Author: maldonm

Uncategorized

The Step I Taught Wrong

maldonm

In 2008, I was teaching a mixed-level sean-nós dance class at the Milwaukee Summer School.

I divided the class into two groups.

I taught the intermediate and advanced dancers a step to work on, then walked over to help the beginners.

A little while later, I looked across the room.

The intermediate and advanced dancers were all standing still.

Not dancing.

Just standing there.

I knew something had gone wrong.

I wandered back over and began answering questions. As we worked through the step together, I realized what had happened.

I had started by teaching the step correctly.

Then, somewhere in the middle, I had gone in a completely different direction.

The dancers had already spent so much time working on it that I didn’t want to say, “Sorry! Forget all of that. Let’s start again.”

So I didn’t.

Instead, I kept going.

I worked with the mistake and found a way to finish the step from there.

What emerged was a combination of Rónán Regan’s lovely Aer Arann step and the unexpected direction I had taken in the middle. My mistake created offbeat rhythms and shifted the beat in interesting ways.

It became a lovely step of its own.

We named it the Milwaukee Step.

The following year, I showed it to Rónán. By then, it had changed so much that the original step was difficult to recognize.

It was a little like a game of telephone—only played with our feet.

I still dance and teach both steps today.

Mistakes don’t always need to be erased.

The mistake wasn’t the end of the step.

It became the beginning of a new one.

The next time your feet go somewhere unexpected, pause before correcting them.

Listen to what happened.

There might be something interesting inside it.

◈ ◈ ◈

I’d love to hear from you.

Have you ever made a mistake that became something better than what you originally planned?

Simply hit reply.

◈ ◈ ◈

Watch Rónán dance the Aer Arann step—the original step that took an unexpected turn in Milwaukee.

Watch the video

◈ ◈ ◈

This Week

◈ Online

Guided Dance Session

Wednesday, September 9
6:00 PM PT • 7:00 PM MT • 8:00 PM CT • 9:00 PM ET

Join me on Zoom for a guided old-style step and sean-nós dance session. I’ll provide the playlist, and we’ll dance together.

You can dance your own steps or try material you have learned in class. This is a safe place to practice your steps with music.

Keep ’er lit and dance full-out, enjoy the tunes and see what comes out of your feet, or dance one step for the entire session. It is entirely up to you.

This is a chance to bring your steps up to dance speed, play with the music, and see what happens.

Dance Session Playlist

Class information, recordings, and practice resources

Join the Zoom session

◈ Open Studio

Monday • Wednesday • Friday
8:30 AM PT • 9:30 AM MT • 10:30 AM CT • 11:30 AM ET • 4:30 PM Ireland

Come practice, ask questions, or simply enjoy practicing alongside others.

Open Studio details

Join Open Studio on Zoom

◈ Around Portland

Tuesday Steeplejack Céilí

Tuesday, September 8
6:30 PM

Music: Django Amerson
Callers: Maldon, Phil, and perhaps more

Dance List

  • Two-Hand Polka
  • Ballyvourney
  • Caledonian
  • Moycullen
  • Clare Plain

◈ Around Oregon

Second Friday Céilí

Friday, September 11
Salem, Oregon

Second Friday Céilí details

See all classes and events

◈ Looking Ahead

Fall classes begin the week of September 21

  • Tuesday, September 22 — Introduction to Irish Dance Traditions, Portland
  • Wednesday, September 23 — Beginning and Intermediate Sean-nós Dance, online
  • Friday, September 25 — Irish Set Dancing Fundamentals: Cork and Kerry, in person
  • Saturday, September 26 — Maldon and Amber’s 51st Birthday Céilí

◈ ◈ ◈

Until next Monday…

Keep listening.

Keep dancing.

Keep the music alive.

— Maldon

Uncategorized

I’m a One-Step Gal

maldonm

I’m a One-Step Gal

One of my favorite things to do with my students is take a workshop alongside them.

I tell them all the time that I am not a quick learner. I wasn’t naturally good at dancing when I started, and new material still doesn’t come naturally to me.

That can sound like lip service until they see me learning in a workshop.

I love looking around the room and seeing my students understand the steps faster than I do. Meanwhile, I’m the one thinking, “Could we go a little slower, please?”

Maybe some of them are thinking the same thing. Maybe everyone in the room is thinking it. Or is it just me?

I am a one-step gal.

At a certain point, I become full. My brain and body have taken in as much new information as they can hold. Adding another step will not help. I need to stop, take what I have, and spend some time with it.

That doesn’t always happen during the workshop. It happens later, when I can slow the step down and woodshed it.

I find the smallest part I can repeat. I work on that piece until it begins to feel comfortable. Then I add the next piece. Little by little, I put the step back together and give it time to settle into my body.

If I don’t spend that time with the material, I don’t remember it. It doesn’t become something I continue to use in my dancing.

The workshop introduces me to the step.

The woodshedding is where I actually learn it.

When I meet up with my students again, I may be the person who remembers the material—not because I learned it most quickly, but because I stayed with it long enough to make it my own.

It is easy to look around a workshop and think:

“Everyone is learning this faster than I am. I must not be good at it.”

But how quickly you pick something up does not determine how well you can eventually learn it.

Some of us need time. We need repetition, play, and space to let the movement settle in our bodies.

