Décor Looking for the perfect Christmas gift for a child in your life who loves to dance, wiggle, or move? Our taster session will give them the gift of dance! This week in our installment of gift guides for your Irish dancer, we have something for everyone within our next topic: Irish dance décor! From the glittery to subdued, Christmas ornaments to mugs, there’s something for every dancer who might come into the studio. Though you’ll find some bigger business links throughout, we’ve tried our best highlight small businesses in the Irish dance community wherever possible and we hope you’ll join us in that goal! (Fun note: most of the items are customizable with SRL’s (or your child’s bedroom) colors!) 1. Prints Keep them dreaming of dance by having it be the last thing they see at night and the first thing they see when they wake up with these completely customizable prints. There’s as many ways to go with this idea as there are ways to decorate your home, but we’ve gathered a few, diverse options for you to peruse. From the artistic to the inspiring, help your dancer make their room an expression of their passion (while still keeping everything coordinated!) Who knows, maybe it will even help them pick up their room (note: not a guarantee.) Additional Options: Name and Color Personalized Male Irish Dancer Print Outline Drawing Print 2. Wall Decals Don’t worry, Mom and Dad, they peel right off! (And without harming standard paint!) Nothing gets a kid more excited than a “new room” and that can be achieved with only a few details! Get some wall decals, a new comforter, and maybe some of the prints above, and everything feels refreshed. What better holiday present could there be then redecorating the space we’re now all spending so much time in? Additional Options: Inspirational Ghillie Decal Male and Female Dancer Decal Shamrock Heart Decal 3. Ornaments If your family puts up a Christmas tree, why not commemorate their love of dance with an ornament? Whether you’re celebrating them beginning their dance journey, or celebrating their wins (see the second one below,) an ornament is something they can keep forever—one day putting it on their own family’s tree. A fun and sentimental keepsake! Additional Options: Female Personalized Ornament Qualifier Personalized Ornament Funny Ornament 4. Stockings Another one for those of us who celebrate Christmas: why not a stocking to go with that ornament? It might not match the rest of your holiday décor, but it sure will give Santa a laugh when he sees this personalized ghillie stocking! We’re all trying to find ways to make these holidays as wonderful as possible with everything this year has brought, and something like this customized to your dancer is a perfect way to make them feel special. Additional Options: Female Dancer Stocking Personalized Photo Irish Stocking Claddagh Stocking 5. Bedside Light If you don’t want to commit to hanging or sticking something to your walls, consider something a little less permanent—like this customizable bedside light. For what’s been posted so far, can also choose to just purchase the decal and apply it wherever you want (and who doesn’t love a good sticker?) Below are some more fun options for a variety of tastes: Additional Options: With Academy Name Irish Dancer Silhouette Light Female Irish Dancer Nightlight 6. Mugs The above mug may be specific to Irish dance sisters, but we know we have a lot of them at SRL! See the suggestions below for more mug options if your dancer doesn’t have a sibling. Might as well get something fun for your dancer to drink their cocoa out of this winter! Additional Options: “Reel Deal” Mug Male/Female Dancer Personalized Mug “Champion” Mug This is Volume III of a series. Come back next Saturday for the next installment or read last week’s for some gift tips for your feis-obsessed dancer. And check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram.
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For Your Competitor Looking for the perfect Christmas gift for a child in your life who loves to dance, wiggle, or move? Our taster session will give them the gift of dance! This week on our Irish dancer gift guide, we’re concentrating on a different group of dancers: the feis enthusiasts! Is your dancer laser-focused on perfecting their moves before the next feis? Do they love moving up through the levels? Are you running out of places to put their ribbons? Then this is the guide is for you. And though you’ll find some bigger business links throughout, we’ve tried our best to uplift small businesses in the Irish dance community wherever possible and we hope you’ll join us in that goal! (Fun note: most of the items are customizable with SRL’s colors!) 