| Worlds 2006 Update! As anyone who has been following
Siobhan's progress will know, a change of school was
forced upon her last year after her previous teacher So it was that Siobhan
joined Sean
Eireann McMahon in September Apart from her Solos Siobhan had also been invited to join the Figure teams, which was quite an honour for her as she had never even been in Ceili before. Of course that meant a lot of extra time & effort in addition to working on retraining all of her Solo steps etc. Read on to see how she got on! |
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| We flew into Belfast City airport on Thursday
morning and got a taxi to the Hotel that I'd arranged for
most of the school to stay at. This was about to bring me
to face my first fear. Most of the school had already
arrived earlier in the week, with many all ready gone
home again, and I just hoped that the hotel was as good
as I'd been telling them it would be! As we approached
the Park
Avenue Hotel I was
relieved to see it looked as ice as their website suggested, and the reception area was very
smart. Behind the desk were two very smart and cheerful
ladies who greeted us warmly. We were too early to book
in but they offered to let us store our bags until later
so we could go to the venue. As we passed them through we were warmly greeted by Melanie Sharrad who had been my main contact over the last few months. We got a Taxi down to the Waterfront and Siobhan disappeared to meet all the others and get some last minute practice in. We then went back to the hotel and went into the bar for a very reasonably priced bar meal, that was very tasty. Having had an early flight, and an early start next morning, we went off to bed early. Up at the crack of Dawn again we managed to squeeze in some Breakfast (which was a fabulous Ulster Fry) before setting off for the Waterfront. As we were leaving we bumped into Gordon, who was surprised at our early start, as the draw had been very kind and she was dancing her first round virtually last. We said we'd meet him down there as Siobhan likes to soak up the atmosphere and warm up a bit before going on stage. The Waterfront is a fabulous venue for everyone as the stage is easy to see from anywhere in the large auditorium. For the dancing they'd put a raised hollow platform over the whole stage to increase the sound. Behind this was a row of flower boxes and right in the centre of these was the Champions podium displaying the winners trophies. Eventually it was Siobhan's turn to dance and she performed what we thought was a pretty good step. She was on fairly late in the next round too, so had plenty of time to get settled. Her Slip Jig was good so we expected she'd recall, but there's always a doubt. We then had to wait until the Under 19's had finished their Heavy round to hear who was recalled. Siobhan was number 5 so we didn't have to wait long! The standard of this age group is outstanding, after so many years of practice and training there isn't a poor dancer amongst them. I'd like to say at this point that Emma from the Midlands deserved to recall based on her dancing on the day, and I'm really surprised that she didn't. Several parents had remarked how good she'd seemed, so if you're reading this take heart Emma! We all then made our way into the other hall.
Talk about a Tale of Two Cities!
If the main Auditorium is amazing for its spaciousness,
then the other hall is the opposite. The stage wasn't
very deep and the adjudicators were squeezed into the
orchestra pit! We sat on the front row and our feet were
level with the stage. We were so close to the dancers we
could have adjusted their makeup! With 7 judges I'd
calculated we'd need at least 250 in total to be sure to claim a
medal, so was adding them up as we went along. Her first
score was good (53), and the next three were reasonable
and consistent too (41, 45, 38). We were then hit with a
lower mark of 24 (ouch!) from the 5th adjudicator. The
6th put us back on track though by giving Siobhan a 41
meaning that we had virtually reached our magic 250! So it all hinged on the last
score what place it would be. Fortunately it was a 40. As
soon as it was called I rechecked my addition, and sure
enough Siobhan had 282, well into the medal places I
thought! And then Dan began to call out the names of the dancers. In 1st place......the world champion was Donna Griffin - thoroughly deserved, well done Donna. If 3 time winner, and everyones favourite dancer, Ciara Sexton, was disappointed she never showed it on stage. Down the list he went, there was a joint place for 8th, with 285 points, and then Siobhan with 282, only needing 4 points more to be 8th instead, but never mind we love 10th! |
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| After the presentations we nipped into the
