Saturday, May 16, 2015

Ceili Dance

Lydia, Sam, and I went to a Ceili Dance last night.

SO. FUN.

Ceili (kay-lee) dancing is Irish folk dancing.  It's not quite the same as step dancing (e.g. Riverdance), but some of the moves are the same.  If you could marry step dancing and square dancing, that would be about it.

I think I got the basic jig step down, but the Rise and Grind is a bit trickier. This will take some practice before the next dance.


 And this is really slowed down.

I wasn't quite sure what the demographic would be for a dance like this.  I think I was expecting a lot of older folks.  However, besides the caller/teacher and the band, we six homeschool moms who brought our kids were the oldest people there!  Most of the attendees were in their 20's, I'm guessing.


Ceili Swing Hold
Put your right hand on your partner's side.  Hold left hands underneath the right arms.
Stand more to the side of each other rather than in front.  (Photo is not from last night.)

For one of the songs, I had to swing with someone else's partner for eight measures using the Ceili swing hold pictured above.  He meant business.  He swung us so fast that my feet barely touched the floor.  Super-fun!

Here's Lydia (middle) with a couple of her besties--and
 an attempted photo-bomb on the right.


Here are some of the youngest dancers.
(Sam is on the right.)

At one point between songs, Sam was clinging to my arm while we waited to hear what the next dance would be.  The second that the caller said, "You're gonna need a group of three for this dance..." Sam dropped me like a hot coal and ran over to these two.  Not a hug.  Not a word.  Nuthin'.  Complete and immediate abandonment.  I had to dance with random strangers.  (It was still fun.)

I got a few seconds of video footage of the last--and most difficult--dance of the night.  I had to sit this one out because I was still catching my breath from The Bonfire Dance (my favorite).  This is the complicated arch part of The Fairy Reel.  So here's my kid who complained about the dances being too hard in the musicals, yet he volunteers himself to learn the trickiest dance of the night.  *shrug* 

Aren't they cute?
I hope they didn't hurt the guy from the other trio.
These three are at a bad height for him. 


3 comments:

  1. It was a fun night wasn't it? Hadassah, Peter, and Sam are so cute! I can't believe my younger sister danced with boys on every dance and I didn't. ;P

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    1. LOL, Josephine! I think it's exactly *because* they're young that it's no big deal, you know?

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