Montreal 2015: World Irish Dancing Championships / Montréal 2015: Championnats Mondiaux de Danse Irlandaise

(La version Française se trouve plus bas.)

Last week, Montreal was host to the 45th World Irish Dancing Championships (orOireachtas Rince na Cruinne; known as “Worlds”). As an Irish dancer, this was a really exciting event to have in my city (it is like the Olympics for Irish Dancing), even if I only got to go watch (as opposed to competing). I made it there Friday afternoon with my daughter, and I wasn’t disappointed. I was as giddy as a schoolgirl and had to fight the urge to ask every dancer I saw for their pictures because everyone looked amazing and I loved all the dresses. Dancing was also incredible. I got to watch some of the best dancers in the world perform, how lucky am I?

La semaine dernière se tenait à Montréal les 45e Championnats Mondiaux de Danse Irlandaise (ou Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne; connus sous le nom de « Mondiaux »). En tant que danseuse Irlandaise, c’était très excitant d’avoir un évènement de cette envergure dans ma ville (c’est l’équivalent des Olympiques en Danse Irlandaise), même si je ne pouvais y aller que pour regarder (et pas compétitionner). Je m’y suis rendue le vendredi après-midi avec ma fille, et je ne fus pas déçue. J’étais en émoi comme une écolière et je devais me retenir de demander une photo à toutes les danseuses que je croisais tant elles étaient toutes magnifique et j’adorais toutes leurs robes. Les danses furent aussi incroyables. J’ai pu regarder certaines des meilleures danseuses au monde, quelle chance, non? 

Costumes were, as I said, amazing, but for this costumer, the Hall of Legend with its dresses for days of yore was also very interesting to look at.

Les costumes était, comme je l’ai dit, impressionnant, mais pour la costumière que je suis, le Hall des Légendes avec ses robes des temps passé était aussi très intéressant à regarder.

This was then, and this is now. Nothing is too good when you are at the top.

Ça c’était avant; ceci est maintenant. Il n'y a rien de trop beau quand on est au sommet.

Sinead Carson, 3rd place, Ladies 20-21 /
Sinead Carson, 3e place, Dames 20-21 ans

Flame Dress, Eire Design by Gavin Doherty /

Robe Flammes, Eire Design par Gavin Doherty

Flag Dresses, Eire Design by Gavin Doherty /

Robes Drapeaux, Eire Design par Gavin Doherty

Top 5, Ladies 20-21 / 5 premières places Dames 20-21 ans

Podium Ladies 20-21 / Podium Dames 20-21 ans

(More photos available at Shamrock Photo)

There are so many Swarovski crystals on these dresses that they twinkle on stage and the glare even hurts your eyes a little. As if that wasn’t enough bling, we add crystal crowns, flower clips with diamantes, fascinators and glittering barrettes on our heads, to go with the wigs.

(Plus de photos disponible sur Shamrock Photo)

Il y a tant de cristaux Swarovski sur ces robes qu’elles scintillent sur scène et s’en est même un peu éblouissant à regarder. Comme si ce n’était pas assez de quincaillerie, on ajoute des diadèmes de cristaux, des pinces de fleurs couverte de pierres, des bibis et des barrettes scintillantes sur nos tête pour aller avec les perruques.

That is the souvenir I bought my daughter. My own souvenir was a little more personal:
 

Ça c'est le souvenir que j'ai offert à ma fille. Mon propre souvenir est un peu plus personnel.

 

It is a charm from Irish Dance Pride for achievement to Novice, the level I am currently at. It is not a very high level, but I worked hard to move up each of my dances, so I decided I needed to remember to be proud of myself.

As soon as I got home though, I started to practice so I can become better and win the right to wear a shiny, sparkly dress of my own one day.

C'est une breloque de Irish Dance Pride pour réussite en Novice, le niveau où je me trouve actuellement. Ce n'est pas très élevé, mais j'ai travaillé fort pour y amener chacune de mes danses, alors je me suis dis que je devais me rappeler d'être fière de moi.

Dès que je suis rentrée à la maison, je me suis mise à me pratiquer pour devenir meilleure et gagner le droit de porter une de ces robes scintillante, un jour.

