Category: Classes

Live classes, past, current and future.

Classes, In Person Set Dance, Irish Set Dancing, Past Classes

2023 March | Saturday Set Dancing

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intro

Shake out those shamrocks ‘n let’s boogie!

This March, our theme of the month will be advance and retires. We will focus on basic Clare advance and retires as well as including some battering. We will continue to review previous techniques and learn new dances.

As always I encourage you to review the videos and instructions before and after class. If you don’t have time, I’ve got your back. I will break everything down nice and handy and we will progress through the months dances. There’s never a better time to enjoy the art of Irish Set dancing. St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner!

Irish Set Dancing

Saturday 4-6pm

Waverly United Church of Christ

3300 SE Woodward St, Portland, OR, United States, Oregon

$10 general, $5 students

Last Saturday Céilí ~ 4-7 ~ Live Music

week 1

WEEK 1 | Class notes

Sat. March 4, 2023

Our set of the week is: Caledonian

This is one of my favorite sets. It is one I love teaching both beginners and experienced dancers. It’s the perfect set for perfecting housing and dancing at home. It also allows room for battering. The set can be receptive and when you aren’t focusing on footwork it some might call it boring. But adding a little battering and some great advance and retire steps lights up the dance. We will cover the basics and beginning of advancing and retiring as well as more advanced steps for those with more experience.

If there is time we will review the Claddagh Set. Reviewing the instructions and video before class will give you a nice leg up. If you don’t have time or forget no worries I’ve got your back and will teach and call everything.

week 2

WEEK 2 | Class notes

Sat. March. 11, 2023

Our set of the week is: Clare Plain

If there is time we will review the Seit Doire Cholmcille (Derry Set). We covered this dance in February. Videos and instructions can be found on the February class page under the week 1 tab.

week 3

WEEK 3 | Class notes

Sat. March 18, 2023

Our set of the week is: Corofin Plain

Jim Belcher recently taught a lesson on the Corofin Plain set at our Sweet Hearts dance in February. We will review the set and add more footwork.

If there is time we will review the The Cashel or (The Castle). We covered this dance in February. Videos and instructions can be found on the February class page under the week 2 tab.

Last Saturday Céilí

WEEK 4 | Class notes

Sat. March 25, 2023, 4-7pm

Last Saturday Céilí music by Preston Howard

  • The Caledonian
  • Seit Doire Cholmcille (Derry Set)
  • Claddagh Set
  • The Corofin Plain Set
  • The Clare Lancers set

We might not get to them all but we will try.

Classes, Past Classes

St. Practice to St. Patrick’s Challenge

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Your challenge is to decided how often you will practice and what you will practice. As part of the St. Practice to St. Patrick’s challenge I will be offering an open studio starting next week. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8:30am PST. Bring what you plan on practicing and your music and join us for some accountability. Zoom Link Here.

Can’t make to open studio’s. Design your own practice routine at home. Share your ideas, progress, struggles in the Facebook group. 

There are several recesses to help you get inspired on the website. The Your Ultimate Practice Guide is one place to start. 

Classes, Irish Set Dancing, Past Classes

2023 Feb | Saturday Set Dancing

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intro

This February, let’s double our love! Our goal is for everyone to gain mastery in the skill of doubling as we learn several dances featuring this special move. From Seit Doire Cholmcille (Derry Set) and Cashel Sets to Clare Lancers, Myserks and Caledonian – there are plenty of opportunities during the month-long event to perfect your technique. Let’s get ready to take a twirl through these traditional dance styles – twice!

