Ready to Dance out of Drumshanbo
Saturday afternoon. It is confirmed that Anya will not be joining me for the second leg of my Ireland voyages (*tear*), but I think I'm just going to be happy to get into what I hear is a great city, surrounded by things other than irish jigs. Give me a few weeks, and I'll probably have the craving to start jigging again (and my introductory lesson to old-style 'Sean Nos' step dancing yesterday DID spark new interest - and frusteration - in my tired feet), but as it is, I'm ready to broaden the horizon beyond village life and insulated irish music.
I said good-bye to my 18-year old (i think) Hungarian dance partner today, Aladar. It was quite cute... as we finished the last set of the lesson and were walking over to collect our belongings, he said 'Well, I think i will give you my email address...' We exchanged info, walked out, and after wishing him well on his flight back to hungary, he said 'Maybe... I will give you two kisses.' Meaning the double-cheek kiss, also done in Hungary among friends. But he planted them quite firmly and then hurridly waved goodbye and I think I may just have blushed a bit... We'd spent the entire week dancing together, which can create some flirtatious tension, and it was amusing to try and joke across a bit of a language barrier (he speaks english well, but with a bit of dublin accent, and, as always, some expressions just don't translate, going in both directions). He told me a lot about Hungary I wish I'd known before/when I was there, and all in all, it was quite a fun pairing, though I could feel the age difference, and it made for occasional awkward silences.
Sara, the 27 year old kindergarten teacher, also offered her email so that we could exchange irish music cds... it's fun to build up connections across the world, especially as all of us are meeting up in lands not our own. Funny how I lived in france for six months and came out with a german friend, a lebanese friend, canadian contacts... I spend a week in ireland and come out with hungarian and swiss mates... i think i need to work on trying to make contacts FROM the countries I'm visiting, but in reality, it all makes sense... travellers are out to make new connections, locals are well installed with friends of their own.
All in all, I think I've gotten an ample introduction to some irish dancing and can now feel comfortable stumbling my way through a Ceiligh back in the states, if I want. And perhaps I'd be interested in quickening my foot tapping with more Sean Nos steps... but frankly, I'm pining for my Strasbourg Modern Jazz dance class (to date, the most enjoyable dance class I've ever had) and for Portland salsa dancing... And I am determined to get myself, finally, a good pair of dancing shoes to make my life a whole lot easier... my entire week was spent dancing in flat-soled tennis shoes with daily comments about how much easier it would be if I had leather soles. Don't I know it. But even if I'd wanted to splurge and buy them, Drumshanbo is normally a village of 750 inhabitants. Specialty dance shoe stores are not exactly part of their daily commerce.
In other random notes...
- Irish grandmothers(at least the one's I've seen here) get the prize for nicest legs in their age bracket, thanks to the work out they get doing the set dancing! Compared to italy's collection of grotesque, hobbled feet from having spent too many days trying to squeeze into unhealthy stilettos, ireland is providing the healthy opposite.
- Leprauchans DO exist. I know. I've seen two. Okay, okay, they weren't wearing green suits and skipping around the base of a rainbow, but they were there. At the ceilighs, dancing away the night. The first guy has been in the classes in the morning, and struck me from first glance as a picture perfect leprauchan candiate. Small and sprightly, he danced light as a feather and his slightly pointed ears, minute potbelly, fluffy hair, and cunning smile made me easily imagine him prancing around a shining pot o' gold. The other was a fidgety, nervous, somewhat crazy (actually so, though not sure what exactly he was aflicted with) man with tap shoes and the inability to sit still. He got the prize for the leprauchan's slightly loopy younger brother...
- In a pub, a couple from new york (of irish origin) asked if I was from italy after talking to me for a few sentences. Ummm... right. I think I've been afflicted, as of late, with the over-pronounced syndrome typical of those used to talking with those lacking perfect english. Hence, my California accent is down-played, the ends of my words come out too crisp, and nothing about it seems natural. When I finally met another american -- a californian fiddler, no less -- I think I let it all out, spilling a stream of californianisms (didn't say 'hella' though...) within a single breath, as I was suddenly not straining to be understood. Boy, will it be good to get home...
