Rachel's Irish Dance Blog

Rachel. u19. PC. Mid America Region, USA."Victory is reserved for those who are willing to pay the price."- Sun Tzu. instagram: rachacha_slide

[pointyourdamntoes]

These Rising Star skirts are giving me serious vintage solo dress vibes 💥

[flips-wigs-and-jigs]

Exercises and Drills

Here are some drills and exercises I found that could possibly be helpful. I hope they’re helpful. (Note: they may not all be directly Irish dance related) 

Toe point: 

Feet exercises that ballerinas use (It’s still good for Irish dancers though) :

Big toe strengthening: 

Extreme ab workout (this one is awesome!): 

5 best ab exercises: 

6 min arm workout

5 min arm workout

Lots of stretching

Really long stretching video

Feet strengthening and alignment exercises

Better posture workout

[fairyoftrickery]

Taylor Dresses

[fairyoftrickery]

Doire

[pointyourdamntoes]

Y'ALL 💎 Rising Star

[craoi-na-tire]

What I say: I'm fine

What I mean: Jean Butler and Michael Flatley choreographed the original Riverdance TOGETHER and she did just as much dancing as him and even arguably more since she started in soft shoe and had to change into hard shoe while he was busy flapping his arms about like a hyperactive bird when they're on stage together they're dancing in unison or in some cases call and response where she does what he does backwards with an added TOE STAND (which in Irish dance I'm fairly certain has no support in the shoes because fuck it we damage our feet like CELTS) AND YET THE DAMN THING HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN THROUGH THE CULTURE AS MICHAEL FLATLEY'S RIVERDANCE FEATURING JEAN BUTLER WHEN PEOPLE REMEMBER HER AT ALL

[fusionfighters]

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U8 Champion Felix, taught by Tanya Cunningham with the McLaughlin School of Irish Dance, Austria!

Incredible Rhythm and intricacy of choreography for someone this age (drop heels etc) 👏😮

#FFVideoFeature #IrishDance #FusionFighters #createnothate #irishfusion #FusionDanceFest

[fairyoftrickery]

Photos by Nick Bradshaw for the Irish Times

[mairennfinnegan-blog]

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oldie but a goodie ✨

[nadinedoherty]

My new dress🖤

[declanmclaughlin99-blog]

Finally getting round to posting worlds stuff 🌍 had the best time and most amazing experience in Dublin 💚Beyond happy to be top 3 in the world taking a 100, staying on the podium for another year and taking a globe back to sunny Glasgow💚So excited for the worlds to be back in Glasgow 🎉❤

[firebend]

Fantastic worlds this year!! Recalled in solos and became a world champ in figure 😄😄😄❤️

[ciaraellenloughran]

Coming home with yet another podium place finish at the world championships is amazing and something a few years ago would have been unimaginable! I am so happy with how I danced 🌎 Had such an amazing week and absolutely love my new look👸🏼 time to focus on my exams for a few weeks, I can’t wait to be back in my dress💃🏼💪🏼🌎

[fairyoftrickery]

Congrats to Maggie from Mulvihill-Lynch!

3rd place in the girls 12-13 at the 2017 worlds 

[glitzjigsandsass]

since I’ll never dance this again 😜

[fusionfighters]

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When the beat kicks in on Paige’s step 🙌💃🏻🙌 Check out the full video on our YouTube page! Chainsmokers ‘Closer’ ft. @melanie_valdes_ @kathleenw13 @alex.kuharenko @paigeturilli @maireadtrainor20 #FFVideoFeature #FusionFighters #IrishFusion #IrishDance #thechainsmokers #closer #halsey @thechainsmokers

[hopethesunshiines-deactivated20]

Honestly how does Paige make those sounds

[putthatazztowork-deactivated202]

One muscle group that I find to be under-emphasized is the hip flexors, specifically the psoas major. So many people complain of a tight psoas (blaming it for lower back pain), and their treatment strategy is stretching it into oblivion. You wanna know a better way to treat a chronically tight psoas muscle? Make it stronger!

Dr. Yessis frequently talks about just how important the hip flexors are in running, and how track/cross country athletes can benefit from training them.

Try this exercise: 3 sets of 8-10 reps, with a 2-3 second hold in hip flexion. You’ll feel a burn pretty immediately, and you just might find that your back pain goes away in the process! (at CrossFit Veracity)

[putthatazztowork-deactivated202]

Was asked to reblog this one!

[petitebeast]

Dancer, your psoas is what kicks your leg high :)

[little-red-lily]

I didn’t know until this past semester in my Pilates class that the psoas is the only muscle that can lift the leg above 90 degrees (aka not your quads). If only I had known sooner lol