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March 2012
The school of Irish dance is preparing for a trip to the World Championships
First time in history Moscow dancers will be participating
in one of the most spectacular competitions of the Worlds -
the Figure Dance
The team are 16 dancers -
16 completely different persons, of various ages and dancing levels
My name is Dina
My name is Nastya
My name is Sasha
Natasha
Olya
Lena
Yulya
Alla
Nastya
Olya
Katya
Natasha
Olya
Anya
Olya
There have been no such massive group projects in the school
before Figure Dance
Teachers focused on Solo dances
which are pretty much considered as more prestigious
in terms of competitiveness
So there was a tough challenge for the dancers
All of them had to leave their "solo me" for the sake of team
Tatiana Aldoshina took a responsibility for working with the team
She has also created the original steps of the dance
One, two, three, four
Five, six, seven, eight
The main problem of Irish dance is the fact
that it's neither a pure art nor a pure sport
And you can't expect that it will receive the same feedback
as, for example, ballet
or rhythmic gymnastics
with its insane tricks, synchrony and acrobatic routine
It's different
And it is a challenge because the variety of stuff we can do
is quite limited
One, two, three, four
Five, six, seven, eight...
Three! Hands - here!
Frankly, I think the team started becoming united
only during the last month of rehearsals
Because the goal came closer
and the interaction began developing between dancers
they started to concern
The search for some better ways to dance, for the compromise
That's great, it's nice to see
It's always remarkable to see how a team gets together
I probably do feel as a part of the Figure team
but I don't think we are united enough
to breathe as one, to move as one
Everybody is concerned on themselves, their own improvement
and they don't care much about the team work
Personally I am not such team player
I mean, that's frustrating when you're sure you will do everything perfect
but you must be responsible not only for yourself
but for 16 persons as well
And every one of them can let down not only himself
but everyone else too
That's hard... And that's difficult for me
Excitement and co-working always unite dancers
and I think this is the way it's going to be
It will be only trending up for the remaining two weeks
because here it is, the shared goal
It holds us together and makes closer to each other
The relationship in Figure team varies from the firm sincere friendships
to, perhaps, some confrontations
Everyone is always unhappy with something
The variance of dancers' ages is really huge
There are some negative sides of a petticoat group
It's inevitable, cause there are 16 women
That's beyond any comprehension
Gossip, gossip...
I think that any female team is rather complicated
The biggest problem is that everyone has their own vision
and everyone assumes that their opinion must be introduced to the boss
and half of the class we clamor and do our best to speak out
How should we do this?
I thought we agreed on this
I can hear too much chatter!
One more time!
It's not the first female team in my life
and it's one of the friendliest actually
I mean honestly, considering all the regular dirt of the dance schools
these are really peaceful people
I saw you stepping out of the line!
If we adjust the line like this, we will already stay further
and we just won't move anymore
and other lines will follow up
Okay
And one more time!
When partially a game, partially a hobby
substitute the normal life and real relationship -
that is interesting
Doing all this dancing they forget
that there is some other life outside
I don't do my household chores,
I’m not married, not seeing anyone
You have to sacrifice your holidays, sacrifice the significant events
to come for another workout
It doesn't help me with my Thesis work
it doesn't help me with my relationship
and my friends probably think that I am a nerd
It is a complete lack of the private life
you come home by the midnight, bruised and tired
Practically it's a third of my life that I’ve spent here
Cause something that you love so much just can't be a sacrifice
Like sports
You work hard every day and step by step you improve your skills
for just a few seconds, a single moment
when you can show what you've got
Ok, it's starting to look right, once again
Nastya, your knee, both of them!
Dina, watch your back!
Okay
Irish dance is exceptionally traumatic
Feet, knees and back suffer the most
Bad landings after the high leaps can lead to sprains or even fractures
I got an overstrain and now doing battements is really hard
Did a very bad split and
not sure if it was a joint or a ligament
The fifth metatarsal bone, like everyone else, you know
A leap - a fall - a fracture
Intervertebral discs disorder, something like that
Doctor said there's something wrong with the meniscus
cause it's being damaged and getting worse
I haven't been dancing for 2 weeks and I’ve actually not quite recovered yet
But of course there's no rest for the wicked -
the Championship is approaching
The Irish teacher Therese Rooney comes to Moscow
to give the team her final comments and a pep talk
When a person says "I'm dancing since I was 4,
now I'm 17 and 3-times World Champion"
And you go "And I'm 19..."
You understand that's a huge gap and you can't change it,
it will never be different
There's always someone
on an insane, almost unachievable level
Because, yes, they are dancing the same stuff since they are 13
and you can't get even an inch closer to some of them
My inner sense is that it'd be magnificent if we're not the last ones
If we get any feedback from the audience,
if anyone tells us we were good - that'll be great
Of course there's a dream to take a Globe [the Worlds cup]
But it's just a dream for now
I hope that everyone would applaud and would like the dance
and that we would be happy with our dancing as well
Well, it's going to be a hell of adrenaline there
I think, just to show that we're worth something
we do have our mistakes and we'll work on them
I think it's going to be something like
I mean really cool, because
firstly, the Worlds in general
is the highest point an Irish dancer can look toward, in my opinion
You'll be able to tell your children, grand-children and so on
Just to step on the stage and to dance in unison
for our beautiful 4 minutes
Team spirit, it rules everything
The last rehearsal before packing for Worlds
The tiniest details are being polished
as well as the introduction and the walk-off
The dancers rehearse in their costumes and wigs
to avoid any confusion on the stage
Let's be honest - there won't be a miracle
If you weren't working hard during the rehearsals
a great dancing won't magically appear on the Worlds stage
You don't have to do this very fast, see? That's where you go
Everybody take hands now, take hands!
And you go right here,
you get to the centre and do a figure
It'd be fun just to check if in this weird country,
so far away from any Irish dancing trends,
we can do something that could receive a response
So that people won't think "God, who are these people, why did they come here,
weird Russians" and like that
but they would think "Oh, that looks exciting, something new"
There are no more than 15 teams at the Worlds each year
which means that only 15 schools in the world
can afford 16 good constant level dancers
who are able to show a nice performance
I think that can tell much
That's the centre, right?
You should get here keeping the lines
We must do the best of what we are capable of
Right us, right with these steps and right now
Should it be good - that's great
should it be mediocre - fine as well
We are still going to receive a well-deserved applause, love and so on
Team is actually not only the skill of doing something together
and marching in a battle screaming hooray
It's also a skill of forgiveness when someone fails
Our goal now is not to spoil what's already done
That's first
Second - nothing venture, nothing have
The war won't start if anyone makes a mistake,
stumbles or accidentally forgets a step
That person would blame oneself enough anyways
There's a good stage at Waterfront, a nice place to perform
Finally, a rehearsal in the appropriate hall!
Let's see what a good hall looks like at least
I don't have a feeling that this story comes to an end
that this is it, the final take and cut
Perhaps when I see it on the stage
with the lights on
Then yes, then I will probably know it
What's next - don't know, let's go there and see
What I want is not the last place, just so
I'm not expecting any dramatic finale
I'm truly convinced that if everyone dances at best -
then why not the first place?
I'll be surprised if we're not the last, pleasantly surprised
I think we can needle to the middle,
even closer to the first place
Well, in fact, whatever place we take
it's not going to be disappointing
because of the fact that we actually got there
That's already a reward