Irish Set Dancing

Saturday 4-6pm

Waverly United Church of Christ

3300 SE Woodward St, Portland, OR, United States, Oregon

$10 general, $5 students

week 1

WEEK 1 | Class notes

Sat. Feb. 4, 2023

Our set of the week is: Seit Doire Cholmcille (Derry Set)

This set was composed by Frankie Roddy. Frankie was a wonderful dancer from Derry. When I meet him in 1999 he was just getting back to dancing after some health issues. My fellow student at the University of Limerick ended up writing her theses on him. We traveled together to attend in his adult ceili class and to have a chance to chat with him again. At the time he was the only person we could find that was teaching ceili dancing to adults. He was a great solo dancer and had a school of dance. His son was the evil lead in Lord of the Dance. When Josephine and I meet him in Limerick he was the light we were looking for. We were both struggling in our studies and it was so lovely to meet such an amazing and generous person. I am happy to be reviving his dance here in Portland. I hope it one that we will dance many times in Frankie’s memory. I learned this dance from Anne McCallum at the Milwaukee Irish Festival Summer School.

week 2

WEEK 2 | Class notes

Sat. Feb. 11, 2023

Our set of the week is: The Cashel or The Castle

This dance is from Tipperary and was taught by the late great Connie Ryan. Many of the dance instructors that you know and love learned from Connie and followed him around the country to workshops and dances. In this particular video you can see Connie Ryan in first tops, Pat Murphy in first sides and Pádraig & Róisín McEneany in second sides.

week 3

WEEK 3 | Class notes

Sat. Feb. 18, 2023 (NO CLASS THIS WEEK) – we will learn this dance another time.

Our set of the week is: The Clare Myserks

We used to dance this years ago in Portland. This dance is dances in Seattle and in San Francisco. It’s a good one to know and nice and handy.

week 4

WEEK 4 | Class notes

Sat. March 25, 2023

Last Saturday Ceili

  • The Caledonian
  • Seit Doire Cholmcille (Derry Set)
  • Claddagh Set
  • The Corofin Plain Set
  • The Clare Lancers set

We covered these five dances in the month of March Tonight we will celebrate by dancing them all. All dances will be called. All are welcome.

Music Playlist

Classes, Past Classes

2022 Fall | 9am Fridays | Sean-nos Dance | Intermediate

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intro

Fridays

9:00am-10:00am

[ONLINE]

Weekly intermediate class focused on Clare inspired steps. This class will cover the basics and can be taken in combination with the beginner class. Both classes will cover the basic material and the intermediates will be working on variations. If you want extra accountability or practice considering taking both classes.

week 1

WEEK 1 | Class notes

Warm up & Technique

  • Dynamic Warm up
  • Weekly Vocabulary

week 2

WEEK 2 | Class notes

week 3

WEEK 3 | Class notes

week 4

WEEK 4 | Class notes

week 5

WEEK 5 | Class notes

week 6

WEEK 6 | Class notes

resources

Classes, Past Classes

2022 Fall | 9am Thursdays | Sean-nós Dance | Beginners

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intro

Thursdays

9:00am-10:00am

[ONLINE]

Weekly Beginners class focused on Clare inspired steps. This class will cover the basics and can be taken in combination with the intermediate class. Both classes will cover the basic material and the intermediates will be working on variations. If you want extra accountability or practice considering taking both classes.

week 1

WEEK 1 | Class notes

Warm up & Technique

  • Dynamic Warm up
  • Sean-nos posture
  • Weekly Vocabulary

Steps

week 2

WEEK 2 | Class notes

week 3

WEEK 3 | Class notes

week 4

WEEK 4 | Class notes

week 5

WEEK 5 | Class notes

week 6

WEEK 6 | Class notes

resources

Classes, Dance Styles, Irish Set Dancing, Past Classes

IN-PERSON | 2022 Fall | Saturday 4pm Irish Set Dancing Class

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intro

Saturdays

4:00pm-6pm

[IN-PERSON]

Combining Sean-nós steps, Clare battering and smooth dancing form to learn to dance in Ireland, or throughout the world wherever Irish music is played. 

4pm-6pm every Saturday with a Live music céilí from 4pm-7pm on the last Saturday of the Month. 

Waverly UCC, 3300 SE Woodward St., Portland, OR. $5-$10 Sliding scale lesson, $10 for the Céilí.      

Welcome Set Dancers, 

This is a companion course for our in-person class in Portland, Oregon. You can still follow along if you are in-person or learning online. I will offer tips and tricks for practicing at home by yourself.