Everybody Dance Now

Last night was my dance school’s annual recital. It went great, we had a lot of fun and I got to wear three costumes overall.

My School Dress:

Gwenyver in her School dress at the 2010 ECRO, November 2010

My Solo Dress:

Gwenyver in her "Water" Solo dress (being pursued by a tired baby) at the 2010 Ville-Marie Feis, May 2010

And for our finale, we had a surprise planned for the audience: and 80’s/90's number to the song Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) by C & C Music Factory. Which of course meant an 80’s/90's inspired dance costume! (I mixed influences from both "eras" to make this outfit.)I decided to go for an aerobics look, without going for anything too skin tight. Here are the pieces I have found to make my outfit.

"Pure" by Alfred Sung Pink Square Shirt

This is the main piece: the loose t-shirt. It is a lovely shade of bright pink, and the neckline, shoulders and sleeves are trimmed with braided self fabric. I seem to remember my mom had something with similar braiding back then. This is an Alfred Sung “Pure” T-shirt from Zellers, on sale.

Athletic Works lime green sports tank top

I would have liked to have a leotard to go under my t-shirt, but since getting one in my size would have been ridiculously expensive (Discount Dance Supply’s shipping charges to Canada generally doubles the cost of the order), I instead found a lime green sports tank top that looks perfect when peaking from under the pink t-shirt. This is an Athletic Works sports tank top from Wal-Mart, also on sale.

Black Leggings

I wore black leggings which I already own as a bottom.

Neon Green Leg Warmers

Nothing says 80’s Aerobics Fashion like leg warmers. I found these at Ardène in the 3 for 10$ section They are a different shade of green than the tank top, but this is a St. Patrick’s show after all!

Neon Yellow Fingerless gloves

When you look at photos of Madonna in the 80’s, she was often wearing fingerless gloves. The fashion was also picked up by many at the time. I got these neon yellow gloves at Ardène, also in the 3 for 10$ section.

Rainbow Bright inspired Earrings

These rainbow coloured earrings are also from Ardène, but they were bought three years ago. I saw them in magazine and loved instantly.

Neon Yellow and Black Scrunchie

I wore my hair in a high side ponytail and got a neon yellow scrunchie at the Dollar store to cover my elastic (and match the gloves). Nothing says 90's like a good old scrunchie!

Sansha Unisex "Hi-Step" Dance Sneaker

For shoes, I wore my dance sneakers. These are incredibly comfortable and worth every penny. I even wear them to work sometimes!

Want to see the result? (I am the second from the left).

YAID Senior Class, Finale, 2011 Annual Recital

Yep, we looked cool! I think I’ll wear that outfit to dance practice from now on. So comfortable!

Irish Dance Steampunk Dress Designs

I am going through a Steampunk phase; that is no secret. A couple of years back I wanted to wear Kimono everyday, now it is bustles and vests.

Back in November, a the day after I came home from the Oireachtas, I read something about one of Alisa’s projects (The Steampunk Ghost) and suddenly, a crazy idea came to me: A Steampunk Irish Dance Dress. Designs started popping in my mind, begging me to draw them out. I have made a few sketches based on these ideas.

First, whenever I imagine an Irish Dance dress, I like to begin with decorative design I will use repeatedly on the dress. Here is what I came up with:

Gear-Cross design

It is a clockwork gear with an Equal arm cross in its center; Steampunk plus Celtic in one simple design.

Now for the dress ideas I have come up with so far; I tried to follow An Coimisiún Rincí Gaelacha rules concerning dresses, which includes long sleeves and neckline coverage up to the collar bone, as well as general Irish Dance dress fashion of layered skirts and capes.

Steampunk Irish Dancing Solo Dress

This one is based on the current Solo dress fashion: a corseted bodice, over skirt panels and a flounced underskirt. You can see my Gear-Cross design on the panels and cape. What else says Steampunk other than wheel gear? Wings! The cape, which would be flat and quilted, represents a pair of wings.

Although people might not get the wing concept, this is a dress I could easily make and wear for shows and competitions.

