Day #199 in A Year of Thanks:

I’m thankful I got to perform on a cruise ship with professional Irish Dance performers native to Ireland.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my days of Irish step dancing. I recall a summer cruise on the Grand Princess around the British Isles in 2007, which I took after graduating from high school. The cruise stopped in a few Irish ports along the way, and one night, professional Irish Dance performers native to Ireland were doing a show on my cruise. At some point during the show, they selected audience members to join them on stage to learn and perform a dance called Walls of Limerick. I jumped up and down and raised my hands so excitedly, and begged them to pick me. The audience around me looked at me funny, but I had zero shame about my begging, and zero care about what anyone else thought, because I was determined to get on that stage! Walls of Limerick is one of my all-time favorite classic céilí dances.

A céilí (pronounced like KAY-LEE) is an Irish term for a party or social gathering where lots of folk (group) dancing fun happens. To show you the Walls of Limerick, I found a good video that shares all the steps of the dance, and I’ve attached it below. Sadly, I don’t have a picture or video of me performing with the native performers of Ireland, but they (and the audience) were pleasantly surprised by my skills. It was such an incredible, beautiful moment for me. I’m smiling ear to ear right now as if it were yesterday, and I’ll never forget it.

Day 198 | Day 199 | Day 200
Year of Thanks