Irish Dancing

My older kids have been taking Irish dancing lessons since they were 4 and 5 (they are currently 8 and 9).  Parents were discouraged from coming to class because the kids would misbehave.  So, I would send the kids into the studio and sit outside or drive home and pick them up an hour later.

Just to be clear.  We are not Irish. I mean, I have an Irish name, and I probably have some Irish blood in there somewhere (my maternal grandmother?), but that has never been a part of my identity--I identify as Italian-American, like my mother, if anything, and before I got married, I would admit to the German part of me when people asked about my Americanized German last name. 

The reason my kids Irish dance is because the dance studio is .3 miles from our house.  The ease of dropping them off, going home and getting things done and then getting back with a five minute drive is for sure the the main reason.  The second big reason they started was that it was so laid back and they didn't need special shoes or clothes starting out.  (Now, they have to have hard shoes, but can still dance softshoe in their socks, if need be.)

Both of my older children are good.  They don't both love it (only one does), but they both love that they are good at it, if that makes sense.

We went to an Irish dance competition (feis, pronounced "fesh") in May, and they both had phenomenal results and moved up levels in all dances (except one).  What I realized as a result, though, as I watched them perform, was that I had no idea what they were doing.  The only time I had really seen my children dance (now that they've moved up to the hard shoe) was when the Girl Scout troop my daughter is in was working on a dance badge, and they asked her if she would be willing to Irish dance for them, so my older two did.  I had never seen it!  At the feis, I realized I didn't even know what criteria the dances were being judged on, so I couldn't tell if they were doing a good job, and that made me feel crazy.

I decided then and there that when my husband returned from deployment, that I was going to join the adult (beginner) class so that I could learn with them.  In July, I did just that.

Wednesday nights since then I have been attending the adult class and learning the dances that my children are learning, and I am in awe of their memories.  I can barely remember some of the steps from week to week, but I can ask the children to remind me, and they do it gleefully.  It has been such a good experience for me.  There was a two-week period when my husband was on orders in Washington, DC, so I couldn't go on Wednesdays, but made alternate plans to go to the kids' classes with them once a week.  It was really good! 

I just wanted to put this out there, because sometime I get into the "I'm too old to learn new things" mentality (talking about energy levels) and I am really glad that I told myself to hush when it came to this. 

Thursday and Friday mornings my feet and lower legs hurt from the workout, but it has been a ton of fun.