A Very Feis Fourth

Today we skipped the annual Sauaganash Fourth of July Parade (you can look in the archives for prior years—it’s always fun) and attended the 2012 North American Irish Dancing competition held downtown in Chicago. My wife’s great-niece had flown in from Los Angeles to compete and we wanted to be there to cheer her on.

I’d never attended a competition of this sort or feis (pronounced, roughly, “fesh” and presumably cognate with feast or fête) so I thought it would be fun.

If you ever attend an Irish dance competition the first thing you’ll notice: wigs. It’s customary for the female competitors to wear wigs when they dance and you’ll see more of them at a feis than at a Dolly Parton impersonators’ convention. All of the wigs have ringlets and two styles appear to be worn. One style is an up-do, essentially a mound of curls on the top of the head and the other is down, anything from shoulder length to reaching the middle of the back. I don’t honestly believe that any human being every had actual hair like this. There’s a certain aspect of fantasy in it.

The second thing you will notice: legs. The (mostly) young women who compete have legs that are toned, depilated, spray-tanned, buffed, and burnished to within an inch of their lives. Among the competitors you will find no cellulite.

The costumes in which they compete are also notable. They are quite beautiful and, I am told, expensive, mostly handmade. They consist of a single piece, a tight fitting bodice, generally highly beaded or sequinned with long sleeves and a short (short), flounced skirt. I was also told that you could date the outfits based on skirt style. Older outfits have a frillier style.

The competition made me feel a bit like Degas. I’ve attended (and participated in) a lot of athletic competitions but this is the first I’ve ever attended in which competitors donned their competing togs in the viewing area. I suspect that’s because of how expensive they are—they want to wear them only when competing to preserve them. When waiting to compete dancers wear T-shirts and shorts. When it’s time to compete the dancers put their outfits on over the T-shirts, then remove their shorts under which they’re wearing undergarments that match the outfits. It’s very matter-of-fact; there’s nothing titillating about it.

The dancing is, of course, Irish step-dancing. You know, the kind of dancing in which, ideally, the dancers are completely immobile from the waist up, only their feet and legs moving. Tapping, stepping, kicking, remarkably graceful, incredibly fast. The dancing was accompanied by a piano player and an accordionist/concertinist.

There were two different styles of dance: hard shoe and soft shoe. Hard shoes had a slight heel with hard sole and heel. Soft shoes were a bit like ballet slippers.

There were dancers there from the U. S., Canada, Australia, Eire, and England. There might have been dancers there from Mexico although I didn’t see any in the program. That’s another thing I noticed: it was the dancing that was Irish rather than the dancers although dancers obviously of Irish ancestry were clearly in evidence.

My wife’s great-niece performed beautifully. She has a wonderful combination of athleticism and grace, not surprising when you consider how athletic my wife’s family is. We won’t know how she did until quite late tonight.