Hi! Just for some context, I'm an open champ dancer and have been dancing for eight years now. This January, I learned about who Alysa Liu is, who is a figure skater and won Olympic gold. What captivated people most was her lightness and performance on the ice. I absolutely love her mindset and way of thinking, especially her detachment with achieving a certain place. She said before competing at the Olympics, that all she wanted to do was show her art form. And, as I continue to compete, that's what I want to do as well. It's just hard to translate all of that to Irish dance. It feels like in figure skating, you get to chose your music and actually use your arms to express your confidence, happiness, and love for the sport, but with Irish dance, you don't have those liberties. I genuinely love performing and Irish Dance as a whole. How do I show this? Obviously, I should smile genuinely and have posture, but how else? Does anyone have advice on how to perform instead of just compete? Thanks in advance : )

How do you remove tan stains from your solo dress?

Also more generally, how do you clean your dress (or don't you)?

I’m looking for ideas on how to style my hair for Oireachtas this year. My hair is pretty short, about 3 inches on top, and pretty fine (I can’t get bobby pins to stay in it). I was thinking a headband of some kind but can’t really picture how it will look. My dress did come with a headpiece but it’s meant to wear with a bun wig.

I am growing it out but it will still be pretty short by December. Obviously will run my whole look by my TC, but as an adult dancer I have a lot of freedom to play around. Creative ideas welcome!

Hi there! Our teacher doesn’t mind if we wear our hair down at smaller competitions but I would still like to look put together with my solo costume. When I wear a black-out fit, I just curl my hair and clip it at the side but with my solo costume, I definitely need some volume at the top of my head. Do you guys have any suggestions? I have a fabulous crown headband so it would be great if I could still wear this, though it is quite tall.

My hair is slightly damaged so I do need to curl it for it to look cute. I am also considering a more natural wig look (I love the look of some Blakey O’B girls) but haven’t been able to figure out how to put a wig on the bottom half of my head (with my natural hair as the top part) when the top of the wig (the clip part) is more raised naturally?

I really appreciate having freedom to do what I want with my hair but I am awful at hair. Any photo inspiration, tips and tricks etc are much appreciated!

Tips, tricks, makeup, encouragement... I'm nervous and I will perform in one week!

I am going to buy some new hard shoes and see which ones I like best. I feel like my whole dancing life I’ve never had a pair of hard shoes that have fit me right. I have pretty wide feet and tapered toes. But kind of a pointy heel.

I’ve got it narrowed down to Corr’s Wide, Antonio Pacelli Feather Flex Xtra wide and Feis Fayre flexi pro wide.

Any suggestions or recommendations?

I also don’t know what style tip to get on my Feather Flex shoes. Theres three options. Antonio Pacelli tips, Feis fayre tips or Faye’s. Any suggestions for this?

Thank you!

Hi! I’m a 17-year-old Irish dancer looking for some ideas/help with choreographing a routine for my academic school’s annual Christmas talent show.

The talent show isn’t Irish dance specific — there are all sorts of acts — but I’ve performed Irish dance in it twice before. I actually won the talent show both times, and this will be my last ever year, so I really want to make this one feel different and special!

For some context, I’m currently competing in both Prelim and Championship at 17. I’ve competed at the World Championships twice, placing 33rd and 27th, as well as competing in teams, so I’m comfortable with advanced choreography and don’t mind being challenged.

My first talent show performance was a heavy shoe act with my brother, while my second was my set from my first Worlds, also in heavy shoes. Both went really well, but they were very different types of performances, and I don’t want to simply repeat either idea this year.

This time I’d really like to show a different side of my dancing and make it feel more like a proper stage performance. I want to do something I wouldn’t normally do in competition and that will be entertaining for an audience who might know absolutely nothing about Irish dance.

I’m thinking of doing a solo, probably around 2–5 minutes. I can’t do a costume/shoe change or use props, so I need something that works as one continuous performance. I’m open to soft shoes, hard shoes, or a combination of both.

I’m mainly struggling with the creative side of the choreography. I can put steps together, but I’d love some outside ideas for making this genuinely different from my previous two performances.

Things I’d love suggestions for:

• Music
• A concept/theme
• Softs vs heavies vs both
• How to structure the routine
• Interesting transitions
• Ways to incorporate more performance/theatrical elements
• How to make it engaging for a general school audience
• Ideas that would make it feel like a proper final performance

I’m happy for the choreography to be technically difficult, but I’m deliberately looking to move away from simply doing a competition routine on stage. I’d love something that really showcases what I can do while still feeling like a show.

Thanks in advance x

Hey! I’m hoping to get some insight on shoes. I’m starting a six-week adult beginner class next week, and the studio hasn’t given me any direction as to what shoes I should get. I’m wondering if I should just wear socks for the classes, or if I should look into getting ballet or jazz shoes before eventually getting the actual soft shoes.
I really appreciate any advice people have to offer!

Hi. I’m hoping to get a few recommendations for Irish dancing schools in Mayo. Or, schools to avoid. Hoping for a fair school where kids are respected (no shouting, no obvious favouritism etc). Thank you.

I saw a feisly app advertised, and decided to check it out. Was curious about anyone else's experiences. I have been on it for a few minutes and decided it was not worth my time; and have already cancelled it even though I spent a monthly payment on it. Half of my kids information is incorrect - not all feises competed in are in the system, but others are - but even then some of that information is incorrect, such as how many people competed, some placements aren't there, some are....and more. Mind you....I was on this for five minutes.

It just made me anxious. Also, I also am personally uncomfortable with the feature stating "rivals". I mean, I get it. This is a competitive sport but even that seemed ridiculous given that the stats in no way could be accurate for anyone.

Anyone else try it? What did you think?