Cafeteria for some thing to eat, which sadly is the one
area where the Waterfront needs to improve. Prices are
reasonable for this type of venue, perhaps a little high,
but the food is just not very nice. Even the Chips are
hard to eat! After that Siobhan went off to join the other dancers of SEM as she was about to take part in her first ever Figure competition! For this she had to wear a fringe in her hair. As she didn't want her hair cut a false fringe from Melaine Murphy came into play! The team strolled out, and with 16 girls looking identical, and in a dress that we'd never seen her wear before, it was a good 15/20 seconds before I could pick out my own daughter! Mum was really struggling, and every time I said "third from left" or similar they all moved, so she couldn't see her! Take a look at the picture below and you'll see what I mean |
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| Almost as soon as they started one of the girls
slipped on the floor and actually fell to the ground. The
rest of their routine was executed wonderfully. Sadly the
damage was done and they eventually came 5th. Still a
good result but disappointing after all their hard work. The next couple of days were spent watching other dancers from SEM, and we squeezed in a shopping trip to Castlecourt, where Siobhan kept us waiting for hours as she tried on dozens of outfits, and BOUGHT NONE! Eventually Sunday evening came and it was time for the very last competition of the whole Championships - The SENIOR FIGURE |
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| Siobhan was in this too, and we knew it was
meant to be something special, although none of us had
seen it yet. Our team were to perform first. As they
moved into position it crossed my mind that few teams
could have had as many Solo medal winners in them,
including of course, the 2006 SENIOR MENS Champion - Byron Tuttle There was a definite buzz in the air as the Music started, and instantly the crowd began to clap along. The Mixed team began to dance at such a pace you couldn't help but get excited, every movement precise and perfectly in unison. Faster and faster they danced, lines perfect as they crossed back and forth between each other. The music played its part driving them along until suddenly it was over. The audience reaction was amazing, dancers everywhere were screaming and cheering, the parents clapping and cheering furiously. This was more than just polite applause, they knew they'd seen something special and were showing their full appreciation. The routine had everything, and could just as easily have been the closing number in one of the big shows like Riverdance or Lord of the Dance. Coincidentally the last time I saw an audience reaction of such fervour for an Irish dance performance was when we went to see the new Flatley extravaganza Celtic Tiger! (report here). This was my first experience of Figure and I was blown away, but there was more to comne as the other teams had yet to give their performance. After they finished we didn't have to wait long for the results, and we were in for a disappointment again. By a Unanimous decision, with 7 x 100, the winners were Doherty school. We were 2nd, with 2 judges only making us 3rd. it was such a shame after all the work that the team had put in, but then I suppose the dancers from Doherty had also worked just as hard! Apparently it is traditional for the winners to perform again, and Dan Armstrong made the announcement that they were going to redance. Unfortunately, probably because it was so late in the day, a large percentage of the people in the hall left before they started. I was actually still in the hall and took the opportunity to watch them, as I hadn't watched properly for their first time, as I'd been distracted talking to our Siobhan after she'd come back from the stage.. That's it then for this year, maybe we'll win the Figure next year! Sean Eireann McMahon did really well at
the Worlds, with only two other schools achieving more
Solo medals overall! And we didn't do too bad in the
Teams either! |
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dancing Senior Men – Byron Tuttle Senior Ladies – Aisling Watt 15th 19-21 Men – Daniel Triggle 4th 19-21 Ladies – Natasha Ellis 6th 18-19 Men – Andrew O’Reilly 2nd 17-18 Ladies – Siobhan Amos 10th 15-16 Men – Bobby Hodges 3rd 15-16 Girls – Lia Billiteri 15th 15-16 Girls – Frances Dunne Recalled 14-15 Boys – David Chaplin 8th 13-14 Girls – Grace Lavin Recalled 11-12 Girls – Roisin Kennedy 13th |
Team
dancing Minor Mixed Ceili 4th Minor Girls Ceili 2nd Minor Mixed Figure 2nd Minor Girls Figure 2nd Junior Mixed Ceili Junior Girls Ceili Junior Mixed Figure Junior Girls Figure 4th Senior Mixed Ceili 2nd Senior Girls Ceili 6th Senior Mixed Figure 2nd Senior Girls Figure 5th |
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