1. Ribbon Hangers This one’s a no-brainer for the dancer who has more feis ribbons than they know what to do with—who doesn’t need more organizational options in their life? There’s more options for these than I could possibly post here, so there’s an option to fit every dancer’s style. (And, if your dancer is more about dancing recreationally—or just younger—they make a pretty cute jewelry or coat hanger as well!) Additional Options: Dancing Girl Ribbon Hanger Personalized Hanger Comes in a Variety of Sizes 2. Shoe Bags One pair of ghillies looks like every other pair of ghillies—so help your dancer come home with her own shoes with these personalized Irish dance shoe bags! Beyond that obvious benefit, this will keep whatever they stepped in from getting anywhere near the rest of their things, as well as protect those expensive shoes. Additional Options: Personalized Dance Shoe Bag Ghillie-Shaped Bag Backpack Option 3. Water Bottles Almost everything in this post is able to be personalized, and for good reason—many kids and teens aren’t always the most careful with their personal belongings. These days, a personalized water bottle is more than a cute present, it’s a safety measure that will help your dancer steer clear of cross-contamination with their friends (or someone else with a blue water bottle.) The option pictured comes in a variety of fonts and colors, and there’s even male and female dancer decals you can add! Additional Options: Personalized Bottle with Shoes Lidded Cup with Straw Sport Top 4. Makeup Bags Get your little treble maker something to keep false lashes and stage makeup in! Makeup bags run in that same realm of avoiding any cross contamination with friends, while also ensuring your dancer comes home with their own belongings. They can also be used as regular makeup bags, pencil cases, or general carryalls for those who prefer not get under those bright lights. Additional Options: “Feis Face” Bag “Hard Work Beats Lazy Talent” Bag “Eat, Sleep, Dance, Repeat” Bag 5. Custom Competition Mask and Tiara This gift idea goes the extra mile and really embraces the reality of all the 2020 feiseanna. This Etsy seller will work with you to create two pieces that matches your dancer’s costume perfectly, along with a coordinating wrist band to hold the mask! Not many people do this kind of specialty work, so below I’ve linked a few fun hair accessories (for practice days,) instead. Additional Options: Personalized Headband Ghillie Hair Bows Sequined “Dance” Shamrock Headband 6. Dress Bags Those competition dresses have all kinds of embellishments and can be pretty pricey—might as well make sure they’re well protected! Note the “lemon wedge” shape, perfect for keeping that full skirt as neat as when it was hanging in the closet. See below for a personalized garment bag versus dress bag—perfect for our male dancers’ costumes! Additional Options: With Matching Duffel Customizable Sizes with Claddagh Personalized Garment Bag This is Volume II of a series. Come back next Saturday for the next installment or read last week’s for some gift tips for our youngest dancers. And check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram. For Your Littlest Dancer Looking for the perfect Christmas gift for a child in your life who loves to dance, wiggle, or move? Our taster session will give them the gift of dance! With the holiday season creeping up on us, often so does the stress—and no more so than this year. We know a lot of parents have been feeling extra pressure to make holidays special for their kids in a year that’s been so out of the ordinary, so we’re here to help! Check out the blog every Saturday until the end of December for holiday gift guides for your Irish dancer—from stocking stuffers and accessories to prints and ideas for Mom and Dad—we’ll post a little something for everyone. Though you’ll find some bigger business links throughout, we’ve tried our best to promote small businesses in the Irish dance community wherever possible and we hope you’ll join us in that goal! First up, some fun ideas for our littlest dancers: 1. Picture Books While a lot of Irish dance related books feature a female Irish dancer in traditional competition dress (which is fun, too! see more picture book suggestions below…) this book, written by Anna Marlis Bergard and illustrated by Leighanne Dees, is a rare children’s book about male Irish dancers. Set in old Ireland, Flying Feet: A Story of Irish Dance tells the story of two competing Dance Masters (learn more about them in our Origins of Irish Dance series here!) in the town of Ballyconneely. (It’s even reportedly based on a true event.) Additional Options: Irish Dancer: Oireachtas Kathleen O’Byrne: Irish Dancer Irish Dancing Girl (P.S. If none of these books are your style, check out our other Irish children's book recommendations here.) 2. Stuffed Animals Get your Tiny Jig or Pre-Beginner dancer something new to bring into class with them! While the bear featured in the picture has a competition dress on, this toy maker, Paddy Pals, has a wide variety of Irish bears, each with their own occupation and story. Check out their website—you won’t be disappointed in the care they put into each bear! (Or look below for a few more bear and non-bear options.) Additional Options: Another Teddy Personalized, Various Animals Stuffed Dancer Doll 3. Dolls and Doll Clothes For your dancer with her eye on the prize, this Etsy seller has created a mini-version of a competition dress (advertised for American Girl dolls, but it should fit any 18 inch doll!) While they may not be able to compete just yet, setting goals and achieving them is one of the biggest benefits of starting your littlest in dance classes early. Help your dancer visualize their goal through play! Additional Options: A Male and Female Pair! Another Option with Ghillies Irish Dancer Nutcracker 4. Coloring and Activity Books Sometimes, it’s hard to get your kids to practice. There’s nothing that will help that more than getting them excited about dancing, and activity books like these are the perfect way to have them thinking about dance even when they’re sitting still! And, not to mention, coloring has been proven to help improve motor skills, improve concentration, and develop a rich creative life—it’s a lot like dance that way. Additional Options: Irish Dancer Activity