Great Weekend of Highland Dancing... and a bit more background

I started highland dancing about 7 years ago. I've danced since I was 5 and always wanted to try highland dancing but never knew how to get started. When DH and I started dating I said I'd do something for the pipe band if he took ballroom classes. He wanted me to say that I'd learn to play the pipes - I decided that the dancing was more my pace. I didn't intend to perform at first but they had me on parade in a month and I've been teaching and dancing since.

In 2005, when the band celebrated their 50th, we had some of the former dancers come back to the Island to celebrate. We had a performance at one of the parties and I received some feedback afterwards form one of the former dancers that now lives in Canada that we were doing steps wrong. I quickly got frustrated because we really had no opportunity to fix anything - we're not recognized by any highland dancing board and since we don't charge for classes, getting proper instruction would either involve going abroad for workshops or bringing an instructor here. With that plan, it took a while to make the plan a reality. We almost got to go to Ontario last summer but the course was cancelled. We then decided that we needed to bring an instructor to Bermuda and started working on it last fall.

In 2005, at the Bermuda Tattoo we had a dance group come down from Ontario, led by n amazing teacher, examiner and judge. We contacted her this past winter and she and her husband agreed to come down in June. Well, she arrived last Thursday and beginning on Friday night we had a weekend workshop for our beginner and senior dancers. The beginners had 6 hours of instruction and the seniors had 8 hours. We managed to go through all of the dances that we knew and cleaned them up and then we learned new dances. Our instructor felt that we had great potential and supports us pursuing exams. If we get the ok, we'll have an examiner come down from Canada to test the kids and the exams would then be followed by a workshop to encourage them to work towards the next level. I would have to work towards my teacher's certification while I do the exams so it might be intense for a while. I'm excited though because I really want the programme to grow. I eventually want this to develop into a proper dance school!

So at this moment I am exhausted from 12 hours of dancing. I did lose some weight - which was great considering the amount of food I ate on my birthday yesterday :) I am excited that things are progressing and I can now concentrate on getting ready for DanceBermuda (I'll be coordinating the ABT's summer intensive on the Island) and then, of course, the Eastern European Adventure.

On a related note, just a bit more info on why we've decided to go to the Czech Republic for IVF. As you know, we live in Bermuda and we do not have any REs on the Iland. If you have IF issues, your OB/Gyn can provide a referral to see doctor from a clinic in NJ that visit the Island for a week every 3 months. If you proceed with treatment, you then have to fly back and forth to NJ and also work with the OB/Gyn locally. Many people decide to take more control and fly to the US, Canada, the UK or other European countries for treatment. I've had people who I know who have had IVF tell me about clinics in Colorado, California, Ontario and the Bahamas where I could just go out and have everything done. Needless to say, it is pricey to do that. The Bahamas had a great program where they treated the experience as a vacation and you basically relax and enjoy the Island while you go through treatment. I liked the concept but I wasn't crazy about going to an Island, being from one. So we then heard about the Czech Republic through a CNN report. We thought it would be interesting because it was a part of the world we wanted to see more of vacation-wise and our research into the clinic was positive. We contacted a coordination company and got information and then joined a boar and tracked people's experiences for months. After talking with our respective doctors, they agreed it was a good idea so we decided that's where we are going to go. The price is reasonable - for this cycle we're going to py what we usually pay to go on our annual vacation. Sure, if we have to do more than one cycle, then we'd pay more than our vacation budget but it's still cheaper in the long run than flying back and forth to the US. We're looking forward to the experience and hope we are successful while we have a vacation.