to alter it due to the embroidery on the panels. Mackenna wasn't upset. You could tell by the way she kept eyeing the more expensive dress she liked it better.
Alison helped her into the second dress. It was big on her, but the color combination looked good. The seams had been let out and a ruffle of pleats added on the bottom because the dancer had grown. Alison told me the skirt was the perfect size for Mackenna. She could take off the ruffle, move up the waist and take in the seams on the bodice. I was sold.We showed Mackenna's teacher. The first thing she said was, "It's too big." My heart dropped to my feet. I saw endless ebay auctions and visits to Dance-again.net in my future. I explained how Alison could take it in. The teacher had a few other things to say, but when I told her the price (they'd just marked down the dress) she said okay. I wasn't sure who to thank first. The teacher, Alison or the mom selling the dress.
As I wrote a check, I was so relieved. Money aside, I couldn't believe finding a solo dress could be that easy. Several moms were sitting around the table with me. One hated to see the dress go for such a low price. I asked if I was a horrible person because I didn't feel guilty for getting the dress at a bargain. They all said no, that the bottom had dropped out of the used Irish dress market and it was a buyer's market.
Of course I still had to tell hubby what I'd bought. Who knew how I'd feel after that? He didn't look happy when he saw the dress. I explained Mackenna loved the dress, looked beautiful and the price was great. I quickly put her into the dress before hubby could say a word. He took one look at her and his eyes softened. The cost might have still bugged him, but he agreed. It was the dress for her.
I called my best friend from college, Debbie, and told her about the dress. Her response: "You know that's double what I paid for my wedding dress."
True, but it's less than I paid for mine, so no worries on my part. Not an ounce of buyer's remorse, either. Hmmm. Maybe I'm more of a MAID than I thought. But I'm still saying no to the makeup and the tanner!
