There is no hiding being an Irish Dancer when you get on a plane. It’s not the music they listen to that gives them away nor the red hair and freckles (there are dancers of every background).  The identifying mark is the strange shape of one particular piece of luggage—the dress bag.  Imagine a triangular shape with the top point cut off to blunt edge. Add a strap and you have an Irish Dance Dress Bag.  We saw several of them boarding our flight from Newark to Orlando today.

Very few knowing glances were exchanged until a fellow mom and I both waited for the passengers to settle in so we could put our dress bags in the overhead.  She put hers up first, I went to follow when another passenger abruptly shoved his bag right on top of her dress.  I quickly got her dress to safety and added mine to the pile.  She closed the overhead making sure no one else messed with our investments.  Only a feis mom can understand what a wonderful and protective bit of teamwork that was. (these dresses rival wedding gowns in cost!)

The flight was uneventful and once settled into our hotel, we did a little exploring and enjoyed the pool.  Then a sudden thunderstorm. Not unusual in Florida, but this one is still going five hours later as I write this.

As the day grew older and more dancers arrived, the din of the hotel and lobby got louder.  The rooms were not enough to contain the Irish dance practices so they could not help but pour out into the hallways.  That would be enough to start the vibe of competition, but to make it more exciting we are sharing the hotel with a ‘Dancepower’ dance competition.  There are dancers of every ilk everywhere!!!

Maybe it was not such a good idea to watch “Toddlers in Tiaras” last night before I fell asleep.  Today’s dancers strewn all over the hotel in garish make up and costumes were like a continued nightmare from the night before.  Irish dancers’s crazy wigs, sparkly dresses and make up are tame compared to the sites I saw today.  I could not tell if they were a convention of teens and preteens or a Liza Minelli impersonator’s conference.

The drama may only grow from here.  As Maya ices her foot which she swears doesn’t hurt and I wrap up this conFEISsion, I know the adventure has only just begun.  More soon.

Tags: Disney, Feis, Irish dance, Irish Dancing, Nationals, North American Association of Irish Dance, Orlando, Swan and Dolphin hotel

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 1st, 2010 at 7:28 pm and is filed under Kids, Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.