Oireachtas 2009

Abby danced at the Mid-America Irish Dance Championship (aka, Oireachtas) today. She danced her treble jig and slip jig both very well (both her current Akron instructor and her previous Chicago instructor said she did very well). Unfortunately she did not "recall" (top 50% of girls recall to dance a final set dance), and only 1 of her 3 other friends did -- contratulations Anne! The results haven't been posted yet but we are curious to see how she ranked among the 166 thirteen-year old girls that competed this year. The difficult part of Oireachtas is that it is by age group (not experience level) and many of the girls competing are championship caliber girls for their age. Anyway, we are still very proud of Abby and hope that she practices even harder for next year's competition. Here are a few video highlights (not actual dances, however, since video-taping is prohibited).

Oirechtas Pep Rally

This afternoon we attended the O'Hare School of Irish Dance pep rally for Oireachtas. This is a short, fun rally for the girls as they prepare for their big regional competition next weekend.

Abby Irish Dance Coaching

Here is a videos of Abby practicing for the upcoming Mid America Oireachtas competition. The voice in the background is Eileen her dancing coach.

Irish Dance in Hudson, OH

Today Abby had a "dance out" performance in Hudson, OH. I guess it was an anniversary celebration for some Catholic church over there (Dad stayed home and watched football all day). Here are the usual highlights.

Medina International Fest

Today Abby and the O'Hare School of Irish Dance girls danced at the Medina International Fest at the main street square in downtown Medina. The weather was mild and the girls did a nice job (and dad and Andrew snuck off to Sully's for a bit too). Here are the highlights of the performance (starring Abby, of course).

St Charles Borromeo Carnival

While Andrew and me were camping out at the Akron Aeros game last night, Karen and Abby were at the St. Charles Borromeo Parish Carnival in Parma, OH where the O'Hare School of Irish Dance put on an Irish dancing show (Abby even made it into a picture on their Web site).

O'Hare Irish Dance Revue

On Sunday, Abby participated in the O'Hare School of Irish Dance year end dance revue. Abby danced in only three dances since she was not as active in all of the dance groups this year due to other activities. The performance was still enjoyable as always. Here are the highlights.

Irish Dance Out

Here is Abby Irish Dancing yesterday at the Medina Library (in her new dress).

Parade of Irish Dancing

Highlights from last night's Summit Choral Society Parade of Irish Music show.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Keepin' with o'spirit of St. Patty's day, ere's a clip of Abby dancin' it up at Sully's Irish pub (wow, was that place crowded ... see my live tweets from earlier).

Newsroom Quickie

Here is a quick Hollywood Four Newsroom update from Abby. Even though her (13th, yikes!) birthday is a couple weeks a way, she celebrated with two of her best friends this weekend because we'll be so busy with other activities in a couple weeks. Of course, since it is St. Patrick's Day this week, she has a few Irish "dance-out" performances going on this week (one of them highlighted here).