Irish Dance Camp

Chapter 3

It took about half an hour to unpack, and our schedules said we had "Free Time" before dinner. The room where we were staying was rather small, with one bed on each side of the room, a desk between them, a closet next to the door, and a small coffee table with two chairs next to it. It was still cozy though.
After, Carly and I had nothing to do, so we walked down the hall to find Julie and Marie. Carly knocked on the door and Marie answered. "Hi." She smiled, and beckoned us in.
Strewn across the table in the center of the room was an array of snacks; chips and gum and candy and chocolate. Julie sat in the chair next to it and grinned as we walked inside. "Hey guys," she said. "hungry?"
"What do you plan on doing with all this?" I asked, half laughing.
"My mom likes to make sure I'm prepared, so she adds stuff to my bag." Marie shrugged,"You guys can take some if you'd like." Julie pushed her auburn hair passed her shoulder, and I realized that her wig color was different from her natural hair.
"Are you guys excited for nationals?" She asked. "It's only a month away, you know."
"Don't remind me," Carly groaned. "I'm so nervous!"
"Yeah, me too..." Julie said.
Marie scoffed. " You'll probably win it anyway...." Julie shot her a look.
"What's your goal for nationals, Ciara?" Julie asked me.
"I'm not quite sure, it's a long shot but I'd say top five." My results have been improving tremendously since worlds, I'd won nearly every feis since then. I knew top five would be hard for someone who had placed fortieth at worlds, but it was worth a shot. Julie nodded.
"That's cool. I think I might have seen you dance at worlds, what color is your dress?"
"Red, black, and white."
"Yep, I definitely saw you dance. You are amazing, Ciara. It's no wonder you did so well." Julie said. Carly went stiff.
"Thanks, Julie. That's very sweet of you." I knew I had to change the subject, and fast. "So, we have free time now, what do you want to do?"
"We can grab the other girls and go practice!" Marie said.
"Sure!" Julie said. "What do you guys think?" She asked Carly and I. We both agreed and went back to our rooms to grab our shoes. Carly looked very upset when we picked up our bags.
"Are you ok, Car?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine...... I just......"
"What?"
"Never mind..." She said, defeated. Something was definitely wrong, and I was almost positive it was about worlds. I made a mental note to talk to her later.
We met back up with Julie and Marie in the hallway. The hallways were organized so that each group got their own, so all we had to do was knock on each door. After we had rounded everyone up, we headed down the back stairway that led us outside.
The campus was essentially a field with buildings strewn across. Claire was the only one who had remembered to bring a map, and even that was hard to navigate.
"The whole map is off, that's why it's so hard to figure out where we are,"
"You're also holding that map sideways, Claire," Sophia sighed.
"Oh,"- Claire tilted the map- "well according to this, building A is right in front of us, but all I can see is the dorm building and buildings D and F. Oh..... Wait a minute." Claire spun around and pointed to a huge structure she had somehow overlooked. "That's Building A...."
We all went in and were surprised to find that the majority of the practice rooms were already full. We eventually managed to find a room with nice floors and a huge mirror. We all got hardshoes on and Kate hooked up her iPod in the speaker that was left in the room.
"Should we start with drills?" Kate asked. The whole room groaned, even Julie, who I expected was accustomed to doing tons and tons of drills.
"They are going to kill us this week, we are probably better off starting by taking it easy." I said. There was a collective murmur of agreement, and we all decided to start off by doing our hornpipes two at a time.
I went up with Marie, and was surprised to find that she was a rather aggressive dancer. I had to move out of her way many times while we danced to avoid a collision. I wondered if judges ever took off her points for that, but I guessed not, since she came so high at worlds.
When Julie danced, she didn't go with nearly the amount of aggression. Everything about her dancing was flawless. Her rhythm was perfect, her feet were perfect, her carriage was perfect, and she had a funny way of dancing with the music instead of to the music. I wondered how any of  the instructors would find a way to critique her throughout the next few days.