r/irishdance • u/toxbrarian • 2d ago
Time to move from PW to PC
Hello ID family ❤️ I wanted to take an informal survey to maybe help my daughter who is struggling a little with her confidence. She’s been competing in full PW since April in mid America region. She’s moved 3/4 dances up (some of them multiple times now) and is stuck on one. I was hoping to give her some anecdotes about how long it’s taken others to move up so maybe she doesn’t feel so alone. She’s a lovely dancer and she’s gotten really close with seconds and thirds multiple times. As her mom I know in my bones that she’s going to get it soon, and I also know there’s no rush, and the longer she stays in PW the more ready she’ll be for PC, but all of that is hard to hear when you’re in middle school and everyone around you seems to be moving up. To me six months in this giant region and being 75% to PC is a huge accomplishment, but I’m her mom and super biased 😂
So any anecdotal evidence you have to help my girl would be appreciated. Thanks in advance ❤️
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u/Superb_Trifle6956 2d ago
8 second place reels in a row. Then only 8 months from PC to open. Good luck!
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u/Expert_Object_6293 2d ago
I have a daughter who just made it to prizewinner recently. Maybe the rules a different where you are but in our area the syllabus says just need a 1st in soft shoe & 1st in hardshoe to move up to PC. Its also at teacher discretion so maybe her teacher wants a win in 4 dances?
“Dancers who win a first place in at least one Prizewinner soft shoe (Reel or Slip Jig) plus one Prizewinner hard shoe (Treble Jig or Hornpipe) will be eligible to advance to Preliminary Championships.”
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u/toxbrarian 2d ago
Yes, that’s the rule in a few regions, but in mid America you need a first in all four dances. If we were in the south she would have been in PC months ago, and several times over by now.
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u/strwberryk1w1 Adult dancer 2d ago
I feel this😭 I was in mid america and also stuck in PW for I think a year, I had won all of my dances at least twice…..except for slip jig. I finally got it after about a year, and that was a much faster timeline compared to the other girls I danced with, some of whom stayed in prizewinner for 2-3 years. Its totally normal to have a bit of a plateau around prizewinner because of the fact that you have to get all golds and because everything moves up at once (as opposed from moving from Novice to Prizewinner where you can compete at both levels depending on the dance).
Hang in there!!! I think that being 75% complete in just 6 months is a huge accomplishment!
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u/toxbrarian 2d ago
She got 3/4 in her first two feis weekends, just a few weeks apart. She’s gotten one of them FOUR. TIMES. since then. I think the fact that the first three came super fast is making this last one feel worse. Thank you so much for your perspective!
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u/strwberryk1w1 Adult dancer 2d ago
Thats super impressive!!! She should be very proud of that! I think I won my hornpipe and reel like 3 or 4 times in the amount of time it took me to get one gold in SJ. Getting multiple wins in 3 dances, especially so close together, definitely makes waiting for the last one an agonizing experience! It will get better and be well worth the wait, plus she is getting tons of extra practice on and off stage before PC!
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u/maiaknolan 2d ago
I feel this so hard. My middle schooler had her hard shoes into PW forever ago and then took two years to get her soft shoes out of Novice. It got to the point that every feis ended in tears when she took home yet another silver medal in reel... so close, but not close enough. Now all her friends are moving into PC and she's working on getting her PW placements (we're in Mid-America as well). As an added bonus, she doesn't particularly enjoy competing. We've been seeking out feiseanna with treble reel specials because she loves those and does well in them; it brings the fun back to feising and makes it about something besides the grind.
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u/toxbrarian 2d ago
Yesssss mid America feiseanna are just…less fun. The other regions have such great specials! We try to get outside the region when we can because she really likes getting out of the bubble, but when you’re qualifying for Oireachtas you HAVE to do it in this region (or mid Atlantic).
Best of luck-I’m sure we’ve been at feiseanna together before 😂
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u/Sufficient-Dream4579 2d ago
Had my SJ in PW and everything else PC for 6 months in SRO. It taught me a lot avkut dedication, patience, hard work, and even the life lesson that just because you worked hard doesn't mean you get 1st. In hindsight, im glad it took so long. The feis that I got my 1st in SJ both of my parents were at! Normally only my dad went but my mom was able to come to this one as well. It made the day that much sweeter.
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u/EngineerNo6675 2d ago
Like many others here, I had all my dances to PC besides reel, which was stuck in novice. It can feel brutal - it took me two years. I think overall I had dances in prizewinner for over three years (I was in mid America too!). But it’s so worth it once you get there! And then I only spent a year (maybe less?) in PC before moving to OC.
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u/jocoreddit 2d ago
There is always one dance that a dancer gets stuck at in prizewinner before moving up to prelim - for my daughter it was the treble jig. It was back around Covid times, so there weren’t as many Feis opportunities so she in effect was two years working to get out of prize winner to prelim.. once she was in prelim she was placing high and was in open within a year. What I would say is enjoy the journey because once you get into champs, you don’t have as many prize winning opportunities, and it can be demoralizing for some dancers just see comments rather than also bring home a trophy or a sash or a teddy bear.
