Dancing less than a foot away from Colin Dunne is not a bad way to spend an afternoon. Today was the final day of the masterclass, and it was AMAZING. I had such fun, learned a lot, and enjoyed just soaking up the Colinness of it all ;-) I'll say it again: Colin Dunne is a dance god. I was lucky enough to be placed in the middle of the row that was most often the front one, and so Colin spent most of his time dancing with us *right* next to me in the line, maybe 6-8 inches from me. Now I know how (a much less competent) Jean Butler must have felt ;-)
We spent today focused on hard shoe work, and hornpipes in particular. Given that hornpipes are my best hard shoe dance at present, this thrilled me. I love the swing of the music, and the combination Colin taught us today was great fun. Lots of quick footwork, toes and heels, and nifty leap to kick it all off, etc. This set had it all! I'd love to pull this out for a feis someday, but have a sinking suspicion that it's not only waaay too long for competition, but also has a few steps that are too non-traditional to get away with. Sure, if you're Colin Dunne you can get away with it, but random me in a feis? I don't think so.
I was pleased to get my picture taken with the man himself, though wish it hadn't been after 3 hrs of hard dancing! He, of course, looks great. I'm kicking myself for not thinking to take my Riverdance DVD for him to sign, but oh well. I will just consider myself one of the many who helped balance out (name omitted here) who brought everything she owns it seemed to be signed. "Oh Colin, could you sign my box of mac and cheese?" I half expected to hear. If the man wasn't a professional athlete (and let's face it, Irish dance choreographers and teachers are), I'm sure his wrist would have fallen off after finishing with this silly fangirl.
BTW, the pics here are of me and Colin (top) and then Colin, my dance teacher Meighan, and the other local Irish dance teacher.
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