Fall 2015 - Oakville Irish Dance Association

OAKVILLE IRISH DANCE ASSOCIATION
Issue – FALL 2015
#1
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Fall 2015
WELCOME TO RETURNING AND NEW DANCERS
WELCOME FROM ROB SIMMS,
2015/2016 OIDA CHAIR
Welcome to our new Goggin-Carroll dancers
and families and of course, welcome back to
our returning dancers and families. I am
looking forward this 2015/2016 season of
Irish dance and keeping Irish Dance culture
alive for future generations. For some of us
this means taking your first..up..two..three,
and for others, a fun filled year of
competitions that range from local to
international.
The OIDA is the Oakville Irish Dance
Association that supports the Goggin-Carrol
School of Irish Dance by promoting Irish
Dance and culture in our community and
providing a positive and fun filled experience
for our dancers. The OIDA membership is
made up of the dancers and families of the
Goggin-Carroll School of Irish Dance through
a membership fee, that allows your family to
participate in OIDA run events such as the GC
School Feis (Irish for tournament) and Ceili
(social gathering with some dancing), Family
BBQ, Christmas Party and other social events
throughout the year.
The OIDA is headed up by a small group of
parent volunteers that make these events
happen. Many hands make quick work as the
IN THIS ISSUE
saying goes, and we are always in need of
parent volunteers who are willing to donate a
small amount of their time. The OIDA counts
on the collective skills of our members such
as marketing, graphic design, leaders, handy
men, event planners, just to name a few.
I also wanted to take this opportunity to
publicly thank some members of the OIDA
executive for their contributions and
dedication. Brian Cousins, Past Chair for
always being there and supporting me and
the OIDA, James Fletcher for this year’s spirit
wear, Michelle Micuda for the excellent
communications to the membership, Jenn
Mediratta for outstanding organization of
the School feis and BBQ, and Chris Mediratta
for keep our accounting up to date. And
finally thanks to all of our amazing dance
teachers for sharing their passion and
enthusiasm to our children and keeping them
fit, focused, confident and busy.
New Website, New Spirit Wear
Check out our new OIDA website, with the added
feature of being able to order spirit wear online.
Page 2
Summer OIDA Picnic
Page2
Important Dates
Upcoming Feis Dates, Online Feis Registrations
Page 2
Grade Dancer’s Corner
New and Re-organized Used Shoe Program,
Understanding Grades in Irish Dance, Recognition Wall
Page3
The “O” and Claddagh Ball
Eastern Canadian Regional Championship and World
Irish Dance Championship Fundraiser Event
Page4
Websites and Upcoming Majors
Page4
| Issue – FALL 2015
New OIDA
Website
2
SUMMER OIDA
PICNIC
www.OIDAssociation.com
We have a new website and we want you to
check it out!!! The new website includes our
new online spirit wear store, upcoming
events, past newsletters, helpful links and a
contact page.
The OIDA on-line store for spirit wear is set
up and the inventory levels and sizes are live,
so we are ready for you to start using the
site! The spirit wear available includes tshirts, sweatshirts and sweat pants for the
kids and now it also includes spirit wear for
the parents as well.
There are navy polo shirts for Mom, Dad and
GC Supporters. The shirts have a GC logo on
the left chest of the shirts. These are great to
wear to feises, dancers performances and
major competitions. This is yet another
display of strength and unity within our OIDA
community. We encourage you to purchase
our new GC adult spirit wear for your next
feis or for awards night at Oireachtas. Place
your order today! Orders can be filled in
time for Oireachtas – order now!!
The OIDA website is selling our standard,
year- round spirit wear for our dancers as
well as adults/parents. Annually, Oireachtas
wear is also available for dancers (and
parents if you chose). Oireachtas wear is
unique each year and must be ordered
through Barb at the time of your Oireachtas
registration.
UPCOMING FEIS DATES
Oct 24 – Roseland Feis, Burlington, ON
Oct 31 – Finger Lakes Feis, Liverpool, NY
Dec 12 – Feile Nollaig (Christmas Feis),
Nepean/Ottawa, ON
Dec 26/27 – Pittsburgh Feis, Pittsburgh, PA
ONLINE FEIS REGISTRATION WEBSITES
http://feisweb.com/
http://www.efeis.com/
https://www.quickfeis.com/
SPECIAL EVENTS
http://www.feisworx.com/
Each feis has their preferred registration website
Dec 15 – OIDA Christmas Party at 6pm (free
event for OIDA members, gift for dancers, a
little Irish dancing and lots of fun)
Feb 27 – Claddagh Ball, Le Dome, Oakville
| Issue – FALL 2015
Grade Dancer’s
Corner
USED SHOE PROGRAM
All our dancers grow very quickly and there is
always a need for a new part of shoes at the
most unexpected time. As well, hard shoes
are very expensive and purchasing used
shoes can be a very wise investment.
