Wigging out at the Mid Atlantic Regional Oireachtas in Philadelphia

irishwriter ... Send me your address, I will gladly send you a copy. If you remotely thought the story was well written, then you need to continue your education.

mully31, looking forward to reading YOUR book sometime soon....where can I find it again?

This is what you call "reporting"?? At least hire someone that can write, and than hire an editor that can vet the story properly. The Irish Voice and IrishCentral should be appalled at publishing this nonsense. An 8th grade journalism class could produce a more accurate and better written account of an Oireachtas than what this so-called "reporter" produced. This is what you call journalism: "...natural porcelain beauty for a coat of burnt cheddar toner" "...Irish American competitive stepdance vibe is nuttier than squirrel crap..." "...humid sauna with puffed estrogen clouds licking the chandeliers above ..." "...gaggle of barrel-bellied broads stood at the perimeter ..." Next time, at least send a reporter who can accurately portray the event and leave all the "flowery poetic" metaphors for a different event. Irish Voice and IrishCentral - you should be ashamed of this article.

This is a terrible article.

The description of the Oireachtas is almost completely inaccurate, but accurate at the same time. I'm an Irish dancer, and yes, the fact that we tan, have (sometimes) enormous wigs, and very sparkly dresses may seem outrageous, but it doesn't define us. The tan is there for a reason. Yes, Irish people are typically we pale. But if a dancer went on stage with pale legs, she would look washed out and sick on stage with the bright lights. It's the same reason as to why we wear makeup. It's so you present yourself nicely. You want to look like you care, right? Plus, I think if you feel you look beautiful, then you have more confidence. The dresses may seem outrageous, but many of them are "modern" traditional. There are lots of Celtic embroidery out of the stage, with a more modern twist to them. Most dancers and families DO NOT have that attitude. Sure, there's one of them every once in a while, but it's the same for every sport out there. You must not have seem the countless cheers at the awards ceremonies when dancers win, or just the overall friendliness of the entire competition. You don't understand - dancers train nearly all year for this event. You don't know the countless hours of practice and hard work that's put into this one little event. The dancers want to do well. They want to qualify for Nationals or Worlds. It's tough competition, especially in the MAR region. It's also often stressful, because you only have just minutes on stage to show the judges that you're worthy of qualifying for Nationals or Worlds. Maybe those dancers that wanted to use the practice floors for a reason. Who wouldn't? You need to be properly warmed up before you go on stage in order to dance your best and prevent injuries. They needed the dance floor to do so. Also, they could have been stressed out because of that. Sorry if this is a nasty comment, but I don't want the Irish dance world to earn a bad reputation. People should learn the real facts.

Hi Mike, I feel your pain. About ten years ago a friend's daughter was dancing at one of these rackets and he asked me to come along (probably for backup). Upon entering the cavernous warehouse in central New Jersey where the competition was held I was immediately overcome by a sense of unease as the hordes of Shirley Temple look-alikes swirled around me. While searching for my friend the feeling of trepidation became stronger as I was witness to a level of aggro displayed by the minivan mafia the likes of which I haven't seen outside a rugby pitch. The shrieking rose to such a crescendo that I bolted for the exit and, even though it was then early afternoon, I had to stop at a pub for a "stiffener" on my way home. I was involved in Irish dancing for a brief period as a pup (my sister was the real dancer in the family) but I never witnessed anything like the spectacle that greeted me on that never-to-be-forgotten day. I felt like Dian Fossey, observing an alien culture. The Twilight Zone had nothing on that crew. Keep up the good work. Paul Anderson

Nah - it's still crazy! Other than the dancing itself (which could be an argument for another time and place), there's very little representation of any Irish traditions in the feisanna scene. We used to be required to learn embroidery for our own costume-making, and some of us, Irish crochet lace (the only lace worldwide that is crocheted!). Designs on costumes featured motifs that reflected some aspect of Irish land or history, or Celtic art. Haqir was worn elegantly, but naturally - our own hair! No make-up was used (except perhaps for some mascara on the older girls - above age 15). In recent years, the curly wigs are Grecian , the tiaras on heads are Russian kokoshniks, the designs, beads, sequins, and crystals are appliqued on to rival the Philadelphia Mummers.....I've had at least two sets of Irish in Ireland cousins quit step-dancing due to these horrifically artificial visuals - sad for all of us in my family on both sides of the Atlantic who performed and taught "traditional Irish step-dancing"!