Fabrics would be taffeta, silk, satin and liquid lame.

Steam Era Steampunk Irish Dance Dress

This second one is inspired by Steampunk outfits in general, and is what I imagine a Steampunk Irish Dancer would wear. The top part mimics a cream shirt with wide sleeves, worn under a green bodice. The bottom consists of an underskirt covered in lace flounce, with a bustled over dress gathered at the side front with ribbons. The cape is a piece of tartan fabric held at the shoulder and waist by brooches made in my Gear-Cross design.

If I were to perform Irish Dancing at a Steampunk event, I could definitely wear this, but I would not make it to compete on a regular basis (the colours are not flamboyant enough).

Burlesque Steampunk Irish Dance Dress

This third design could actually be worn as a Steampunk or even Lolita dress. The bodice consists of a Basque-like jacket with mandarin collar and diamante buttons down the front, an underskirt with 2 layers of pleated flounces at the bottom, and an apron over skirt trimmed in lace with tails trailing at the back. The cape is a gathered and holds with rosette brooches.
If I were a burlesque Steampunk Irish Dancer in a cabaret, I could wear such a dress (although I would probably need an evening bodice instead of a day one).

I also decided to make one design based on what Irish dancers actually wore in the early 20th century, since this is what lead to the costume we wear today. I have read (here) that at the time, with Ireland gaining its independence in 1921 (and half of it returning to England a year later), the Irish people were trying to rediscover any aspects of their culture void of English influence. They looked to the 12th century, before they were invaded, for such clues, and what little they found (archaeology in the early 20th century was still in its infancy) was that people wore belted Leíne (knee length unisex gowns) and brats (cloaks) back then. Therefore, the girls wore knee length white dresses reminiscent of Leíne, embroidered with Book of Kells design, with wide sleeves gathered at the wrist and a brat or shawl pinned to their should with a Tara brooch. The men of the time looked to their Scottish cousins for a "true Celtic look" and adopted the kilt, even though there is no archaeological proof that is was ever worn on the Irish isle. By the way, the brat is the ancestor of the modern day “cape” worn on the back of the dress.

Three young women wearing 'Celtic Costume'

Steampunked, this is what it could look like:

"Celtic Revival" Steampunk Irish Dance Dress

This is a white dress with stand-up collar, back buttoned placket closure, and Gigot sleeves. It is gathered at the waist with a kelly green sash finished with tassels. The skirt is decorated with popular Steampunk motifs such as a skeleton key, topped with a shamrock motif, clockwork gears in a Triquetra (made of zigzag ribbon to simulate a chain pulling the gears) and of course, my gear-cross motif. In the 1920’s, all the designs were hand embroidered by the dancer – they were given to her as a reward for winning a competition; the designs around the bottom of the skirt would be hand embroidered to feel period. The brat is tartan, but in the colours of the Irish Flag (born in 1916) and is pinned not by Tara brooches, but by Gear-Cross gold brooches enamelled in green. A winged Gear-Cross brooch is pinned at the neck. I have incorporated the Irish Flag colours as well as Irish symbols as much as I can in this design to give it a true patriotic feel.

I don’t know if I will ever make any of these, but it has been a fun exercise in creativity. Next up: Asian Steampunk! It's been developing slowly in my mind since New Year...

The Austrian Ball of Montreal

Have you ever seen images of Debutantes at Viennese Balls? All the young girls wearing white ball gowns, with their partners’ black tie attire contrasting like night and day… I remember seeing such a seen in a travel documentary about Vienna and it made me dream.

The Vienna State Opera Ball

I know these are supposed to be old tradition and that their purpose is to say loud and clear that the young woman being presented is of noble blood and is eligible for marriage. But I’m a girl, and I love princess stories; even modern ones.

To my surprise, I have discovered that there is a Viennese Debutante ball, right here in Montréal in November of each year by The Austrian Society of Montréal. And check this out, debutantes have to be younger than 30 (plenty of time for many of us to be one).

Edit: I can no longer confirm that information on their website, but I'm sure I saw it before. So, age unconfirmed.

