The End of an Era

Earlier this week, my Irish dance teacher officially announced that she is moving away at the end of the month. She's not moving too far away, but far away enough that she won't be able to drive to Bellingham to teach our classes anymore. I'm sure we'll all keep in touch with her and see her periodically, but our time taking class from her is coming to an end.

When I first heard this news, it was hard for me to process what exactly it meant for me and what my future of Irish dancing will look like. There are still a lot of things I'm not sure about, but I think that right now it's important not to think about the bad things that might happen, but instead think about the good things that did happen.

When I first started Irish dancing in September 2011, I was terrified. I totally didn't want to do it (as is the way with me), but once I said I would try it, I couldn't back out. The first few months, there were just four of us, Isabelle, two sisters who are friends of ours and who we've known for many years, and myself. It was the best possible group. If there had been people who I didn't know, I would have been much more likely to quit early on. 

By the end of that year, we had three more girls who had joined our class, and we all had a bit more experience. At the end of that year, we did our first ever performances at The Leopold (a nursing home in Bellingham), and at the Bellingham Highland Games. It was scary, but fun. A few months later, we danced at Birch Bay State Park for the first time, on an old basketball court.

Over the summer, we took classes in both light and hard shoes. Our hardshoe dance that summer was a hornpipe I thought I'd never be able to do. Hardshoe dancing terrified me. I couldn't figure out how to do half of the moves, and the ones I could do I could only do at half the normal speed.

That next school year, our classes shifted a bit. We got to dance in the big studio, which was awesome. We combined with the class above us, meaning that we were dancing with Hailey, and Heidi, two great friends. We did both light and hardshoe, and we learned a lot of awesome steps.

For much of that year and the next, I felt somewhat inferior to many of the other students because they knew more steps than I did. Heidi, who had been in the class above, knew a lot of steps we hadn't learned, and she taught them to the other girls. I often felt like because I didn't spend time outside of class learning extra things, I wasn't as good of a dancer, and the attitudes of the other girls sometimes made that feeling stronger. As time has gone on, I've learned many of those steps, and I've also come to realize that knowing less steps doesn't make me a worse dancer. The amount of choreography you know isn't directly related to how good of a dancer you are: your form and sense rhythm are. 

I slowly got the hang of that hornpipe, and two reels began to help me build my hardshoe confidence. My form got a lot better, and I got a lot better at staying with the music and counting out steps. In March of that year, we were invited to dance at The Firehouse Performing Arts Center in Bellingham with Northwest Ballet Theater. We were actually the main attraction, and got to do a 20 minute performance piece. Around that time, we also danced at several nursing homes and similar places for St. Patrick's Day.

Summer that year was great too. We danced at the Highland Games again, doing three shows in one day, which was exhausting, as well as at the Northwest Ballet Academy spring recital. We also performed again at Birch Bay State Park with the band Celtic Roots. This year, they had built a new stage that we got to use, which was awesome. Summer classes that year were fun as always. Our hardshoe step was a set dance called St. Patrick's Day, which is one of my favorite dances. Our light show step was called the Duke reel, which is a long, but fun dance for six people.

The third year was our best. We were back in the small studio, but that was fine, since that was really our home. I've spent a lot of time in that space. We learned some great steps, including a very fun three hand that we did to the Adele song "Rolling in the Deep," that has to be my very favorite light shoe dance. We didn't learn as many hard shoe steps, and honestly, I still don't feel comfortable with the ones we did learn. I feel like it always takes me a while to really grasp the hardshoe dances, longer than most of the other students. 

I often felt inferior in those classes, for various reasons, but Heather, our fabulous teacher, was the saving grace. She knew each of us well, and knew our strength, weaknesses, and insecurities. She was always great and knowing when to correct a mistake, and when to let it slide. She understood that sometimes it took me longer to grasp a step than the other girls, and didn't make me feel bad about it, and she also knew that I was willing to work until I got it.

In December, we performed an Irish piece in the Nutcracker. It was our biggest performance ever, to the biggest audiences we've ever had. It was great. In January, we danced for the Burns Dinner, a Scottish banquet that happens every year to fund local Scottish heritage events. We were paid to dance there, another first for us. 

The Nutcracker at Mt. Baker Theater

In March, we danced a small piece in the Spring Dance Festival at The Firehouse, and also at a number of nursing homes for St. Patrick's Day. Then, we hosted an Irish Ceili, which was totally awesome. 

In June, we danced at the Highland Games and the Northwest Ballet recital. In August, we performed at the Whidbey Island Highland Games, which we were paid to do. For the third year, we performed at Birch Bay State Park on a beatiful summer day. A few days later, a handful of us went to Boundary Bay Brewery to dance in the Beer Garden with the band Gallowglass. It was spontaneous, but fun, and it was so much fun.

