Two years later I joined the performance prep class. We were hand picked by our teachers for our dedication to dance and our skill level. Nia and I were the lowest level and joined at the same time. Naturally we stuck together. The lessons were different than anything we had ever done before. There was no warm up and we were told to dance in our runners. Our teachers were picking at the smallest of details yet at the same time they weren't. Where normally they would be telling us to turn out our feet or kick our bums they were telling us our fingers weren't in the right position for the hand movement. We were learning how to tell if we were in line with our teammates by looking through our peripheral vision.

It was odd to think of my classmates as my teammates. That we were to be more than just friends or someone who helps you learn your steps. We were expected to be a well oiled machine. Able to look at eachother and know what we had to do. To do the dance and pick up eachothers slack, and to not leave slack for the others to pick up. Expected to plan for every little thing that could go wrong, not just for yourself but for everyone else as well. You didn't take one extra pair of tights in case yours ripped, you took two extras in case yours and one of your teammates' tights ripped.

We would spend hours on just learning how to walk on and off stage. How to hold our posture, smile, whether or not we moved our arms, whether or not we turned out our feet, where we would stand, do we go all at once, do we go in groups, do we go one at a time, do we start to walk off before the music or after, are we walking on in the middle of the dance as a transition piece, how do we stand for the start of the dance, are we even standing at the beginning of the dance? If we end the dance in a crouch how will we stand up to walk off stage, do we wait for the music to end before we walk off stage, whether or not we bow before walking off stage, if we're bowing do our arms stay at our sides or do they go up then down, do we hold hands or do we keep them to ourselves? For each dance the answer changed.

Trafalgar's: Walk on- all on at once in two groups, straight to position unless lead in which case you will walk to the middle with group one turn then walk forwards to position, stand in champion's feet, before music.
Walk off- music ends, stay still, watch lead for que to bow, if they drop hands you do as well, walk off one at once not in a line

Banjoman: walk on- music turns on, walk on in groups, walk is exaggerated and to the music, champion's feet head down.
Walk off- music ends, walk off immediately unless ending number

Stamp Clap: walk on- half way through to give seniors transition time to go from hard to soft shoe, after seniors dance off in pairs do skip-two-threes onto stage, turn to face the audience on four.
Walk off- dance off with sevens

And those were only the dances that we did for every show. Certain venues would request they have special numbers only for them or will request longer shows meaning we would need to do more numbers. Some venues we would have to re-learn the walk on and walk off for because it had to be tweaked due to size, shape, direction the stage is facing, or for whatever reason missing troupe members.

The first dance Nia and I learned was Trafalger's. Back then the dance was brand new but now it's a staple in all of our performances. It's a simple dance that any level can do once they know the basics. However despite being so simple Trafalger's is a very draining dance. When it comes to sapping energy compared to every other dance Trafalger's is an insatiable vampire. Because of this Trafalger's is now considered the grunt work for the newer members of performance prep, senior members only doing it if there aren't enough people.

Trafalger's originated as a dance made specifically for a client by request. And a lot of trial and error goes into choreographing a new dance. Originally we were in a heart shape, then a triangle, then a line, then a triangle again. Because nothing was quite right. For the original version our teacher eventually decided that we would be in a triangle.

Then came learning the steps and how it could be interactive for the audience. Naturally that meant it had to have a movement that made a very repetitive sound. This sound ended up being: bam bam, clap clap, bam bam, clap clap, da didila da didila, bam clap clap, didila da da didila da da, didila didila didla dum. Or bang bang, clap clap, bang bang, clap clap, step down, treble hop back step treble hop back, bang clap clap, step treble one two, treble hop back, treble one two, treble hop back, treble hop back treble hop back treble hop back. While the pattern consisting of trebles and hops was very simple due to the sound it made it was very pleasing to the ear and due to the explosive movements it was also entertaining to watch. The repetitive pattern added in with the fact that we were clapping encouraged the audience to clap along.

We spent hours flushing out the dance until we had an entire number done. Then it was even more hours mastering it so it was muscle memory. Then even more hours nit-picking it so it would be nothing short of perfection. Every kick hitting our bums, every hand movement sharp and exact, our feet turned out perfectly, our legs crossed, and our toes beautifully pointed.

I spent hours learning the dance both through class and at home. I danced everywhere. If I tried I couldn't count how many times I was stuck limping with swollen feet because I couldn't stop. I could feel that my feet were acting up but I refused to take a break. I actually became a bit of a problem child, so obsessed with getting the dance perfect that I didn't think about how dancing on hurting feet was making the dance worse.

During water breaks you could hear Nia and I discussing the dances.

"No it's treble one two treble hop back, trebe one two treble hop back, treble hop back treble hop back treble hop back, drop two three four up two three four down two three four bang bang."

"No arms stay down on four."

"No they go up."

"No they stay down"

Sometimes the mistakes were straight forward and we were able to figure it out ourselves. Others would leave us both confused as to what was the proper way to do it leaving us to ask either our teacher or our team captain Lauren for guidance. More often than not both of us were wrong about the steps.

Dutta, Sanjib, director. Irish Dance @ 2020 Chinese New Year Celebrations in Richmond, BC, Canada Pt II. Youtube, 27 Jan. 2020, youtu.be/Ipe8rSdQxE8

(I was unable to find video footage of the original version of Trafalger's but the video is of the current version)