The people you admire are not necessarily people who understood everything immediately or possessed some special “natural talent.” They may simply be people who stayed with the material long enough to make it their own.

You don’t have to learn quickly.

Give yourself time to learn deeply.

This week, choose one small piece of a step—not the entire step—and spend five minutes with it.

Slow it down. Repeat it. Let yourself play with it without worrying about how it looks or how fast it is.

Five minutes may not feel like much, but it is enough time to begin building a relationship with that movement.

You don’t need to keep up with anyone else. You don’t need to collect every step or understand everything immediately.

Bring your curiosity, choose one step, and give yourself permission to learn it in your own time.

I’d love to hear from you.

When you see someone learning faster than you, what do you tell yourself?

Simply hit reply.

◈ ◈ ◈

This Week

◈ Online

Guided Dance Session

Wednesday, September 2
6:00 PM PT • 7:00 PM MT • 8:00 PM CT • 9:00 PM ET

Join me on Zoom for a guided old-style step and sean-nós dance session. I’ll provide the playlist, and we’ll dance together.

You can dance your own steps or try material you have learned in class. This is a safe place to practice your steps with music.

Keep ’er lit and dance full-out, enjoy the tunes and see what comes out of your feet, or dance one step for the entire session. It is entirely up to you.

This is a chance to bring your steps up to dance speed, play with the music, and see what happens.

Dance Session Playlist

Class information, recordings, and practice resources

Join the Zoom session

◈ Open Studio

Monday • Wednesday • Friday
8:30 AM PT • 9:30 AM MT • 10:30 AM CT • 11:30 AM ET • 4:30 PM Ireland

Come practice, ask questions, or simply enjoy practicing alongside others.

Open Studio details

Join Open Studio on Zoom

◈ Around Portland

Tuesday Steeplejack Céilí

Tuesday, September 1
6:30 PM

Music: Bob Soper
Callers: Maldon, Phil, Alison, and perhaps more

Dance List

  • Stack of Barley
  • Sliabh Luachra
  • Inis Oírr
  • Clare Lancers
  • Antrim Square

See all classes and events

◈ Looking Ahead

Fall classes begin the week of September 21

◈ ◈ ◈

Until next Monday…

Keep listening.

Keep dancing.

Keep the music alive.

— Maldon

Classes, Current Classes, Irish Sean-nós Dance

September 2026 | Guided Dance Sessions

maldonm

overview

Hello dancers,

For the next three Wednesday evenings, I’ll be leading a guided Keep Her Lit dance session:

September 2, 9, and 16
6:00 PM Pacific

Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84235671611?pwd=XQ3CucBEyzT016HK0O4Ts7zKNGiJ2p.1

These three sessions will lead us into our new eight-week fall course, beginning September 23.

I’d like to approach these weeks the way I prepare for a performance. We’ll revisit tunes, tracks, and steps from our library of past material, while also relying on what comes naturally to our own bodies and feet.

I’ll do a bit of both—dancing set steps and simply improvising or freestyling with the tunes.

Practice as much as you like between sessions, or just show up and dance what you’re able to. Come ready to have fun, keep the tunes and steps lit, and be kind to yourself.

See you Wednesday!

Maldon

week 1

Week 1: Accapella Jigs, Accapella Reels, Sunday Set Jigs, Sunday Set Reels

Guided Dance Session

Wednesday, September 2
6:00 PM PT • 7:00 PM MT • 8:00 PM CT • 9:00 PM ET

Join me on Zoom for a guided old-style step and sean-nós dance session. I’ll provide the playlist, and we’ll dance together.

You can dance your own steps or try material you have learned in class. This is a safe place to practice your steps with music.

Keep ’er lit and dance full-out, enjoy the tunes and see what comes out of your feet, or dance one step for the entire session. It is entirely up to you.

This is a chance to bring your steps up to dance speed, play with the music, and see what happens.

Dance Session Playlist

Tonight’s Dance Plan

We’ll begin with these dances and steps, then see where the music and our feet take us.

1. Sean-nós Jigs – Elements

Choose from:

  • 3 shuffles
  • 2 shuffles
  • 1 shuffle
  • 4 heels
  • Step heel step
  • Run on – Chicken with shuffle
  • Step Drop or Step Lift
  • Tip step
  • Click
  • Side step

Sean-nós Jig Course

2. The Sunday Set as a Jig

Dance the Sunday Set steps to jig music. Notice what changes and what your feet naturally want to do with the different rhythm.

Choose from:

  • Stamp & Stamp
  • Madness
  • Shuffle step (Poric)
  • A Toe toe heel (Poric)
  • Boffin
  • Meave
  • Mick Advance & Retire
  • Clare Battering Step
  • Tricky
  • Hips
  • Willie Keane

The Sunday Set

3. Sean-nós Reels

Choose from:

  • 3 shuffles
  • 2 shuffles
  • 1 shuffle
  • 4 heels
  • Step heel step
  • Run on – Chicken with shuffle
  • Step Drop or Step Lift
  • Tip step
  • Click
  • Side step

Sean-nós Reel Course

Remember

You do not need to remember or dance everything on this list. Choose what feels familiar, repeat one step for an entire tune, improvise, or simply see what comes out of your feet.

We’ll start here and see what happens. Keep ’er lit!

Open dancing to the playlist if there is time.