Bellingham Scottish Highland Games 2015

Over the summer, we had classes too. We learned a very cool hardshoe set dance called The Blackbird, which I am still woefully bad at, and a great lightshoe eight hand to St. Patrick's Day.

 Heather and I at Boundary Bay Brewery.

Every year of Irish dance has gotten better and better. It has gone from an hour a week that I was terrified to go to to a large part of my life and identity. I'm an Irish dancer. That's who I am. And that's due to Heather. She's leaving us now, and that's sad. It' sad for us to lose her, and I'm going to be a bit presumptuous and guess that it's hard for her to lose us.

Over the years, we've gone from being a group of students taking classes from a teacher to a group of performers, led from within by one of us. We are a performance group now, and more than anything I'll be sad to lose that piece of my life. That's not to say that's gone forever, or even that it's gone at all. Who knows what this year will bring. But whatever does happen, I'm so happy that I got to dance with Heather these last few years.

All of this is why I am sticking with Irish to the bitter end. With Heather leaving, some of the people in our class are seriously considering leaving for good. They say that Heather is Irish dance, and that without her, it's not worth it. 

But for me, it is worth it. I certainly love Heather and the time I get to spend with her. I am very sad to see Heather leave, and I'm nervous about what the future is going to bring, but giving up on Irish would be giving up on Heather. She's spent the last three years teaching us and preparing us for the dancing world. We know how to dance, we know how to communicate with other dancers, and we've learned her dance style very well, modeling our own styles after it. 

We also have so much more we can learn from this new teacher. I certainly wouldn't say that I've learned all that I can from Heather, but I know that I have a lot that I can learn from our new teacher. Giving up on Irish dancing would be putting all time and energy Heather has given to us to waste. I'm certainly not gong to do that.

Homeschool Academy, dancing, and more! {Life update}

This blog is feeling pretty empty now! The weird thing is that I feel like I'm writing stuff for this blog all the time, but you guys don't realize it. The back end of this blog has probably close to 50 unpublished drafts of posts. Some of those are terrible, and will never see the light of day, but some might... We'll see.

I think it's time for a little life update! I'm blogging (semi-regularly) on The Daily Ramble about my day to day life, so for a more complete idea of what I'm up to, go over there.

I've been pretty busy this summer. I'm teaching Latin still, plus some friends and I teamed up for Homeschool Academy, where we teach a bunch of cool classes. I'm co-teaching Geology, plus I'm teaching Irish dancing each week. It's a ton of fun, and it's super relaxed and laid back, which is nice.

I'm not doing any ballet this summer, but I am doing Irish, and we have some more performances coming up! We're dancing and the Whidbey Island Highland Games in a few weeks, and then at Birch Bay State Park a few weeks after that.

College searching continues. This weekend we're going to the east side of the state to visit Gonzaga University and WSU. I don't have any interest in WSU, but my sister wants to visit, and I love college campuses, so it should be fun. Plus, I've never been to either Pullman or Spokane, so it'll be fun to see more of the state.

I just finalized my class schedule for the fall. I'm taking Intermediate Algebra (unfortunately I didn't get into Precalc I), German I, and Introduction to World Religions. I think it should be a fun load, albeit a challenging one.

In the winter, I'll be taking Precalc, German II, and Western Civ III (assuming all goes according to plan.

That's my life right now! Here are some pictures from the last few weeks:

Prep for the Lit Analysis class I taught for the Homeschool Acadmey.

Aslan and I.

Bad pic, but I got a WTNV shirt!

Awesome necklace I bought at the steampunk festival yesterday!

Beautiful sunset over the dogpark

July 14-20 {Another Catchup post}

This is becoming a theme lately... Hopefully it won't continue too long. Here is what I did this week:

Tuesday 7/14

We had homeschool academy week 2 this day. Grace and I taught Geology together, then Spencer did math, Grace did Improv, and I did Irish dance. I took or taught all the classes this week, which was honestly a little too long of a day. Next week I might take a break for a while in the middle somewhere.

Wednesday 7/15

On Wednesday, I took the math placement test at Whatcom. I didn't end up getting into Precalc, which means I have to take Math 99 (intermediate algebra) in the fall. It's kind of disappointing, because we have to pay for 99 because it's below college level, but it is what it is. After I took the test, we went blueberry picking with Carolyn, and then went to park day.

Thursday 7/16

In the morning, we went to WCC to change my schedule. As a Running Start student, I can't register online like other students can. RS students have to go into see a RS advisor to register and to make schedule changes. To fit Math 99 in, I ended up having to drop all three classes I was in, and add three totally different ones. Now, I'm taking Intermediate Algebra (Math 99), Introduction to World Religions (Philosophy 140), and German I (German 121). In the afternoon, we were at our dad's house for dinner.