- I've spent the last two months really enjoying exploring other cultures, talking with others about their lives, their customs, their cultures... but I'm ready to get back to having my own life. With my own routines, customs, interests, etc. I realize, in conversations, that I'm a lack of subjects to talk about myself... I'm mostly interested in hearing what other's have to say. I think this might be because I feel like I haven't been living my own life these past few months, but rather nibbling at the lives of others.
home again home again... soon!
I said good-bye to my 18-year old (i think) Hungarian dance partner today, Aladar. It was quite cute... as we finished the last set of the lesson and were walking over to collect our belongings, he said 'Well, I think i will give you my email address...' We exchanged info, walked out, and after wishing him well on his flight back to hungary, he said 'Maybe... I will give you two kisses.' Meaning the double-cheek kiss, also done in Hungary among friends. But he planted them quite firmly and then hurridly waved goodbye and I think I may just have blushed a bit... We'd spent the entire week dancing together, which can create some flirtatious tension, and it was amusing to try and joke across a bit of a language barrier (he speaks english well, but with a bit of dublin accent, and, as always, some expressions just don't translate, going in both directions). He told me a lot about Hungary I wish I'd known before/when I was there, and all in all, it was quite a fun pairing, though I could feel the age difference, and it made for occasional awkward silences.
Sara, the 27 year old kindergarten teacher, also offered her email so that we could exchange irish music cds... it's fun to build up connections across the world, especially as all of us are meeting up in lands not our own. Funny how I lived in france for six months and came out with a german friend, a lebanese friend, canadian contacts... I spend a week in ireland and come out with hungarian and swiss mates... i think i need to work on trying to make contacts FROM the countries I'm visiting, but in reality, it all makes sense... travellers are out to make new connections, locals are well installed with friends of their own.
All in all, I think I've gotten an ample introduction to some irish dancing and can now feel comfortable stumbling my way through a Ceiligh back in the states, if I want. And perhaps I'd be interested in quickening my foot tapping with more Sean Nos steps... but frankly, I'm pining for my Strasbourg Modern Jazz dance class (to date, the most enjoyable dance class I've ever had) and for Portland salsa dancing... And I am determined to get myself, finally, a good pair of dancing shoes to make my life a whole lot easier... my entire week was spent dancing in flat-soled tennis shoes with daily comments about how much easier it would be if I had leather soles. Don't I know it. But even if I'd wanted to splurge and buy them, Drumshanbo is normally a village of 750 inhabitants. Specialty dance shoe stores are not exactly part of their daily commerce.
In other random notes...
- Irish grandmothers(at least the one's I've seen here) get the prize for nicest legs in their age bracket, thanks to the work out they get doing the set dancing! Compared to italy's collection of grotesque, hobbled feet from having spent too many days trying to squeeze into unhealthy stilettos, ireland is providing the healthy opposite.
- Leprauchans DO exist. I know. I've seen two. Okay, okay, they weren't wearing green suits and skipping around the base of a rainbow, but they were there. At the ceilighs, dancing away the night. The first guy has been in the classes in the morning, and struck me from first glance as a picture perfect leprauchan candiate. Small and sprightly, he danced light as a feather and his slightly pointed ears, minute potbelly, fluffy hair, and cunning smile made me easily imagine him prancing around a shining pot o' gold. The other was a fidgety, nervous, somewhat crazy (actually so, though not sure what exactly he was aflicted with) man with tap shoes and the inability to sit still. He got the prize for the leprauchan's slightly loopy younger brother...
- In a pub, a couple from new york (of irish origin) asked if I was from italy after talking to me for a few sentences. Ummm... right. I think I've been afflicted, as of late, with the over-pronounced syndrome typical of those used to talking with those lacking perfect english. Hence, my California accent is down-played, the ends of my words come out too crisp, and nothing about it seems natural. When I finally met another american -- a californian fiddler, no less -- I think I let it all out, spilling a stream of californianisms (didn't say 'hella' though...) within a single breath, as I was suddenly not straining to be understood. Boy, will it be good to get home...
- I've spent the last two months really enjoying exploring other cultures, talking with others about their lives, their customs, their cultures... but I'm ready to get back to having my own life. With my own routines, customs, interests, etc. I realize, in conversations, that I'm a lack of subjects to talk about myself... I'm mostly interested in hearing what other's have to say. I think this might be because I feel like I haven't been living my own life these past few months, but rather nibbling at the lives of others.
home again home again... soon!
posted by Melia at 7:36 AM
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