Glasgow Day 2

Today is a wonderful day. Finally I don’t feel sick anymore!

The day began early.... we wanted to be at the concert hall close to 8:00am to watch Annelise’s competition. Before we left the hotel, though, we had breakfast and talked to a nice older man from Germany. When I told him I’d be in Berlin and Heidelberg this summer, he was excited to tell me how beautiful Berlin is now “since the wall came down.” He apparently left work the day the wall was brought down, and was there when East Germany met West. It was amazing to talk to him.

Annelise danced very well this morning—hornpipe and reel. It wasn’t her best, though. She’s definitely one of the best dancers I’ve ever seen, but when you put her up against the best in the world, well... She’s pretty average. Mrs Hall lamented that she wouldn’t “show off”. “She doesn’t like showing off, you know? She thinks that if you stick your chin up and smile that you’re showing off. I just tell her she needs to look confident. She doesn’t think she’s very good.” Mrs. Hall loves telling dad about dancers and the All-Irelands, Great Britains, etc. And Dad loves putting in his two cents worth and giving his take on the competitions. Dancers often collide and sometimes fall down, and Dad likes to say “oh she did that on purpose!” and “that’s strategy!”. He’s really funny.

Jason’s competition was right after Annelise’s. I expected an explosion on stage, but, as Mrs. Hall said, “He’s just not dancing like he wants to win.” His dancing was brilliant, no doubt, but it just wasn’t “WOW!”. Now, if you saw him on any normal day in the States, your jaw would drop. But here, he’s up against the best of the best. It takes everything these dancers have to perform, and win.

I watched Jillian Gordon dance her hornpipe, but then stepped out of the hall to a nearby internet café to post this on my blog.

I’ll try to put updates up tomorrow, but the Worlds website (go to www.clrg.ie) will have results up before I can!


Miss you guys! Check out www.theherald.co.uk/irishdance For links to World Championships videos. Link courtesy of Leslie Heerman.