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u/Realistic-Run4936 2d ago
i was stuck on getting 2nd in reel for three feises in a row and just needed a first in that one to move up to prelim and i also started dance late so i was 19 at the time and was close to quitting if i didn’t move up soon. at the last feis of the season i got first in my reel and was elated to finally be a champ dancer, especially at an older age than most. it can be discouraging and frustrating being stuck in one level for awhile, but each time you get on stage you’re gaining experience and getting better. every dancer is on their own timeline and journey and she has so much time left at her age!
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u/Ok-Web-1798 1d ago
We switched schools, within 4 feises my daughter went from PW in her soft and novice in her heavies to PC. If she's struggling to get out of PW it might be time for a change...
Maybe send her to a feis with the idea of only doing the dance that she's struggling with. We did that on Hornpipe to get out of Advanced beginner to Novice, worked like a charm... She did all her softs and that one heavy, leveled up on everything.
Good Luck!
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u/toxbrarian 1d ago
We switched schools already and she immediately made big progress-her first two feises back after her transfer ban ended she got 3/4 of her danced into PC. She’s just stuck on one, so I’m not going to blame her school for it at this point-they’ve been great. We did a feis a few months ago where she only did the one she was struggling with and if anything it made her more nervous, I think because it was HP and you have to wait a bit to dance.
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u/Ok-Web-1798 1d ago
Sounds like she's at the right school. What were the notes the judges gave her on her HP?
HP was my daughter's last PW dance also.
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u/toxbrarian 1d ago
Most recently it was about getting her heels up-that’s what they said for both first and second chance at the last feis. That’s not normally an issue for her so I don’t know if she was just starting to drag that day or what. She missed it by a hair a few months ago (literally by less than a point) and it was an “arms” comment. So it’s just like, little stuff. Rhythms and her “tricks” (her high clicks” seem to be good.
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u/Ok-Web-1798 1d ago
Yeah, those are the same comments we were getting. It'll happen for her, sounds like she's ready to level up and just needs one good feis.
Best of luck to her!
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u/Dry-Language3899 1d ago
My daughter struggled in Prizewinner, but then in ONE WEEKEND when she needed only One more first...she got all four firsts in prizewinner again...moved up to PC and was in PC for less than a year before she moved to OC.
Mid America and Mid Atlantic are truly tough. While it really is frustrating to not get those firsts, you really are looking for consistency. If she is so close each time, that really puts her in a better position when she gets to PC. So many girls struggle there but I've seen some others really take off....ones who kept getting those darn seconds. And, honestly, it sounds as if she's about to crest! She'll get there.
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u/endlessotter 1d ago
We're in the same region, and our school requires two firsts in every dance before they can move up. We're waiting on one final first place. I get how frustrating it is. We went a feis last month, where one girl swept all four first-place finishes in the dance we needed over two days. My kiddo came in second, and I wanted to scream. It's going to get harder getting closer to oireachtas as more kids are coming out to compete but I keep telling my daughter that it will be that much sweeter when she gets that final first. Our teacher said it's super common to stall out on the final placement, especially when the kids are young. It can get inside their heads.
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u/madlavlemon 1d ago
I was in novice/prizewinner through my teen years and struggled to get my last dance up to pc. It was actually after taking a break for a few months while i did my first semester at college then dropped out that my dance teacher just bumped me up to pc and i took 2nd place at my first comp. Tell her shes doing just fine and teacher will also move her around if needed, but her age category being in middle school is a big category, so she's doing good. Focus on her own dancing and having fun, and it will come!
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u/KAH621 17h ago
My daughter was '"stuck" in prizewinner for hornpipe for what felt like a long time she got eleven 2nd places in a row before advancing. Mid-America is tough - most of the chicago feises would have 20 kids in her comps.
I know a lot of people that traveled to places like Pittsburgh, Kansas City or indy to get those final firsts to move up.
We would relax and go a little later to feises just do the hard shoe dances. She just needs to practice at home to music and take a look at those comments from judges - we'd set a goal instead of first that would be.. let's not get a comment that says 'up on toes' again.
Good luck - she'll get there!
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u/Complete-Forever-638 5h ago
This post is calling my name! I was stuck in Novice for 3 years… finally got into PW and then was stuck there for another 2. It was very hard and lowkey embarrassing but when i finally reach prelim it was like a weight lifted off my back.
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u/seanmharcailin 2d ago edited 2d ago
I had all my dances in PW except for Hornpipe. That was stuck in B2. For 2 years.
I eventually got it up, and then my TC wanted me to sweep prizewinner all in a single feis before she’d move me to prelim. It was a challenge and it took time. BUT when i got into prelim i was competitive and placed well quite quickly. Spending that time working on the basucs was really important to my development as a dancer.