Mix and match and pull from all the movement to dance to other tunes.

week 2

Week 2: Celbrating Paddy Keenan

I had planned to continue with our September playlist tonight, featuring some great musicians—including several who will be at the O’Flaherty Irish Music Retreat.

But today is a sad day. Paddy Keenan passed away.

Paddy was one of the musicians who started me on Irish music. When I was a teenager, I listened to hours and hours of The Bothy Band.

In the two weeks leading up to the Third Friday Céilí, my dad would bring out album after album to get us geared up. The closer we got to the céilí, the more music filled our house. Paddy was always in the mix.

Years later, I had the pleasure of producing a Portland concert with Paddy and Tommy O’Sullivan. Their album has been in my regular rotation since it was released in 2001.

Tonight, we will listen to Paddy, dance to his music, and enjoy the amazing body of work he shared with us. I will review our Keep ’er Lit steps so we have them in the mix, but mostly, tonight will be about listening and dancing. Try any steps that suit you.

Paddy was very generous with his words and his music. He will be greatly missed.

Steps: Connemara Reels, Connemara Jigs, Páraig Ó Haibicín’s Steps, Maybe: Maggie Pickie?

Mix and match last weeks steps and elements with this weeks steps and elements.

Wednesday, September 9
6:00 PM PT • 7:00 PM MT • 8:00 PM CT • 9:00 PM ET

4. Connemara Reels

Choose from:

  • Connemara step
  • Stamp and stamp
  • Heel and toe
  • Cross step
  • Circle step
  • Zigzag or heels step
  • Side step
  • Heel-toe-heel
  • Drum step

Connemara Reel Course

5. Páraig Ó Haibicín’s Steps

Choose from:

  • Timing step
  • Toe-toe-heel step
  • Kick-up step
  • Heels step

Páraig Ó Haibicín’s Steps

week 3

Week 3:

Blog

There Isn’t One Right Way to Learn

maldonm

Memory Monday ◈

There Isn’t One Right Way to Learn

For a long time, I thought I wasn’t smart.

Reading and spelling didn’t come easily to me.

When those things were being taught in school, I was sometimes taken out of the classroom. I believe the idea was that I would get extra help.

But it backfired.

The room I was sent to didn’t really teach me anything. I mostly sat there and did homework.

When I was 12, I moved from Mendocino to Portland. For the first time, I was in a larger school and had a stable living situation.

I worked incredibly hard.

I learned how to study. I learned how to do my homework. I learned how to work within the system I was in.

By tenth grade, I was getting mostly straight A’s.

But what people couldn’t see was how much work it took.

I would stay up all night finishing assignments, especially writing assignments.

Around that time, I started taking Latin.

My teacher was Mrs. Sullivan, the last Portland Public Schools teacher teaching Latin.

I was so excited to take her class. My mom had studied Latin. My dad had studied Latin. My grandparents had studied Latin. And I want to be like them. .

One day, Mrs. Sullivan asked me:

“Are you dyslexic?”

I said no.

She asked if I’d ever been tested.

I hadn’t.

She had noticed something important.

Not that I couldn’t learn.

She noticed the way I was learning.

I was tested, and sure enough, I was dyslexic.

After that, I was able to work with a tutor who specialized in dyslexia. I began learning strategies that actually suited the way my brain worked.

And I made progress.

But something else happened that changed the way I saw myself.

After my biology teacher, Mrs. Dumas, learned I was dyslexic, she came to me one day and told me that we were going to play a game in class in a few weeks.

She said she didn’t know why, but every student she’d taught who was dyslexic had been particularly good at this game.

I don’t remember all the details of how the game worked, but I remember the tree.

We divided into teams, and we had leaves representing different species—animals, reptiles, and other groups—that had to be placed on the tree in particular ways.

And somehow…

I just knew where they went.

I couldn’t have explained why.

I could see it.

And our team rocked.

I’ve thought about that experience many times since.

Because Mrs. Dumas did something important before we ever played the game.

She told me she thought I would be good at it.

I’d spent years believing that because reading and spelling were difficult for me, maybe I wasn’t smart.

And here was a teacher telling me that the way my brain worked might actually help me do something well.

She gave me the confidence to trust what I saw.

To trust that I might be right.

To trust that I was smart.

◈ ◈ ◈

I think about Mrs. Sullivan and Mrs. Dumas now when I teach dance.

One of my favorite parts of teaching isn’t figuring out whether someone can learn.

It’s figuring out how they learn.

Some dancers need to see the whole dance first.

Others need everything broken down into small pieces.

Some want words for each movement.

Some want numbers.

Some learn through sounds.

Some need to watch.

Some need to do it.

Often, it’s a combination.

I’m a kinesthetic and auditory learner.

I learn by doing, watching, and hearing.

Words and numbers aren’t my first language when it comes to dance.

It can take me hours to translate something I know in my body into words or counts.

But another dancer may need exactly those words or counts before the movement makes sense.

Neither way is wrong.

There isn’t one right way to learn to dance.

That’s something I want people to discover in my classes.

If something doesn’t make sense the first way I explain it, we can try another way.

And another.

Until we find the way that makes sense to you.

Because sometimes the problem isn’t that you can’t learn something.

You just haven’t been shown it in the way you learn yet.

◈ ◈ ◈

I’d love to hear from you.

How do you learn best?

◈ ◈ ◈

Until next Monday…

Keep listening.
Keep dancing.
Keep the music alive.