Book Irish Dance Coloring Book Another Coloring Book 5. Stationery This one may seem out of left field, but I loved receiving stationery as a kid: it makes you feel grown up (especially if they’re personalized like these!) There are some benefits (outside of the excitement over the new gel pens I’d recommend as an addition) too: learning about our mail system, practicing writing, and teaching manners. Who knows—maybe you can even get grandma or one of your dancer’s cousins to write back and start a pen-pal relationship! Who doesn’t love getting real mail? Additional Options: Personalized Male Irish Dancer Cards Irish Dancers Rock Cards Irish Dancer Cards 6. Dance Bag This personalized, sequined dance bag is the perfect present to make each dance class feel special. Our smallest dancers don’t have a need for a larger, studio duffel just yet, just somewhere to put their water bottle and teddy—these drawstring backpacks are the perfect size! And for our less glitzy dancers, check out some non-sequined options below: Additional Options: Dancing Girl Tote Personalized Tote Plain Cinch Backpack This is Volume I of a series, come back next Saturday for the next installment! And check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram. Volume IV Children’s Books, Part 1 So, your child is interested in Ireland. While an appreciation for Ireland’s art of music and dance can be obtained by taking some Irish dance classes at SRL (of course,) what about the rest of the country’s culture? We’ve gathered together a few picture books that may intrigue them and will definitely teach them more about Ireland’s rich history and traditions: 1. Fiona’s Luck, Teresa Bateman Illustrations by Kelly Murphy This story is an original, but pulls from the ancient legend of one of Ireland’s most beloved myths: the leprechaun. Fiona and her people are newly arrived to the Irish shore, and the Leprechaun King is fed up—these “big folk” are hogging all the luck! When the King locks all the luck on the island away, Fiona and her village face many hardships before Fiona, with intelligence, ingenuity, and a dash of cunning, comes up with a plan to get it back. While both Bateman and Murphy are Americans, the reviews agree that the soft, delicate illustrations really bring Ireland to life. Take a break and let a librarian read this tale to your little one, with Storytime Now!’s YouTube channel (a great resource for many a reading!) 2. This is Ireland, Miroslav Sasek If your kid is looking for facts instead of flights of fancy, this is the book for you! Part of a series that travels all over the world, Sasek’s history of Ireland for children was originally written and illustrated in the 1960s but has lost none of its charm (don’t worry—anything that needs to has been updated for this century!) This is Ireland is recommended all over as what to read your child before you take a trip to Ireland (one day again, maybe…) as it spans the entire Emerald Isle: from Trinity College to the Blarney stone, from bustling Dublin to peaceful fields of shamrocks. Sasek, primarily a painter, gives an accurate depiction of Ireland while keeping a sense of whimsy with his vibrant, stylized illustrations. 3. Brave Margaret: An Irish Adventure, Robert D. San Souci Illustrated by Sally Wern Comport Does your child love Disney’s Brave? This is a similar story set in old Ireland instead of Scotland! Margaret is a farmer’s daughter in County Donegal when a ship arrives in the harbor with a young Prince who promises adventure. But when a sea serpent attacks and Margaret is separated from the ship, she finds that she has the strength inside her to defeat monsters all on her own. Truly in the spirit of “girl power,” the author cites his source as a West Irish tale dating back to the 1800s and its timelessness is a must read for children of all ages. A fifth grade teacher recorded a wonderful bedtime reading of this story (in her pajamas,) which you can access here. 4.Tales from Old Ireland, Malachy Doyle Illustrated by Niamh Sharkey and narrated by Maura O’Connell Written by a Northern Irish native, this collection of seven fairytales comes with a bonus: the included audiobook was recorded by legendary Irish folk singer, Maura O’Connell. Though this is a picture book, it is a very traditional book of fairytales—make sure to check over the stories for content before your littlest ones start reading or listening (some details of the stories: here.) Complimented by rich, muted borders and a full-size painting for each story, Doyle even includes a pronunciation guide for unfamiliar Irish words and names. Think of Tales from old Ireland as an Irish version of Mother Goose (or maybe, more accurately, the Brothers’ Grimm.) 