The Luck of the Irish

St. Mike's offers a varieties of clubs on campus, and it is hard to pick which clubs to join and participate in.  Last year I jumped around a bit and figured out where I belonged and what I liked to do.  One club that I learned more about at the end of last year (but wish I had joined at the beginning) was Celtic Knights, the Irish Step dancing group.

The nice thing about Celtic Knights is that you don't have to come with any pervious dancing knowledge.  (I speak from experience).  A friend of mine teaches everyone the steps and helps those who are struggling to learn.  She'll even have an experienced member teach a smaller group some steps.  Everyone is very encouraging and helpful which makes the learning experience more fun.

Over the past couple of weeks we've been working really hard for our first performance.  We performed this past Saturday at the International Festival run by the Diversity Coalition and the Applied Linguistics Department.  There were so many amazing performers and food from all different backgrounds and cultures.  It was exciting that I got to perform for my first time at this amazing event.


Rehearsals leading up to the event were a lot of fun.  Most of us aren't professionals and it was our first time learning Irish Step.  We would all meet and work on each of the dances.  If we messed up we would laugh it off and try again. The members who performed last year lead the cheering and encouraged everyone every step of the way.


Performance night was very nerve racking.  I was literally shaking.  As we lined up to walk on stage, a ton of my friends walked by and wished me luck.  It made me even more nervous knowing they were in the audience.  But it the end it was rewarding because I received a ton of hugs and congrats on our performance.

Below is some of our videos of the performances:

 

The Beginners 3 Hand Reel 

(I'm second from the left)

  Walls of Limerick
(I start off as the couple on the far right)

Siege of Ennis

Bonfire

(I'm on the far left of the circle)

When going to college, it hard to know what to join.  Even after your first-year don't be afraid to join something new.  I know I'm glad I did.