— Maldon

Blog

The Cheese Aisle That Taught Me How to Practice

maldonm

Memory Monday ◈

Memory Monday ◈

I Thought I Was Bad at Practicing

For years, I thought I was bad at practicing.

I didn’t have a regular practice routine.

I wasn’t setting aside an hour every day to work on my dancing.

And I felt guilty about it.

I put a lot of pressure on myself about what practice was supposed to look like.

Then one day, I was in a grocery store in Seattle with dancer Alicia Guinn.

I was standing in front of the cheese, trying to decide what to buy.

And while I was deciding…

I was dancing.

I didn’t even realize I was doing it.

Alicia came around the corner, saw me, and said,

“See! I’m not the only one who does that!”

I remember thinking:

Wait.

I’m practicing.

I just hadn’t been calling it practice.

That little moment in the cheese aisle changed the way I thought about practicing—and eventually, the way I taught it.

Practice doesn’t have to mean an hour in a studio.

It doesn’t have to require special clothes, a particular floor, or a carefully planned routine.

It can be five minutes.

It can be one step.

It can be listening to a tune.

It can be trying a rhythm while you’re waiting for the bus.

Or standing at the elevator.

Or waiting in line at the grocery store.

Your feet come everywhere with you.

So maybe the question isn’t:

“Did I practice today?”

Maybe it’s:

“Where could I dance for a few minutes today?”

That’s something I want my students—especially beginners—to know.

You don’t have to completely rearrange your life to become a dancer.

Start small.

Dance while you’re waiting for something.

Those few minutes count.

◈ ◈ ◈

I’d love to hear from you.

Where’s the funniest or most unexpected place you’ve ever found yourself dancing?

Or, if you’re just beginning:

Where could you dance for a few minutes today?

◈ ◈ ◈

This Week

I’d love to dance with you this week—online or here in Portland!

◈ Sean-nós Dance Classes

Monday & Wednesday

7:30 AM PT • 8:30 AM MT • 9:30 AM CT • 10:30 AM ET • 3:30 PM Ireland

Bring a YouTube clip of a musician or tune you’d like to work with, and we’ll develop steps to the recording.

I’ll guide you through the process while each dancer works with their own recording. There will also be time to share what you’re discovering and receive feedback.

Class information, Zoom links, recordings, and practice resources: https://maldonmeehan.com/2026-august-sean-nos-dance

◈ Open Studio Practice

Monday • Wednesday • Friday

8:30 AM PT • 9:30 AM MT • 10:30 AM CT • 11:30 AM ET • 4:30 PM Ireland

Need a little accountability? Join Open Studio hosted by Kathy Fletcher—a welcoming space to practice, ask questions, or simply spend time dancing alongside others.

And this week especially:

Remember that even a few minutes count.

Open Studio Details: https://maldonmeehan.com/open-studio

◈ Around Portland

Tuesday, August 18 — Steeplejack Set Dancing

6:30 PM

Join us for an evening of Irish set dancing with live music. No partner or experience needed—we’ll teach every dance.

Music: Eddie Parente & Cary Novotny

Dance List

  • South Galway
  • Cavan Reel Set
  • Cashel Set
  • Merchant

More Information: https://maldonmeehan.com/event/tuesday-steeplejack-ceili

◈ Friday, August 21 — Third Friday Céilí: Lúnasa

7:00 PM

Music: Betsy Branch

Waverly United Church of Christ
3300 SE Woodward St
Portland, OR

Dance list available on the website.

Details: https://maldonmeehan.com/event/3rd-friday-ceili-9

◈ ◈ ◈

Until next Monday…

Keep listening.

Keep dancing.

Keep the music alive.

— Maldon

Blog

The Two Words That Changed My Life

maldonm

I still remember my first céilí.

I was nervous.

Really nervous.

The last dance I’d been to was in middle school, and I remember feeling like a wallflower. Later, in ninth grade, I wanted to go to another dance. I asked someone if they’d go with me, and they said no. So I never went.

Walking into my first Irish céilí, all of those feelings came rushing back.

But this time was different.

Mary Lowes smiled and simply said,

“Join us.”

Those two words changed everything.

I had no idea what I was doing.

I went the wrong direction.

I counted my 3s and 7s instead of listening to the music.

And somehow…

I danced the Fairy Reel and the Three-Hand Hornpipe with my dad and Mary.

I danced the Haymakers Jig with John, one of the Lewis & Clark students.

I remember thinking,

“I feel so grown up.”

During the break, one of the musicians, Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill, sang. Everyone sat on the floor and listened together. I’d never seen a room full of adults do that before. It was beautiful.

There was even a raffle.

On the drive home, I couldn’t stop talking about the music.

My dad smiled and said,

“Wait until you hear the albums I have at home.”

Albums?

The musicians I’d just danced to had albums?

We got home after midnight and put on a Bothy Band record. I stayed up listening until the early hours of the morning.

When I woke up the next day, I only had one question:

“When is the next céilí?”

Looking back now, I realize that evening wasn’t really about learning the Fairy Reel or the Three-Hand Hornpipe.

It was about someone making space for me.

Someone saying,

“Join us.”

More than 35 years later, that’s still why I teach.

I want to be that person for someone else.

Because sometimes all it takes is one welcoming evening…

and two simple words.

“Join us.” ❤️

◈ ◈ ◈

I’d love to hear from you.