To help you in your search of new dance
shoes, there is a newly organized system for
our used shoe swap at the studio.
WHERE ARE THE SHOES? At the studio there
are three boxes, one for soft shoe, one for
hard shoe and one for miscellaneous items
(practice shoes, wigs, etc.) All boxes are
locked to avoid any loss or damage.
HOW CAN I ACCESS THE SHOES? Barb can
provide a key to unlock the boxes when you
are at the studio. Anne Vickers, OIDA parent
volunteer also has a key and can be
contacted for assistance
(annebraida@hotmail.com).
HOW DO I KNOW WHAT IS AVAILABLE?
There are 3 ways you can determine what
shoes are available
1)
2)
There is a spreadsheet posted on the
bulletin board inside the studio, near the
kitchen area.
The link can be found on the new oida
website (www.OIDAssociation.com).
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jZ
kSEhaEQegGzURBxr6LiHNZywyINOYaASaD8TRD8E/edit#gid=0
3)
You can look through the boxes by
asking Barb or Anne to open the boxes
for you.
HOW CAN I ADD SHOES TO THE BOXES FOR
SALE? Simply put the shoes into a ziplock bag
and label them with your name, contact info,
size/type of shoe and selling price and then
have the box opened and place the shoes in
the appropriate box. Then, email Anne
Vickers, (annebraida@hotmail.com) with all
the appropriate information so she can
update the online spreadsheet.
HOW CAN I PURCHASE A PAIR OF SHOES?
Ask Barb or Anne to unlock the boxes and
have your dancer try on shoes to find the
best fit. Once you are ready to purchase,
simply leave a cheque payable to the person
3
who owned the shoes in an envelope and
leave it on the bulletin board for them to pick
up. Email the seller advising them you have
left a cheque for them. Also, email Anne
Vickers (annebraida@hotmail.com) advising
you have purchased the shoes, so she can
remove them from the online listing.
SHOE SIZING – Beware that shoes stretch
considerably from their original size, so when
you are searching the online directory for
sizing, it is very possible that smaller shoe
sizes will fit your dancer. You always need to
have your dancer try the shoes on to
determine fit. Teachers are available to help
you with fitting your dancer with shoes.
DURING THE CLEANUP of the shoes, there
were several shoes that were unlabeled and
unmatched and these have been placed in a
box labelled FREE. If these are of use to you,
feel free to help yourself.
Who wouldn’t want to learn how to make
bangs and trebles and see themselves
become the rhythm of the music? Then they
can start to feel like the dancers in
RiverDance!! Hardshoe dances include the
Hornpipe, Treble Jig and various Set dances.
Dancers continue to learn the foundations of
Irish Dance for both their soft shoe and hard
shoe including rhythm, musicality, dancing
on their toes, posture, foot placement and
presentation.
If dancers are competing at local feises, they
will become familiar with the levels of Irish
Dance.
The Levels of Irish Dance are used to
Are you and your dancer new to Irish Dance
and interested in general overview of the first
few years of Irish Dancing? If yes, then this
article is for you.
group dancers with similar experience in Irish
Dancing together for competitions. Also, the
levels become a measuring stick for
progressing in the sport and a source of
inspiration for the dancers. The grades levels
include Beginner, Advanced Beginner,
Novice and Open Prizewinner. After
completing all grades levels, dancers often
move onto Preliminary Championship and
then Open Championship levels. The length
of time a dancer spends in each level varies
greatly depending on their age, interest,
commitment and competition results.
Dancers could spend 6 months to 2 or more
years in any given level.
Most new dancers are introduced to the
sport between ages 4-9 from a friend who
Irish Dances or by seeing our club perform at
Oakville’s midnight madness.
UPDATES TO THE
RECOGNITION WALL
GRADES MILESTONES
The first year of Irish Dance often
involves dancing 1-2 nights per week at the
studio learning soft shoe dances and the
basics of Irish Dance. During classes, dancers
will learn dances including a reel, a jig and a
slip jig. Dancers will learn to recognize the
beats in music, when to start dancing, the
importance of posture, dancing on toes,
keeping arms still and various dance steps. In
the spring, the OIDA hosts a school feis for
only Goggin-Carroll dancers. This is a nopressure introduction to an Irish Dance
competition (called a feis – pronounced
fesh), where family and friends can watch
their dancer perform on the stage and see
how much they have learned during classes.
After the school feis, dancers are often
encouraged to start attending local feises
(competitions) during the spring.
The second year of Irish Dance will
continue to involve soft shoe dancing. At
some point during the second year (or later
for dancers who begin very young), hard
shoe dancing is introduced at the Advanced
Beginner Level. Getting to dance in hard
shoes is a very exciting time for dancers.