Montréal Austrian Ball Debutantes, 2009

When you are a debutante, you must wear white. The colour is reserved to you and other debutantes for the evening. While debs in other places might be free to get which ever white ball gown they want, the Montreal Debutantes must all rent the same dress. They are also expected to dance a traditional waltz (dance lessons are included if you are chosen as a debutante).

Of course, I will probably never be a debutante at any ball; I am not Austrian, or single, or of high society. But I could still attend a ball and wear a gorgeous ball gown, in any colour except for white. In Vienna, during the Ball season (between November and June), there are about 300 public balls. Anyone is welcome! All you need is your ticket and evening wear. And perhaps some dance lessons.

Now I have another reason to visit Vienna (the first being to eat Sachertorte – the world’s best Chocolate cake!).

Young Academy at the Oireachtas

This week-end I went to the Oireachtas for the first time. In Irish Dancing, Oireachtas are championship competition at the regional level. Since the next step up if you place is the World’s Irish Dance Championship, you could say it is a big deal. Now, I’m nowhere near good enough to dance as a soloist at this competition, but I did enter the Mini-Feis, which was more my calibre and just for fun. I was also a member of a Céilí team, in our case an 8 person group dancing one of the traditional choreographies for 8 people.

Since this is a costuming blog and not a dance blog, I know what you really want to see is my dress. I received my school dress last week, just in time for the competition.

Gwenyver in he Young Academy of Irish Dance School Dress

Our school dresses were made by a seamstress in New York. We sent her the school logo and the colours we wanted and she designed the rest. It is really beautiful. We all love how our dresses look.

Young Academy of Irish Dance Céilí team and Coach

I don’t know if I lost that much weight since sending the dress maker my measurements, but, my teacher had to tighten my dress with safety pins and try to make it look good (yet she refuses to let me take it in, I guess due to the cost of the dress and the fact that the school paid for half and therefore owns half of it – trust me dear, I’ll do a good job).

About the competition, we didn’t win anything, but hey, at least we had fun!

Young Academy of Irish Dance Céilí team - Charlie's Angels style

And next year, we’ll be more experienced and will do much better; I am confident of that!

Châteauguay St. Patrick's Parade

This is the last of the Irish Dancing posts, I promise... Well, at least until Montreal Feis (it's on May 22nd, so you get, oh, about a two months break).

Sunday was the Châteauguay St. Patrick's Parade. I was cold, but it did not rain. It snowed. Due to the weather, I went with my Teal Velvet dress, meaning I wore all of my three Irish Dance Solo Dresses in the course of one week.

Dancers from the Young Academy of Irish Dance - Châteauguay St. Patrick's Parade 2010

At least the parents of the younger dancers, who carried our banner, got to keep their coats on.

Parents of Dancers from the Young Academy of Irish Dance - Châteauguay St. Patrick's Parade 2010

Of course, we are dancers, which means we actually have to dance the whole time.

Dancers from the Young Academy of Irish Dance - Châteauguay St. Patrick's Parade 2010

Everyone was a trooper, including my daughter and my dance teacher's mom, who pushed the stroller the whole way (I had no babysitter that day).

Gwenyver's Daughter and Mrs. Young - Châteauguay St. Patrick's Parade 2010

She looks so cute in that pink snowsuit of hers! (Let's hope it still fits next year, at the rate she is growing!)

Okay, I mean it, this is the last of the St. Patrick's Day posts. We will now return to our regular subject*, costumes.

*Well, you know, whenever I have a dance event, I have to wear a costume, so technically, it applies - which is why I tell you about it.

Young Academy of Irish Dance 1st Annual St Patrick's Day Show

I'm beat. Last night was our dance show and it went really well, but now I'm really tired. Here are a couple of pictures for you (that's all I have the energy for right now, sorry).

Novice Set

I'm the one in the middle. I have decided upon seeing that picture that I hate that shirt. It makes me look very bulky. Ah, well, too late now! At least I can reuse the skirt this summer. It's really cute!

Senior Choreography

Glitter and colour overload! Gotta love Irish Dancing for the over-the-top fashion we follow!