What was your first experience with Irish music or dance?

◈ ◈ ◈

Classes, Current Classes, Irish Sean-nós Dance

2026 August Sean-nós Dance

maldonm

overview

  • Dancing to different instruments: Fiddle, Pipes, Accordion, Concertina, Flute,
  • Youtube Video Playlist
    • If you find videos that you like you can add them here.

Week by Week

MondaysWednesdays
Week 13
Play with a varity of videos and instruments. 		5
Work independently on a video of your choice.
Week 210
Contuinue to work on your videos. 		12
Contuinue to work on your videos.
Find the same tune by another musician or instrument.
Week 31719
Patti teaching her stepsKeep Her Lit – Tolka Polka
Week 42426
Keep Her Lit – Accapella Jigs, Grapevine jigsThe Sunday Set
Week 531
No Class!

Keep Her Lit/Endurance

week 1

Week 1

Monday: Dancing the Tune: Listening to the Musician

Throughout this month, we’re using video recordings of musicians and different instruments to explore how the musician can guide our dancing.

Watch how each musician creates the music. For example:

  • Follow the movement of the fiddle bow and fingers, and translate those movements and sounds into your dancing.
  • Watch the piper’s hands on the regulators and chanter, and listen to what the drones add.
  • Notice the rhythm, phrasing, ornamentation, lift, and energy each instrument offers.

I’ve created a YouTube playlist for the whole month. If you find a video that inspires you, please add it to the playlist.

Playlists

Wednesday:

Homework for Wednesday

Find a video featuring a tune, musician, or instrument that inspires you to dance—something you’d like to explore—and bring it to class on Wednesday.

We’ll work individually with our own selections and then come together as a group to explore what each tune, musician, and instrument brings to our dancing.

A Helpful Tip

If you’re working with a whole set of tunes, or you want to jump directly to a particular moment in the video, save the link at the exact timestamp you want.

On YouTube:

  1. Go to the moment you want.
  2. Click Share.
  3. Check the box that says “Start at.”
  4. Copy that link and save it in your document.

That way, in class you can go directly to the B part, a particular tune, a musician’s phrase, or whatever moment you want to explore.

What Everyone Is Exploring

Here are the tunes and musicians everyone is working with. I’ve also added them to the full playlist in case you’d like to explore each other’s selections.

You are all wonderful dancers, and you’ve chosen some really interesting music to dance to! Each of you chose your music for different reasons, and I think we can learn a lot from one another by exploring what the others are hearing, seeing, and responding to.

I learn so much when someone sends me a musician or tune they’re listening to—it often makes me hear or see something I hadn’t noticed before.

Edith

Niall & Cillian Vallely

  • 1st of August — more views of the concertina.
  • 1st of August — try working off what the backing musicians are doing. Watch the body of the concertina player, too. I kept this link in here as I love what all the backing musicians are doing!
  • Muireann’s Jig

Cormac Begley

Nathan Gourley & Laura Fedderson

Patti

The Maid of Selma

Listen to Shannon’s breathing and notice the space she creates when she takes a breath. Katrina asked a great question: Can you dance in the space? Absolutely! My instinct when working with a wind instrument or a singer is often to leave that space—to let the breath be part of the dance. But that’s only one choice. You can also dance through the space, play with it, fill it, or respond to it in another way entirely. There are so many ways to dance to traditional music. That’s exactly what we’re exploring!

Sheila

Martin Hayes

Step-by-step teaching. Great for breaking down the tune and learning it in your feet. Sheila spent a lot of time just listening to the music. This is such a great way to learn a tune: get it in your ears before you put it on your instrument—or, for us, into our feet. As rhythmic backers, we’re creating our own backing for the tune. It may take us even longer than a melody player to really learn the tune, hear what’s happening inside it, and discover what we want to dance within it and create something or improvise.

Beth

Reel Set: Brenda Stubbert’s / The Ale Is Dear / Barrowburn

Beth has a whole set of tunes, so the timestamp trick will be especially helpful here.

There are some very cool variations and rhythmic patterns happening throughout these tunes. It could be really fun to explore all three and notice how your dancing changes from tune to tune.

These patterns may show up in other tunes, too, and by exploring them here, you’ll have more rhythmic options in your wheelhouse. It might also be really interesting to take some of these rhythmic patterns and try them with completely different tunes. How do they land? Do they still work? Do they make you hear or dance the tune differently?

Katrina

Martin, Roberts, Compton & Jordan

Watch the musicians’ fingers and see how you might use their movements to inspire steps, rhythms, or movements in your own feet.

Katrina has worked with this tune before. I love returning to tunes I already know because each time I come back, I discover something I didn’t hear or see before.

Sometimes knowing a tune really well gives us even more freedom to explore. We don’t have to concentrate as much on learning the tune, so we can pay attention to other things happening in the music—or notice what the tune brings out in our dancing.

week 2

Week 2

Monday: Continuing to Dance the Tune

This week, we continued working with the tunes and musicians everyone chose during Week 1. We are listening more deeply, noticing what is happening within the music, and allowing our dancing to grow from what we hear.

There Is No Wrong Here

I noticed that almost everyone began sharing their work by telling us what was wrong with it, what wasn’t finished, or what they didn’t like.

I want to encourage all of us to notice that habit.