5. Brigid’s Cloak: An Ancient Irish Story, Bryce Milligan Illustrated by Helen Cann Brigid’s Cloak is another tale that harkens back to the ancient days of Ireland, but this one is a classic retold for children’s ears. St. Brigid (along with St. Patrick) is both a historical figure and the patron saint of Ireland in the Catholic tradition, but this story concentrates on one aspect of her legend: her cloak. The fable goes that Brigid was given a beautiful, blue cloak when she was born by a mysterious, Druidic figure. As she grew older and became a kind, charitable young woman, the cloak grows more tattered, but it still harnesses a very special power that allows her to perform a miracle that reflects her generous heart. Reviews all praise the book’s lyric prose and its ability to truly represent the conflicting aspects of Ireland (pastoral, but representing the Pagans, Christianity, and a belief in magic) in a child-friendly way that doesn’t take sides. So, while there are some religious aspects to the story (Brigid meeting the baby Jesus in Bethlehem, for instance,) it concentrates more on Brigid’s famed generosity than her beliefs. This is Volume IV of a series, read about some Irish Adult Contemporary book recommendations here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram. Volume III Adult Contemporary Fiction, Part I It’s 2020, and that means you’re still probably spending more time than you used to at home. What better time to actually start reading more? (You know you always say you’re going to.) The following are a few recommendations for books by some of Ireland’s best contemporary authors to help you make a start! Content warning: these books deal with a variety of adult topics and are only recommended for our parents and our oldest dancers! 1. In the Woods, Tana French This one is a bit of a cheat: Tana French is technically an American, but even the Irish have dubbed her the “First Lady of Irish Crime,” so I think it’s appropriate to include this long-standing resident of Ireland. The opening for French’s Dublin Murder Squad series (which don’t have the be read in any particular order) will be perfect for anyone who loves 1) true crime, 2) detective novels, and 3) a slow-burning mystery. The book follows the cynical voice of Rob Ryan as he and his partner, Cassie Maddox (narrator of the next book: The Likeness,) investigate the murder of a 12-year-old girl—a case that very well may be connected to Rob’s childhood. This critically acclaimed book is now a series titled Dublin Murders on Starz. 2. Normal People, Sally Rooney At only 29-years-old, Sally Rooney is the new wunderkind of adult contemporary literature with her two lauded novels: 2018’s Normal People and 2017’s Conversations with Friends. These are quietly psychological novels, concentrating on all the complexities tangling up the relationships of (in both cases) college students. In Normal People, we follow Connell and Marianne as they try to navigate their unspoken, but deep connection to each other as they grow out of their small town in County Sligo into something like adults while students at Trinity College in Dublin. This startlingly intimate book has been made into a hit limited series on Hulu, with Conversations with Friends optioned and due to start filming any day now. 3. Skippy Dies, Paul Murray A darkly funny take on the classic boarding school novel, Paul Murray’s second book’s title reveals the crux of the entire plot: the main character, a 14-year-old boy named Skippy, falls down dead in a donut shop in the first few pages. The expansive novel (600 pages!) that follows retraces how we got there and deals with the aftermath of a grieving community in a tragic comedy full of everything from string theory to Celtic mythology, with plenty of biting satire in between. Long-listed for the 2010 Booker Prize, Skippy Dies is based on Paul Murray’s own time at an Irish all-male boarding school and it’s the interplay between that almost gothic setting with an adolescent coming-of-age story that creates its balanced tone and finds the humor in life’s inherent spots of darkness. 4. The Wonder, Emma Donoghue Emma Donoghue may be best known for Room (which was made into a movie that netted Brie Larson her Best Actress Oscar in 2015,) but The Wonder has a more distinctly Irish feel. Though set in 1859, the book metaphorically tackles something key to even the modern Irish identity: the relationship between the Irish and the English. The Wonder tells the story of an English nurse named Libby Wright who travels to a small Irish town to investigate a medical anomaly…or a miracle. The case is that of eleven-year-old Anna O’Donnell who hasn’t had a morsel of food for months, and the interest that springs up around her shapes itself into a slow-moving but deeply felt mystery that transforms all in its reach. Donoghue is a prolific, usually historical writer (this book is based on stories of “fasting girls” from the 16th-20th centuries,) but this is her first book actually set in her home country of Ireland. 5. A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, Eimear McBride Eimear McBride’s debut novel has won many a prize and with good reason: A Girl is a Half-formed Thing was called “blazingly original” by no less than The New Yorker. While its unique style might make it a more challenging read for some, McBride tells her story through an almost stream-of-consciousness narrative poem that tackles the biggest possible topics: religion, abuse, illness, death, and even love. The reader exists intensely within the head of the unnamed, young, female narrator, brought along as she processes her brother’s childhood cancer and deals with her chaotic family life in an unspecified Irish town. With all the details stripped away, the book becomes somehow more Irish as its almost Joycean lyricism gets you closer to a sense of true identity than anything more neatly delineated—something felt rather than explainable. This is Volume III of a series, read Volume II about modern Irish slang here. Check out the blog every Monday and Thursday for more posts about Irish history, dance culture, community news, and spotlights on our dancers, staff, and families—among other fun projects! And don’t forget to dance along with us on both Facebook and Instagram. |
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