Friday 7/17

We didn't to much in the morning. In the afternoon, Isabelle went to a friend's house, and Mom and I watched Lost.

Saturday 7/18

Another relatively boring day. Went to the grocery store, watched Lost, and that was about it.

Sunday 7/19

We didn't do much in the morning again, but in the afternoon, we went blueberry picking again, this time with another set of friends.

Monday 7/20

I volunteered at the library in the afternoon, and then went to Chocolate Necessities and then to Irish dance. Gelato of the week: Lemon and Green Apple.

Monday July 13, 2015 {Gravity Falls}

1. Monday, I had an appoitment in town, and then went to my friends' house to hang out.

2. Grace and I worked for a bit on our Geology plans, and then Grace and C. and I watched a few episodes of Gravity Falls, a really awesome show that you should all watch.

3. They very kindly dropped me off at the library to volunteer, and I did that for an hour. Megan, who used to volunteer with us, dropped by for a few minutes to say hi, which was fun!

4. After that, I ran into Spencer and IP at the library, and we all waited for Julie. After she got there, we all went to Chocolate Necessaties. Gelato of the week: coconut and salted caramel (I know, I know, only two flavors. I get made fun of every time I do that :P).

5. We walked across the street for dance. We're learning new challenging dances in both light and hard shoe classes, and I really like both of them!

6. We stopped at Quizno's for dinner, and the woman who worked there said she liked Isabelle's new haircut! I think maybe we go there a bit too often... :P

7. Came home, watched Doctor Who, read Sense and Sensibility, and went to bed.

Saturday June 20, 2015 {Dance Recital}

1. Got up and ate a bagel, then got ready for the day.

2. Didn't do too much for most of the morning, then did hair and makeup in preparation to leave.

3. Left for the dance studio.

4. Spent an hour getting ready for the recital, getting everyone into their appropriate costumes, and waiting while many parents and siblings squeezed into the studio and lines the walls.

5. Our Irish groups had three dances, one for each class. I danced in the advanced class's dance, and the intermediate class's dance as well, since they didn't have enough people for the choreography.

6. After we danced, we watched through the rest of the recital, which was fun.

7. After that, we went home and hung out for a while. We are dinner, and then I went babysitting.

8. Babysitting was fun, while tiring. I learned that 6 year olds get very grumpy when they don't eat their dinner, and also that they won't want to eat their dinner if they could play with the neighbor kids instead.

9. I came home, and spent a long time talking with mom and Isabelle, read Sense and Sensibility, and went to bed around midnight.

On Being an Artist

What makes you an artist?

This is a question I think about a lot. For a long time, I had this idea I could not be an artist cause I don't really like traditional drawing or painting, or sculpting, or any of the things that I usually think of as art. I am a perfectionist, and that makes it really hard for me sometimes to do things like draw. It is never good enough, and the process is so stressful that I just quit. I just can't get past that wall.

But there are many forms of art that aren't just drawing or painting. While I don't usually think of myself as an artist, there are several ways in which I think I could define myself that way.

I am a writer. That is a huge part of who I am. Art is a way of expressing your emotions in a tangible form. Each type of art does it in a slightly different way, but the purpose, in the end, remains the same. Writing, be it poetry or prose, is something you create from nothing. You are a creator, and that makes a writer an artist.

I am a dancer. If you don't think dancers are artists, go watch this video and then come back. Dancing lives on the line between creativity and structure. It allows you to create something new and express whatever it is you want to express, but it gives you sets of boundaries to work within, if you choose to follow the traditional rules. I'm not a great dancer, but I love doing it. Dance, for me, it amazing, because there are specific rules and constraints. Unlike drawing, where anything goes, when I dance, there is one particular thing I'm trying to do, even if I'm not doing it very well yet. And I also know that if I keep working at it, eventually I will get the results I want.

Here is one simple design.

And in a way, I am a visual artist. I love color and the manipulation of it. I love putting colors together and I love creating dynamics with different shades and combinations. The way I often do this is by using coloring books. Yes, coloring books like little kids do. But not ones that you would give to a little kid. The coloring books I work out of are full of complex and often abstract designs that give the person coloring a lot of power.

A design with a lot of white space.

One of my favorites.

Artistry is a mindset. Am I an artist? I've always wanted to say yes, but I felt like an impostor saying that. But what the heck, maybe it's time to gain some self confidence and say yes, I am an artist. Art is something different to everybody. To me, it's a way of expressing yourself. It's something that takes persistence and effort to master, if mastery is even possible. It's a way of thinking.

In what way are you an artist?

Summer Update: School, Dance, and Books

*This post may contain affiliate links, and if you make a purchase after clicking them, I will receive compensation.*

It's been a long time since I posted here, and lots has been happening. I've been working hard to try to finish up Algebra II and Medieval History. I've been doing art classes once a week (pictures to come eventually), Irish dance (soft shoe and hard shoe) once a week, and, starting this week, ballet two to three times a week! There have also been lots of parties and spontaneous get togethers in the nice weather, plus many birthdays to celebrate.