I have been studying life coaching, and one of the things I want to bring into our classes is helping you develop confidence in your own dancing and creative work.

There is no wrong here.

As sean-nós dancers, we are playing—or backing—the tune with our feet. There is so much freedom in that.

Traditionally, sean-nós dancing was often learned informally. People watched, listened, copied, experimented, and found their own way of responding to the music. Steps were shared and borrowed, but the dancing was not about reproducing one prescribed piece of choreography exactly.

That freedom is still available to us.

A movement might feel wonderful with one tune and completely different with another. You might leave space, dance through the space, follow the melody, answer the musician, create a steady rhythm underneath the tune, or move across the musical phrases. These are all choices—not mistakes.

When you share your work, try beginning with:

  • “Here is what I’ve been exploring.”
  • “Here is something I discovered.”
  • “I really like what happens here.”
  • “This part is still changing.”
  • “I’m curious about where this might go.”
  • “I’d like some help exploring this section.”

You do not have to apologize for work that is still developing. Exploring, changing, and experimenting is the work.

What Everyone Is Exploring

Beth — Barrowburn

Beth has narrowed her focus to Barrowburn and is working with simple steps, including Róisín’s Connemara steps, while adding her own variations.

Set is dancing it at 80% speed. In the A part, Beth has a lovely upward movement with her heel that makes me so happy every time I see it!

During the second time through the A part, there are also some beautiful long bow sounds that could be fun to explore. Beth might lengthen a movement, allow something to stretch, or discover another way for her feet to respond to those sustained sounds.

The B part contains some busier sounds, and Beth is dancing some lovely “grinds” there. The contrast between the long sounds in the A part and the busier rhythms of the B part gives her many possibilities to play with.

Katrina — Tie the Ribbon / Lafferty’s and Trip to Sligo

Katrina’s steps for the A part are set, and it is so lovely. I love how she dances them again when the A part comes around. They fit so well. 

In the B part she has space and more variations. 

Katrina is also working with Trip to Sligo. 

Edith — 1st of August (I think this is still the tune she is working from last week, but I didn’t confirm)

Edith is practicing steps she wants to develop.

She is also experimenting with dancing across the bars rather than always keeping a step contained neatly within one musical phrase or following the tune exactly. This creates a lovely feeling of movement and continuity.

It is exciting to see Edith use the tune as a place to strengthen familiar material while also exploring a different relationship to the musical structure.

Patti — The Maid of Selma

Patti’s piece to The Maid of Selma. She is dancing it at 90% speed. 

She has been listening closely to Shannon’s breathing, varations and to the spaces created within the music. Patti can continue deciding when she wants to honor that space, dance through it, fill it, or allow her own movement to breathe with the music.

We also talked about sharing the finished piece with Shannon. It would be wonderful for her to see how her playing inspired Patti’s dancing.

Maldon — Ger Commane’s Reel

I am working with Ger Commane’s reel and exploring how my feet can respond to the tune.

I am doing the same work I am asking each of you to do: listening, experimenting, trying ideas, changing them, and allowing the dance to develop over time.

My work does not begin as a finished dance, either. I discover it by spending time with the music. As you know I can not dance right now so I am doing all of this with my hands and voice to create the sounds I am hearing. I have one phrase in the a part where I want it and am still listening the the whole tune. I sepnd an hour to get to that far. Be pacient with yourself creation takes time. 

As You Continue This Week

Keep working with your chosen tune or video. You do not need to finish or perfect anything.

Instead, notice:

  • What part of your dancing already feels good?
  • Where do you feel connected to the musician?
  • Are you following the melody, the rhythm, the movement of the musician, or something else?
  • Where might you leave space?
  • Where might you dance across a musical phrase?
  • What happens when you repeat a simple step and allow the tune to change it?
  • Is there one moment you want to explore in several different ways?

Most importantly, begin by noticing what is working.

You are not trying to find the one correct dance hidden inside the tune. You are building a relationship with the music and discovering how you want to dance with it.nt to dance with it.e building a relationship with the music and discovering how you want to dance with it.

Wednesday: Continuing to Dance the Tune

Patti — The Maid of Selma

Patti is dancing The Maid of Selma at 90% speed.

I love the strong pulse she creates with the run-on step. She also dances a variation the second time through the A part, which gives it a lovely sense of development.

Patti has been listening closely to Shannon’s playing and responding to Shannon’s variations. So cool!

In the B part, Patti is exploring some very cool offbeat steps and double toes.

Katrina — Trip to Sligo

Katrina is continuing to practice her reel and is also working with The Chieftains’ recording of Trip to Sligo.

She is exploring a grapevine step and Kieran’s jig step. Here are a few additional options from the website that she—or anyone else—might enjoy playing with:

The Coatroom Jigs include the step-shuffle-and-bang pattern that Katrina says is so satisfying! There are lots of options here to play with and try against the tune.

week 3

Week 3

Monday: Teach Your Step to Each Other

Working in Pairs

This week, we will work in pairs in breakout rooms and take turns teaching our steps to each other.

Teaching is one of the final stages of learning or creating a step. When you teach a step to someone else, you discover more details about it. You have to slow it down, understand the weight changes, and figure out exactly what your feet are doing.

The secret to improving my dancing—and creating cleaner sounds—has been teaching. Teaching has allowed me to practice steps for much longer than I might have practiced them on my own. It also helps me understand exactly what is happening inside a step.