Every dancer who has been with our school
at least 6 months will have a dancer page on
our recognition wall – Beginner, Advanced
Beginner, Novice and Open Prizewinner. We
do our best to keep all dancer information up
to date with the support of you, the parents.
If your dancer’s info on the recognition wall
needs to be updated, please forward
updates to Julia Cestnik , OIDA Parent
Volunteer at cestniks@sympatico.ca.
After each feis, please email Julia your
dancer’s results including the feis name,
dancer level, dance and placement. For
Beginner and Advanced Beginner send 1st,
2nd and 3rd place results and for Novice and
Prizewinner send 1st place results. All dancers
receive stickers for results in each distinct
dance on their dancer page on the wall.
There are also participation and first time
placing stickers, so be sure to send in these
accomplishments as well. Advance Beginner
through to Prizewinner dancers will also
receive a badge to bring home.
| Issue – FALL 2015
The “O” and
the Claddagh
Ball
WHAT IS AN OIREACHTAS?
4
WHAT IS THE CLADDAGH BALL?
The 2016 World Irish Dance
Championships will take place in
Glasgow, Scotland.
The Eastern Canadian Regional (ECR)
Oireachtas (“Oh-rock-tis”) is coming up
the weekend of November 6-8 in
Montreal. This event is a championshiplevel competition where the best dancers
from Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes
meet to see where they rank among each
other. This event is a qualifying event for
both the North American Irish Dance
Championships (held in July of each year)
and World Irish Dance Championships
(held in March/April each year).
On Friday and Saturday solo dancers will
be competing. On Sunday, teams will
compete as well as the ECR Premiere
Championships. The Premiere
Championships is an event which offers a
chance for dancers who are not yet
qualified for solo championships to gain
experience in a mini-championship
format.
We hope we can count on you to
participate in this outstanding event
focused on celebrating Irish Dancing and
the accomplishments of our dancers who
qualify to attend the prestigious World
Irish Dance Championships. You can
show your support by purchasing tickets
to attend the Claddagh Ball, donating
items for our silent auction, donating
smaller prizes or wine for other events
during the evening, sponsoring or
advertising at the event.
OIDA AND GC WEBSITES
www.OIDAssociation.com *** NEW OIDA WEBSITE
www.goggin-carroll.com GC Dance School Site
www.voy.com/135666/ GC School Message Board
As you can imagine, attending events
such as these are very costly, so the
parents of the qualified dancers, with the
support of the OIDA, work together to put
on a fundraising event called "The
Claddagh Ball". Claddagh is an Irish
symbol of friendship, loyalty and love
which is a perfect symbol of each
dancer’s connection with Irish Dancing as
well as the support being offered by our
dance community to the World qualified
dancers.
https://www.facebook.com/TheOIDACladdaghBall
OIDA Claddagh Ball
IRISH DANCE WEBSITES
www.clrg.ie World Irish Dance Championships
www.northamericanfeiscommission.org North
American Feis Commission – includes a full list of feis
dates in North America
MAJOR COMPETITIONS
2015
Nov 8 – 10 – Eastern Canadian Oireachtas
Championships, Montreal, QC
Some of the big differences from a
regular feis include the large stage size,
the large audience - often 200+ people
and an awards ceremony each night,
which is very exciting for the dancers,
parents and teachers. At the Oireachtas,
dancers of one age are combined into
one competition, regardless of their dance
level/grade.
The competition format is similar to
championship competitions at feises.
Competitors will perform a designated
hard shoe (TJ or HP) & designated soft
shoe dance (SJ or Reel) (the dances vary
according to age) and then wait for their
scores to be tabulated. After two dances,
the top 50% of the competitors, will be
called back to do a third dance (Set
Dance). There are nine judges for this
event; three for each of the three rounds all three scores are combined for an
overall placement. Everyone who is
“recalled” for the Set Dance participates
in the awards ceremony at the end of the
day.
2016
Mar 20 – Mar 27 - World Irish Dance Championships,
Glasgow, Scotland
July 1 – July 5 - North American Championships,
Orlando, Florida, USA - http://idtanasouthernregion.com/naidc16/
Each year, dancers from the GogginCarroll school qualify to compete at the
World Championships (which are held the
week leading up to Easter). Last year,
the Oakville Goggin Carroll Team sent 14
soloists and 4 teams. Our youngest team
brought home the school’s first globe (the
coveted trophy given to the top finishers).
As well, there were several recall medals
and world medals earned by our solo
dancers.
The 2016 Ball will be held on Saturday
February 27, 2016 at the LeDome
Banquet Hall (1173 North Service Rd E,
Oakville, Ontario). Tickets will go on sale
at the Christmas Party.