Sunset over Bellingham Bay, on a spontaneous evening excursion to the park with some friends.

I am currently reading The Prince for History, and just finished Are You My Mother? and Maggot Moon, both of which I have written reviews for which will come out soon. If I have time, I'll try to review Fun Homeas well, since it kind of comes before Are You My Mother?

It's been hot around here, in the high 70's to mid 80's all this week. It's supposed to get close to 90 soon, which is quite hot for NW Washington!

As usual, I'm staying busy this week with dance (I have 1.5 hrs of ballet and 2 hrs of Irish on Monday, plus ballet on Friday, and maybe on Thursday), volunteering at the library, a family soccer picnic tonight, a World Cup party tomorrow, and art class, golf, and probably other things I forgot. I'll be reading, doing school, and editing as well.

I'll try to get back to blogging more again soon, but probably not until August, when things really calm down a bit for us. We are camping in Bend, OR for a week in about 10 days, so I won't be blogging then either.

I'll get a few book reviews up this week, but other then that, I probably won't be on here until the beginning of August.

Busy, Busy, Busy {Life Update}

Today, I don't actually have time to write up a fancy post, so this is all that is going up. Life has been insane lately, and it's not slowing down. On Friday, we had our first choir performance, which went fine. On Saturday, I also danced with the Scottish Highland Dancers at the holiday festival at the port, and I took part in an Irish dance as part of that.

The Irish dance we did was one that a friend and I put together ourselves, the night before. It went really well, considering, but I do wish we could have practiced it a few more times. Today, I have another choir performance, and then a Christmas party, which should be a lot of fun, and, hopefully, somewhat relaxing.

Last Tuesday, our World Lit group got together to read the play, A Doll's House outloud together. It was a lot of fun. We each took a character to play. It took us over three hours, but we made it. I'll post a book review (and more about our reading) soon. My upcoming week is just as busy, with something (or multiple things) happening every day. According to Google Calender, the first free day I have is Dec. 17th. That's one of just three empty days between now and Christmas, though I'm sure they'll fill up quickly.

Anyways,  I don't need to just tell you how busy I am. This is just an update on what I'm up to, and now you at least know a little bit of it. School has been a little hard to fit in lately, but I'm planning on doing a comprehensive Homeschool Friday post this coming Friday. I'll talk a little about what's been going on and how things are going.

I've had a lot to do and think about lately, so this is all I have time to write at the moment. I'll be back tomorrow!

Life Update {Illness, Dancing, Singing, and Writing}

Hey guys! It is way past time for me to write one of these. The last month was INSANE, and I know that the one coming up won't be much better.

I have been really sick this last week, and in fact had to stay home while my family went to Thanksgiving with relatives. As a result, I did no school, and am quite behind there, and not a lot of writing. In fact, I was pretty sure that this was going to be the year I didn't win NaNoWriMo, but I managed to pull through in the end, which was a bit of a miracle.

Since I know that there are some of you in the Bellingham area who read this (and some family and friends who may be interested in coming), I thought I would post the dates and times of some of my performances for choir and dance over the next week or so.

On Saturday, December 7th, our Scottish Dance group will be performing at the Port Festival at from noon to 1pm. There will also be an Irish Dance or two from those of us who do both types of dance.

On Tuesday, December 10th, our Homeschool Choir will be performing as part of the Whatcom Homeschool Association Annual Christmas program, which begins at 7pm, and includes many performers. This will be at Kulshan Middle School and is open to the public.

There will probably be more choir performances, but they have not been finalized as of right now.

I have a lot of practice for all these, and overall I am swamped. I am really glad that NaNo is over, because if I am this overwhelmed with out writing 2k each day, I would be going crazy trying to fit that in too!

In the past week, I also saw Catching Fire (review coming soon) and Ender's Game (read review here). I also watched 5 episodes of Lost on Thanksgiving, and I am finally up to the beginning of Season Five. It's only taken two years. Oh well. At the current rate, it'll take almost another year to finish.

Also, this might sound a little crazy, but I want to try to put up a blog post every day for the rest of December. I really want to see if I can manage it. It will be a mix of holiday stuff, book and movie reviews (I have a ton stacked up waiting to be finished), some school stuff (I haven't done a HF post in weeks!), some other fun things I don't want to talk about yet, and some general chatty life update posts for the days I don't have anything else.

It should be fun, and crazy, and I might not make it, but I also might. I really just want to see if I can manage to do it. On that note, I have some ideas of ways things may be changing a little around here in the new year, but I'm going to wait a little while to talk more about that.

I hope you are all had a good Thanksgiving, and are enjoying the coming holiday season!