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Lynette Chilcoat of Loveland gives Irish step dancing a try - Loveland Reporter-Herald

Lynette Chilcoat of Loveland got into Irish step dancing in 2011 simply because there was a dance school right around the corner from where she lives.

“I’m part Irish. I thought it would be a fun way to honor my heritage,” Chilcoat said. “I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I didn’t know the Irish dance world was this great, huge thing, this big entity.”

Eight years later, the 56-year-old continues to take dance lessons, plus performs and competes in the traditional dance form that originates from Ireland and encompasses solo and group dancing.

In her day job, she is a freelance writer, something she has done for 21 years, plus she previously worked for more than two years for the Reporter-Herald as a newsroom assistant. She also is the author of the “Chill Out Guide to Colorado: Tips from a Native,” a humorous look at the state’s history and outdoors published in 2017 by What If? Publishing.

Lynette Chilcoat of Loveland poses Dec. 17, 2019, wearing some of the medals she has received as an Irish step dancer. (Photo by Shelley Widhalm/ For the Loveland Reporter-Herald)

Irish step dancing lessons

Chilcoat took Irish step dancing lessons for about four years at the former Moriarty-Moffitt School of Irish Dance, which had children’s and adult classes in Loveland and other locations, but later moved the adult classes to Longmont, then to Niwot.

She took additional lessons at Scoil Rince Stewart in Berthoud for three years and for the last six months has been attending the Avoca Irish Dance Academy in Longmont.

“I moved to this one because they have a more comprehensive adult class,” Chilcoat said. “Part of the issue is finding Irish dance geared specifically to adults.”

Lessons in Irish step dance often are tailored to children and youths on the championship track, while adults generally engage in it for fun and fitness, Chilcoat said.

“They realize adults can’t always treat it as a sport the same way kids and teenagers do,” Chilcoat said, adding that she takes weekly classes with 10 to 15 beginning and advanced dance students, though will take a break for a month or a summer for camping and travel. “We work, travel and have families we have to take care of.”

Chilcoat signed up for a year-long step dance class in August, where she pays an annual fee and has a punch card for her attendance. The class performs and competes — it competed nationally at the Western U.S. Regional Oireachtas from Nov. 22 to Nov. 24 in Denver, but did not place.

It was Chilcoat’s first national competition, though she’s collected dozens of medals and “bragging rights” from local competitions, mainly in Loveland and hosted by various schools.

“Our adult team jumped all over going down there for the competition, since it was in Denver,” Chilcoat said, adding that preparing for the competition took “lots of practice.”

Types of Irish dance

Chilcoat and her team competed in four-hand, or a dance involving four dancers, while two-hand is two dancers, three-hand, three dancers and eight-hand, eight dancers.

There are both hard shoe and soft shoe dances. Hard shoe dances generally are done as solo acts, with names such as hornpipe and St. Patrick’s Day.

Chilcoat focuses solely on soft shoe, which can be done solo or in a team — the solo dances include reels and jigs, differentiated by the beat of the music.

“I enjoy being part of something bigger than myself with my team doing an activity that I really enjoy and really working hard to do our best,” Chilcoat said. “We improved drastically from when we started working together. And we had a really good time.”

Four months after starting step dancing, Chilcoat performed at the behest of her teachers and the other students.

“I don’t think I was very good, but I was a warm body,” Chilcoat said, adding that within another two to four months, she was competing. “When I started, I said point blank I’m not doing competition. They shortly had me in competitions. They were very convincing.”

Chilcoat and her classes or teams perform at festivals, parades, community centers, assisted living facilities and nursing homes. Some of the performances are paid but do not cover the investment in lessons and costumes, she said.

“I’m not going to get rich,” Chilcoat said. “I do it for fun, and it’s a good activity.”

Dancing for health

Irish dancing is beneficial both for mental and physical health, Chilcoat said. Step dancing involves the right-brain artistic side, plus the left brain of structured, specific movements and form, she said.

“You have to really focus on your form. You have to keep your stature straight and even and keep your feet placed in a certain place. There’s lot of leaps, kicks, jumps and skips,” Chilcoat said. “It’s interesting to learn those movements, and sometimes it takes going over it, going over it, going over it to get it just right.”

Lynette Chilcoat, left, and Dez McAndrew of Fort Collins perform the two-hand reel at a festival. (Courtesy photo)

The form of dancing combines ballet with sprinting and pole vaulting-like movements, said Amanda Lebeda, an assistant teacher at Avoca Irish Dance Academy and a friend and neighbor of Chilcoat’s.

“It’s a very demanding sport,” Lebeda said, explaining that performances can be several seconds or a few minutes but when leaving the stage, dancers have to catch their breath. “You have to have amazing cardio. We call it a sprint sport.”

Lebeda, an Irish dancer for about 12 years, likes how Chilcoat is willing to learn and to work hard on her technique.

“She makes sure she has all the choreography right,” Lebeda said. “She’s athletic as a person. She’s very aware of holding her body. In Irish dancing, it’s very important how you hold your posture. … She has a very good stage presence as well.”

Dez McAndrew of Fort Collins loves seeing the joy Chilcoat has when she dances.

“You can see the joy in her performance, and I love that,” said McAndrew, a competitive dancer at Scoil Rince Stewart, who met Chilcoat at a dance class when they were new students. “She is so welcoming to new dancers, and this makes her a very strong team dancer. She also has great upper body posture, which looks beautiful on stage.”

Chilcoat does CrossFit training to build her stamina, strength and flexibility, as well as hatha yoga, martial arts moves, walks, weight lifting and outdoor activities of hiking, biking and swimming. Step dancing is an intense weight-bearing activity that involves deep breathing.

“It doesn’t feel like a workout; it’s dancing,” Chilcoat said. “It’s addictive.”

Chilcoat will stop dancing for other things, not sure if she will return, but she always does, she said. It helps that she likes the anti-aging benefits of Irish step.

“As we get older, we tend to slump,” Chilcoat said, explaining that the dance requires pulling back the shoulders, tucking in the stomach and lifting up the feet. “This helps you learn to keep your feet up high and straight. … You’re lifting you own weight and coming back down with each step.”

Chilcoat finds her biggest challenge in keeping her arms in one place, held straight down and pinned to her sides. She tends to swing them out, she said, adding that she jokes they are her wings.

“I love it,” Chilcoat said. “It’s one of the ways I can fly without actually flying. I’m up. I’m moving. My legs are off the ground.”

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