The Joy of Sets in Greater Boston

The Joy of Sets is a blog just for Irish Set Dancing in the greater Boston and the broader New England area that includes information on classes, events, venues, and the traditional Irish music that makes the dancing so lively and fun.

Welcome to those who are new to set dancing! There are many classes in various locations around New England to learn the many fun sets that are danced in Ireland and around the world. There are a few basic simple steps used in dancing the sets; these are combined in various dances in a way that gives each set its unique style. When it's time for the new dancer to "branch out" and dance at other locations in the community, there are many classes and dance sessions just about every night of the week to expand your repertoire and your social network.

Set dancers are encouraged to share information about set dancing with other greater Boston set dancers and notify the community about upcoming events. Check the list of special workshops, ceillis, and other events for times and places.

Patrick O'Dea in Boston at Harrington's

Patrick O'Dea, one of Ireland's foremost Irish dance masters, will make a stop on his brief US tour at Harrington's in Wakefield this Wednesday, June 21st. O'Dea will teach a few set dances at a workshop in the function room upstairs at Harrington's, starting at 7:30. The charge for the workshop and light refreshments is $12.

Patrick O'Dea teaching his "old style" Irish step dancing
at the Irish Cultural Center in Canton July 2008

Patrick  was born in County Clare, Ireland, grew up outside of London, and now lives in Roscommon, Ireland. He's recognized as a modern-day Irish dancing master because of his encyclopedic knowledge of traditional steps and his unbroken lineage to the dance masters of the 1700s.

Venue: Harrington's Food & Spirits, 17 Water Street, Wakefield, MA
Website: http://www.harringtonspub.com

Irish Dancing at Your Wedding

A wedding is a great time to celebrate your heritage and what better way to entertain your Irish guests than with an Irish dance. You could, for instance, like this bride, surprise your husband and amaze your guests with an Irish jig you've secretly practiced.

Or you could hire a professional dance troupe, like Celtic Storm, to perform during your wedding reception.  How about the bride kicking off freestyle Irish dancing with the guests, the wedding party, and the groom joining in - that looks like a lot of fun to me. You're lucky if you've got a talented Irish dancer in the family, like this bride's brother,  willing to do an Irish dance on your special day.

The whole family joined together in what looks like an Irish set dance (or an 8-hand reel) in this video. That's very impressive and they've done a great job. You can hear in the background a guest commenting, "This is my favorite part of the whole wedding."

Here the bride and groom join the traditional Irish dance troupe (girls with curls). This video clip had me laughing out loud at the non-dancer groom's efforts (What a good sport!) and the groomsmen as they are obviously having a great time, and that's the way it should be.

Even if it's just you and your new spouse doing your first dance together, like this couple dancing to a bagpipe tune, you can honor your Irish heritage with a two-hand reel or a highland fling. But then, why not respectfully dance down the aisle like this wedding party - it's not Irish, but you get the idea.

Even if there is nothing in particular scripted into the event, with an Irish tune playing, the guests will surely want to give it a try and have some fun.

So, if there's a wedding being planned in your family, these videos  provide some great ideas to express your individuality and honor your culture. But you don't have to wait for a wedding to incorporate Irish dancing into an event. Get inspired and, most of all, have fun!

A Little Rain Falls on Siege of Ennis

It rained in Ennis (surprise) but it didn't seem to dampen the spirits much for the Special Olympics fundraiser. Around 6,000 people turned out to dance The Siege of Ennis. Watch the video.

Here's how the dance is done professionally; it's nice, but it's much more fun with a big crowd of people.

These are the study notes with detailed instrctions on how to dance it: "Two couples line up facing two couples in lines of four ..."

It's a ceili dance but is often danced as well by set dancers.

Keaney Brothers - Cousins of Vincent's

Just heard from Vincent that some of his cousins are on YouTube. While they do not do set dancing, their footwork is fabulous The Keany Brothers Irish Step Dancing on YouTube on Diddlyi, a social networking website for Irish Step Dancers.

Stomp-de-dump stomp-de-dump stomp-de-dump stomp!

I need words when I'm learning a new dance. These are the words I've made up to help me master "the gallop" in Sean-Nós Dancing, a solo form of Irish step dancing. Frank and I and a whole bunch of others have just started lessons with Kieran Jordan, who's teaching a beginner class at the Dance Complex in Cambridge (MA).

Kieran has made this form of Irish dancing popular in the Boston area, as evidenced by the thirty or so dancers who show up for class each week and struggle to make their feet tap out a rhythm in time to a slow reel with some semblance or order. As this is a "free-style" type of dance, there is really no *wrong* way to do it, within some guidelines like "keep your feet low to the ground" and "stay in time with the music," made all the more difficult by trying to remember to stomp first or struggling to switch from leadnig with the right foot to leading with the left. Ah, but wait 'til you see us in a couple of months! Hopefully, the stage-fright jitters will have worn down, as Kieran has us dance a solo before the group at each class. Here's what Sean-Nós dancing looks like as seen at the 2008 ICONS Festival in Canton (MA).

Just a note about how this relates to set dancing: there's a "Clare step" done in Sean-Nós dancing that is often used in the "lead-around" in set dancing. It's a fancy bit of footwork, but I'm still working on the words to it.