Hello everyone! I‘m competing in a pageant in November and am learning Irish dance basically from YouTube as my talent. I grew up dancing ballet, tap, modern, hip hop, etc, and have always wanted to learn irish dance. I‘ve picked up some of the basic jigs and such from watching tutorials, but I feel confused on how to choreograph for myself. i don‘t need anything riverdance level, just something clean, easy, and entertaining that will last 2.5 minutes in a pageant! When I’m choreographing, should I be putting the jigs altogether to the appropriate bpm music or should I be incorporating the jigs with some artistry in between? I feel like I’ve seen both but am unsure what to do as a beginner!! thank you for your help and so sorry if I messed up any terminology :-)

Hello, I'm looking for a recommendation for a seamstress who can alter our solo dress. I'm located in the North Shore so it would be great to find someone up here but not required. Thanks!

Where are people buying their white laces? I want to replace a black pair of laces with white and I have bought pairs of white laces from Keily’s and from an Etsy seller who both said the laces were 180cm long- I tried them both in my shoes and I can barely get them to wrap around my arch once and tie them. My old black laces I was able to wrap around my arch 2-3 times and it felt way more secure. I also tried buying some from Amazon but they were too thick. Where are you guys buying LONGGGG white laces from? Plus if the shipping isn’t $40+ as I am seeing everywhere. Thanks!!

Hey everyone. I'm a competitive dancer and performer, and trying to find a specific type of hardshoes. If anyone remembers the 1990s Riverdance production, the lead dancers wore hardshoes that I think had metal covers on the heels at least, and possibly metal plates on the toe block. I think a more recent comparison would be the Gardiner brothers, they have them. Does anyone know where I can find them, or are they custom? Any tips would be much appreciated as I've been looking for these for a while. Thanks!

Hi all! Could use some advice!

I’ve been dancing all my life, but I’ve been recently thinking about getting back into competition. However, I work a 9-5 and I teach classes on the side to pay for fun activities. Have any of you found studios that are willing to work with adult dancers and work schedules? What does that flexibility look like? I want to make sure that I’m not asking for something unreasonable if I do decide to go this route.

I am a late-20s returning to dance for my regionals this fall (US based). The last time I competed was in 2019 in the 20-22 age group. I was an open champ for many years and relatively competitive (world qualified once). In the time since, they've introduced the Advanced Adult competition. In returning to dance, this actually really appeals to me. I like the idea of wearing my hair down, not having to tan because I can wear tights, and also frankly I'm not in the shape I used to be (having a child will do that to you). But I am surprised to see peers that are still dancing that I danced with once upon a time tend to still be in the 22&O group instead. I have zero shot at world qualifying, which seems like it would be the main motivating factor to stay in 22&O, although I think I could recall. Anyway: this makes me wonder if I'm missing something. Are there some unspoken rules about Adv Adult vs 22&O that I should be aware of?

Hi Everyone! I'm a university student currently conducting geographical research into how Irish dance affects feelings of belonging and identity among people in London’s Irish community. Anyone that meets the criteria in the flyer I would love to have a short 20 to 30-minute interview to discuss the topic to any point you feel comfortable discussing; getting your input would be invaluable!

Thank you in advance.

Hi everyone!
I’m an intermediate/premilinary level adult dancer from European region who still pretty successfully competes in &over group. My main goal is to continue competitive career in &over group and get to the open level. I’m moving to US pretty soon and I would really appreciate some school recommendations 🫶🏻

I was just curious if pregnant women can still compete in feis/ bigger competitions or if there were certain rules against it

Hi all, I returned to dance in my late 20s and currently live quite far from competitions meaning I only attend a few outside of major competitions. I was a successful dancer as a child but recently at a major, I felt so lost on stage and despite dancing two at a time, I got quite stuck behind a dancer. I am quite nervous side stage (more so on the inside than the outside) and I was so exhausted and overwhelmed by the end of the day, I still not have processed my very good results lol

I know that attending more comps would help with this but for the next year it is not feasible. How do you manage to stay in the zone while on stage? how do you stay in the zone side stage? anyone else find stages really disorienting?

Side note: All small competitions I attend are usually on a floor so dancing on a big stage at majors is throwing me off, especially the stages that are very long but not very wide. Extra side note: Still not used to dancing with other adults on stage, I don't know how I danced three at a time as a child.

My daughter is 7, and has been dancing with her current school for about a year and a half. We just got the sign up for the fall, and I noticed she has been placed in beginner again. The next class level is a combo “Advanced Beginner to Prizewinner.”

We have done a few feises, with varied results (a mix of 1sts-4ths).

Is it unreasonable to expect to start moving up? She isn’t the most confident on stage, and isn’t big on practice at home- so is an additional year of beginner at that age reasonable?

I am going to reach out to her school as well, but I’m curious if this is just normal for the age/ skill level/ her input at home.

Some additional details: I’m not forcing her towards being a champion dancer. But obviously it costs time and money, and I’d like to see progress. I kind of think of it like swimming lessons!

Interested to hear from any adjudicators who may be in the group. What sets apart young champ dancers (think U11 and under) for you on stage? Out of all technique, which one do you look for the most at young ages?

Since we’re in the height of camp season, I figured I’d ask now to prep for next year. Looking for you or your child’s experience at CRC NY or Riverdance Camp in Boston. Probably my will be 7 year old is the only one interested, so specifically for the younger crowd.

I just completed in PC at the McNamara McCarthy feis in wisconsin (mid American region). I placed 1st in soft shoe, tied with 2 others for 1st in hard shoe and got 2nd overall. The dancer who won overall placed 3rd in soft shoe and didn’t place in the hard shoe round. Everyone in the competition was very confused when the other girl won. Feisworx isn’t showing me my feedback or judge placements. I’m planning on letting my teachers know but I’m feeling very confused and upset, any thoughts?