Senior Stamp

Many of us make our own dresses or get someone we know to make it. Can you guess which ones are professional dresses and which ones were made by us? (Answers upon request only.)

(P.S. Above pictures were taken by a hired photographer, but I have neither her name nor her information. I will add both as soon as I have them.)

Gwenyver at the Young Academy of Irish Dance 1st Annual St Patrick's Day Show

I got Nancy-Raven to take a picture of me at the end of the show (my Sweetheart was busy with my daughter). This week, I made a crown to match my dress; I also tried a couple of ways to lengthen my dress, both involving wearing an extra skirt underneath, but it didn't look good at all. Also, it is the first time I wore my wig. This thing is huge and heavy. Thankfully, it didn't fall off.

Now I will rest. I still have (yet another) parade tomorrow!

From Store to Stage - an Alfred Sung skirt

This is going to be short and sweet.

Today is my Dance School's first Recital (see Shameless Plug: Young Academy of Irish Dance 1st Annual St Patrick's Day Show posted on February 1, 2010). You can see pictures tomorrow, but for now, I wanted to show you the skirt I got for me and two other classmates to wear for one number (St. Patrick's Day Set, for those who might wonder).

Alfred Sung Plaid Skirt, Spring/Summer 2009

It is an Alfred Sung skirt, from last summer's PURE for Zellers collection. I got three in our sizes (or about) for 10$ each! We'll be wearing them with a white shirt which should be cute.

That's it. Now I have to prepare for a hard day's work and an evening of dancing. Gotta go!

Wednesday Weekly Wishlist: Victorian Burlesque Shamrock Dancer

Happy St. Paddy’s Day! Everyone is Irish today, even this Frog. What better day to tell you about this wishlist project, my Victorian Burlesque Shamrock Dancer. It’s an original design by me, but it was inspired by the dancers we glimpse in Moulin Rouge (2001). You know the way they all seem to have a theme, such as The School Girl, The Pearly Queen, etc.; well I want to be the Shamrock.

Here is the long story of how the idea for this outfit came to me. It all started with shoes. Back in the fall of 2007, I was shopping eBay for some shoes for my Fiona costume. I was searching for “green velvet shoes” hoping to find those Velvet Mary Janes you can get from Renaissance / Medieval stores, but at a discount (and I did by the way, for half the price). My search turned up, amongst many other results, these beauties:

Green Rockabilly Pumps

They were so gorgeous, I just really wanted them. Somehow, I equated walking in these shoes to walking on money, as if wearing the colour of prosperity on my feet would bring wealth to me. (Bear with the pagan witch!)

I ended up getting them to wear for Christmas, but the pin-up pictures that had illustrated the sale page stayed in my mind until finally it struck me: these shoes were perfect for a costume! Then one thing led to another and I came to imagine the Victorian Burlesque Shamrock Dancer.

Now as with any project, I like to collect images for inspiration. Here are a few.

The first is the McCall’s pattern that was my original inspiration.

McCall's 3674

I really liked the look of the little red number (upper right corner).

Then, there is this drawing of some Victorian Burlesque Dancers.

Victorian Burlesque Dancers

(Notice how curvy they were? Makes a round girl feel good about herself!)

I was also pleased when I found this next one: it is a Burlesque Victorian Vampiress Adult costume.

Burlesque Victorian Vampiress Adult Costume

You know how I usually feel about commercial costumes, but here, the skirt part is just how I had imagined mine.

The way I see it in my mind, it would consist of maybe a corset, a shirt/chemise, the apron and top back part of a bustle skirt (just like in the above picture), long gloves, fishnet tights, a small top hat over my old Irish Dancing wig (a ringlet pony fall), and of course, my wonderful shoes.

For the hat, I think I’ll get one of these small plastic ones sold at the Dollar store around St. Patrick’s Day and use it to make a mould, just like in the Threadbanger tutorial. This way I can make one out of wool. Now, I had grabbed one in perfect shaped from the side walk after the parade last Sunday, but my daughter got to it, and let’s just say, it is unrecognizable.

That’s it folks! Eat, Drink, Be merry, but wary!