Dancing slowly helps us discover things, just as dancing quickly helps us discover different things.

There is a philosophy of learning:

Learn one. Do one. Teach one.

This week, I want each of us to learn someone else’s step. Through this process, both the teacher and the student will discover new things.

The teacher may:

  • Notice details they hadn’t recognized before.
  • Develop a clearer understanding of the weight changes.
  • Find words, sounds, or movements that help explain the step.
  • Discover places where the rhythm or movement could be clearer.
  • See another possibility for the step through the student’s interpretation.

The student will have an opportunity to:

  • Discover someone else’s step.
  • Hear the tune through another dancer’s ears.
  • Explore a new rhythm or movement.
  • Notice how the step feels in their own body.
  • Bring their own voice to the step.

Each of you is doing very cool work and finding your own ways of responding to the tunes. Teaching your step to another dancer is one more way to deepen that connection—to the step, the music, and one another.

Remember: you do not need to teach your step perfectly. Your partner does not need to reproduce it perfectly, either. We are exploring together.

In Your Breakout Room

Each person will have a turn as both teacher and student.

When you are the teacher:

  1. Dance or demonstrate your step.
  2. Share what you hear in the music.
  3. Slow the step down.
  4. Break it into smaller pieces.
  5. Identify the weight changes.
  6. Help your partner put the pieces together.
  7. Try dancing it with the music.

When you are the student:

  1. Watch and listen.
  2. Ask questions.
  3. Try the step slowly.
  4. Notice how it feels in your body.
  5. Try it with the music.
  6. Share what you discovered.

Most importantly, be patient and curious with yourselves and each other. This is not a test. It is another way for us to listen, explore, and dance the tune together.

Patti Teaching her steps

The Maid of Selma – Shannon Heaton

Patti – please correct me if I’m wrong on any of this. PDF file with Patti’s notes.

Maid of Selma stepsDownload
AB
Part A1:
Step (L) shuffle (R), step (R) shuffle (L)
Step (L) heel-down (R) step (L) shuffle (R) Step (R) heel-down (L) step (R) shuffle (L) Step (L) heel-down (R) step (L) shuffle (R)
Step (R) shuffle (L), step (L) shuffle (R)
Step (R) heel-down (L) step (R) shuffle (L)
Step (L) shuffle (R), step (R) shuffle (L)
Heel (L), heel (R), heel (L), heel (R)

Part A2:
Step (L) shuffle (R), step (R) shuffle (L)Step (L) shuffle (R), step (R) Step (L) shuffle (R), step (R)Step (L) shuffle (R), step (R) shuffle (L)Step (L) heel-down (R) step (L) shuffle (R) Step (R) heel-down (L) step (R) shuffle (L)Step (L) shuffle (R), step (R) shuffle (L) Heel (L), heel (R), heel (L), heel (R)		Part B:
Slide together (extend L out, follow with R)
Heel-toe-down (L) heel-toe-down (R) heel-toe-down (L)
(ie: 3 hips)
Heel-down (R) heel-down (L) Heel-toe-down (R) heel-toe-down (L)
(ie: 2 hips)
Heel-down (R) heel-down (L) Heel-toe-down (R) heel-toe-down (L)
(ie: 2 hips)
The last “down (L)” from above becomes the “Step (L)” below:
Step (L) shuffle (R), step (R) shuffle (L)
Step (L) heel-down (R) step (L) shuffle (R)
Step (R) shuffle (L) hop (R) toe (L) hop (R)
(“toe” is point of left toe tapping behind)
Step (L) shuffle (R) hop (L) toe (R) hop (L)
(“toe” is point of right toe tapping behind) (The hop can be a heel drop.)
Step (R) shuffle (L), step (L) shuffle (R) Step (R) heel-down (L) step (R) shuffle (L)
Step (L) shuffle (R), step (R) shuffle (L) Step (L) heel-down (R) step (L) shuffle (R)
Step (R) shuffle (L), step (L) shuffle (R) Heel (R), heel (L), heel (R), heel (L)
repeat opposite

Wednesday: Keep Her Lit – Tolka Polka

ABC
AAE
BCC
AAD
BDD

This is a simple breakdown of the phrases in the tune.

  • Maldon’s
    • A – Nellies kick up or side step
    • B – Nellies Clare shuffle from the c part of Nellies
    • C – 2 Clare shuffle from the c part of Nellies in a row with a step step or a heel toe at the end
    • C – alternate – step shuffle step (easier to do and very nice with the music)
    • D – simple stepping
    • E – lift, lift, lift, lift

week 4

Week 4: Keep Her Lit

Monday: Accapella Jigs

Wednesday: The Sunday Set

playlist

Playlists

keep her lit

Keep Her Lit:

Tolka Polka

Classes, Current Classes, Irish Sean-nós Dance

2026 July | Sean-nós Dance

maldonm

overview

Week by Week

MondaysWednesdays
Week 1291
NO CLASSNO CLASS
Week 268
Leitrim ThrushLeitrim Thrush
Week 31315
Aarons KeyThe Star
Week 42022
Tolka PolkaNO CLASS
Week 52729
Tolka Polka
Review & Keep Her Lit		Review & Keep Her Lit

