NU student competing in All-Irelands

Gretchen Dizer heads to Emerald Isle for Oireachtas Rince na hEireann

Article by Joshua Maloni
Photos by Larry Austin
Tribune, Dispatch, Sentinel, February 9-11, 2006

Gretchen Dizer, a senior theater department major at Niagara University and a student of the Woodgate-Lachut School of Traditional Irish Dance, will compete this weekend in the Oireachtas Rince na hEireann, or All-Irelands, held in Killarney. She will compete solo and with a figure team comprised of 16 dancers, after qualifying with a first place finish during November's Eastern Regional Championships in Philadelphia.

"To me, this is incredible," Dizer said Monday. "I've wanted to go to Ireland since I was 8."

The opportunity is the culmination of three years of hard work, sacrifice and creative class juggling. For Dizer, it's recently coincided with rehearsals at both schools, staging a one-act theater performance and preparing to graduate in a few weeks. Despite the demands of both acting and dancing – which in and of themselves are challenging, let alone performing for an audience and judges – she takes it all in stride.

"I'm in two extremely insecure fields," she said. "(But) I don't think you should spend your life worrying."

It Takes More than Luck

Irish dancing is a complicated sport.

First, there's the setup, wherein dancers adorn themselves with socks that are taped to their legs and elaborately decorated costumes that often feature a heavy cape, and top that off with a bulky wig. Then there's the routine, which is performed in reels and jigs danced in soft and hard shoe, consisting of machine-gun-like stepping to the beat of Irish instrumental music. Judges, who are usually ex-performers, evaluate the routine, often harshly. Finally, you have to explain to family and friends how you spent your weekend, which might go a little something like this:

"I competed in a feis. I danced a slip jig on an eight-hand ceili team."

"You did what now?"

Yet, for those who compete in this physically demanding, time-consuming athletic event, it's a beautiful dance with a storied history originating in an enchanted country.

For Dizer, 21, of Tonawanda, it was the dance itself that attracted her to the sport. As a young girl, she watched neighbors at a gathering perform Irish steps and was hooked.

"I wanted to get into it when I was younger," she said, explaining she was already dancing tap, jazz and ballet, as well as swimming competitively at the time. "When I finally got the opportunity to do it, I loved it so much I said, 'I'm going to make this work.' "

The opportunity came when she was 19 and a student at NU. Dizer, despite dancing since she was a child, had to take class with young children who were themselves just starting, because Irish dance students are required to compete and place in their division before they move up levels.

"For me, it was really hard to adapt," she said, explaining that she had, in fact, taught tap, jazz and ballet before taking up Irish dancing. "I started with 3-year-olds. That was definitely motivating."

Despite the awkwardness of the situation, and what it would take to move up to higher, more age-appropriate competition, Dizer was willing to make the sacrifice.

"I really feel passionately about Irish dancing," she said. "When you feel passionately about something, you have to pursue it."

Two years later, Dizer says her feet have caught up to her head, and she's qualified for the most prestigious competition in Irish dancing, squaring off against girls her own age from around the world. She's mastered her steps, cleared her school schedule for the week, and booked her flight. The only obstacle now: her zipper.

"I always have to zip myself up," Dizer, who is traveling sans entourage, said. "But, you get really good at it."

Competing in Ireland, Applying for School

While she's on the Emerald Isle, Dizer will also audition for graduate school at The University of Limerick, where she hopes to pursue a master of arts degree in traditional Irish dance. She hopes to earn her TCRG, or Scrudu Teastas Mhúinteora certification, and open up her own school of dance.

"I love kids; I love teaching them," Dizer said.

She plans to continue acting as well.

"Who wouldn't want to go to a famous person's studio," she said, laughing.

At the Oireachtas Rince na hEireann on Saturday, Dizer and her 15 teammates will perform a piece comprised of dance and story, entitled, "The Doneraile Conspiracy." Two teams of eight will dance in four pairs and, without words, portray the tale of 18th Century revolt.

"It's so much fun to dance and the acting element really comes in handy in this style of Irish," Dizer said.

Her performances conclude Sunday morning, when she competes solo, dancing a round of soft shoe slip jig and a round of hard shoe treble jig. Despite the title, the first two rounds will find Dizer and a second dancer squaring off together. If she finds favor with judges, she will be chosen to perform solo (really) in the third round, which calls for a hard shoe set.