Keep Her Lit/Endurance

  • June Material – Keep Her Lit
    • Maldon’s Jig Steps
    • Reels – Advance & Retire Mick/Willie, Clare 1,2,3 & Mick off beat
    • Teampall an Ghleanntánn
    • Waltz Steps
  • July Music Recordings – These are rough recordings for learning and practicing only. These are from the Colúr band (Autumn, Ben and Maldon).
    • Teampall an Ghleanntánn/Keegan’s Waltz
    • Leitrim Thrush/Aaron’s Key/Star
    • Tolka Polka/The Hop Down

week 2

Week 2

Monday: Leitrim Thursh (single reel)

  • Create a step for each part of the tune
    • A Part Step
    • B Part Step

Homework:

  • Level 1: 70% slower
  • Level 2: 80% slower
  • Level 3: 90% slower
  • Level 4: 100%

Wednesday: Leitrim Thursh (single reel)

Homework:

  • Level 1: 70% slower
  • Level 2: 80% slower
  • Level 3: 90% slower
  • Level 4: 100%

Ideas for the tune

  • A-part – beginning – same but different – ‘hick up step”, ‘kick up step”, “drum”, “slide”
  • B-Part – Clare 1 / Clare 2 / Clare 1 / Mick Dance at home off beats (or improvising around the b part, but always going back to “Mick’s step’ for the last 2 bars).

Variations, Ornamentations, Improvisations

Play with variations, adding ornamentions into your steps and improvising your steps. You can map these out or keep it lose and in your toolbox to bring out while dancing the tune.

  • Level 1: Lock down transitions from the A and B parts
  • Level 2: Create 1 – variation, ornamentation or improvisation
  • Level 3: Create 2 – variation, ornamentation or improvisation
  • Level 4: Dance All 3 varsations

Over all variation ideas

  • Full list of ideas
  • Rythmical varations – listen to Nathon and Joey
    • Emphasis – changing it, swinging it
    • Shifting the Beat
    • Accross the bars
    • Echo the rhythm
  • Same but different – visually diferent but rythmcially the same
  • Space

Homework:

  • Level 1: 70% slower
  • Level 2: 80% slower
  • Level 3: 90% slower
  • Level 4: 100%

week 3

Week 3

Woodshed

Monday: Aaron’s Key (jig)

Keep Her Lit/Endurance Homework:

  • Leitrim Thrush Steps – your own and/or Maldon’s, keep building and improvising
  • June Material – Keep Her Lit
    • Teampall an Ghleanntánn
    • Maldon’s Jig Steps
    • Reels – Advance & Retire Mick/Willie, Clare 1,2,3 & Mick off beat
    • Waltz Steps

Aaron’s Key Homework:

  • Level 1: 70% slower
  • Level 2: 80% slower
  • Level 3: 90% slower
  • Level 4: 100%

Wednesday: Star (jig)

3rd tune in the set. July Music Recordings – These are rough recordings for learning and practicing only. These are from the Colúr band (Autumn, Ben and Maldon).

Homework:

  • Level 1: 70% slower
  • Level 2: 80% slower
  • Level 3: 90% slower
  • Level 4: 100%

Keep Her Lit:

week 4

Week 4

Monday: Tolka Polka

July Music Recordings

Homework:

  • Level 1: 70% slower
  • Level 2: 80% slower
  • Level 3: 90% slower
  • Level 4: 100%

week 5

Tolka Polka C part & whole tune

July Music Recordings

Homework:

  • Level 1: 70% slower
  • Level 2: 80% slower
  • Level 3: 90% slower
  • Level 4: 100%

Keep Her Lit – July

playlist

Playlists

Music

Full Video Playlist

keep her lit

Keep Her Lit: June Material

June Class Page

  • Jigs
  • Reels
  • Waltzes
    • Timming step (with and without extra beat)
    • Simple heel (with and without extra beat)
    • Triplet
    • Kick Up
    • Jump
    • Side (cape breton) 
    • Partner (side by side) 
    • Irish
    • Jig
    • Mattie’s – Clog step
    • Partner (back to back) 
    • Ronan’s – Hip step (Keegan’s Waltz)
Classes, Current Classes, Irish Sean-nós Dance

2026 Keep Her Lit June

maldonm

overview

Week by Week

MondaysWednesdays
Week 114
No ClassJigs
Week 2810
Hare’s PawHare’s Paw (no video)
Week 31517
A&R Mick & Wilie
Clare Battering
1,2,3 & Mick off beat		A&R Mick & Wilie
Clare Battering
1,2,3 & Mick off beat
Week 42224
Teampaill an GhleannWaltz Clog
Week 529
All Material

week 1

Week 1

Wednesday: Jig Steps

week 2

Week 2: Hare’s Paw Step

Monday

Wednesday

Build on steps and play – No video for this session. Work on your own with the steps and make them your own.

week 3

Week 3: Clare Battering Steps

Monday

Wednesday: No Class

week 4

Week 4:

Monday: Teampall an Ghleann

Wednesday: Waltz Clog

week 5

Monday: Dance all material from the month

  • Jigs
  • Reels –
  • Waltzes
    • Timming step (with and without extra beat)
    • Simple heel (with and without extra beat)
    • Triplet
    • Kick Up
    • Jump
    • Side (cape breton) 
    • Partner (side by side) 
    • Irish
    • Jig
    • Mattie’s – Clog step
    • Partner (back to back) 
    • Ronan’s – Hip step (Keegan’s Waltz)

playlists