You will discover creative ways to study set dancing even as a solo person. Many of you are at home on your own without a partner. It can be a challenge. But not as hard as you might think! I learned many of my set dancing and steps solo. In the process you can really hone your skills before having to work with a partner. I will also provide tips on how to practice without attending a ceili. Not to mention, some bonus tips and tricks for memorizing sets in isolation. 

Kevin Burke once told me a story of a show where the dancers were two short of a set, so one of the musicians joined the group with a chair and danced the set with a chair as his partner. It’s a great story and I can’t do it justice. So, I must invite him as a guest to tell us the story himself. In the meanwhile, don’t be afraid to develop a temporary relationship with a nice looking piece of furniture.  

Get your set dancing ready for the dance floor. 

9/17

WEEK 1 | Class notes

Saturday, September 17, 2022

THE CLARE PLAIN SET

Our first week we had 12 people ranging from 6 months old to 79 years old. Here’s to keeping set dancing going for years to come! Lovely to see you all out and dancing. We covered footwork for traveling, advancing, dancing at home and housing. You will find a few video references for these movements. We also danced the Clare Plain Set. This dance is from County Clare. The while you will see dancers battering the foundation is the smooth gliding step we covered in class. These steps will be the foundation for all of the Clare dances.

Warm up & Technique

  • Traveling: Smooth 3’s
  • Advance & Retire
  • Frame
  • Home
  • House

Traveling: Smooth 3’s

Video coming soon

Ladies – Advance & Retire

Gents – Advance & Retire

Frame

Video coming soon

Home

Video coming soon

House

Video coming soon

The Clare Plain Set

9/24

WEEK 2 | Class notes

Saturday, September 24, 2022

Our second week we will learn the Clare Lancers. We will also review and cover set dancing technique and form. Our second class was a blast. Michael and Margret visited from California. Michael played flute for some of the figures.

The Clare Lancers

10/1

WEEK 3 | Class notes

Saturday, October 1, 2022

This week we will learn the Connemara set and Jim Loewenherz will play for our class. It’s such a blessing to have live music while learning. One of the great things is that we can dance at the pace that we are learning and right away be in sink with the music and each other. Starting out we will dance this set smooth and eventually when you are ready you can add the battering step to the set. You will find the instructions as well as the video reference for the set. Also on this page is the Connemara step broken down and a practice video.

Here is the battering step for the Connemara Set. It is not necessary to have this step in the set, but if you want to work on it on your own I will have a session down the line where we include it in the set and we will work on traveling with the step. If you like the battering footwork keep working on this step on your own and focus on moving with the step. This will give you a leg up when we bring it into the whole set in later weeks.

Some dancers find the stamp and stamp step easer to travel with when first starting out. You can cover a greater distance on each stamp and stamp.

10/8

WEEK 4 | Class notes

Saturday, October 8, 2022

Merchant Set | Reel 128, Reel 192, Reel 128, Hornpipe 144

Videos for the Merchant Set can be found here.

Click and go to YouTube to see these videos.

10/15

WEEK 5 | Class notes

Saturday, October 15, 2022

Antrim Square | Reel 144, Jig 136, Slides 152

Youtube Playlist Link

10/22

WEEK 6 | Class notes

Saturday, October 22, 2022

Ballyvourney Jig Set | 4 Slides (32bar tunes) 4x each

10/29

WEEK 7 | CCE Quarterly Event

Saturday, October 29, 2022

Rambling House Ceili – a page of all the dances we will dance as well as a YouTube playlist and a Spotify playlist. I have tried to include most of the dances that we have covered in class in the ceili. There will be a few new ceili dances that you might not have learned yet and we are missing the Clare Plain Set at the ceili (we will be sure to dance it next time at the Butterball in November 😊).

  1. Connemara Set | Reels 160, Reels 192, Reels 184, Maggie in the Woods 96
  2. Haymakers Jig | Jigs 400
  3. Merchant Set | Reel 128, Reel 192, Reel 128, Hornpipe 144
  4. Siege of Ennis  | Jig
  5. Clare Lancers | Reels 160, Reels 192, Reels 144, Reels 192, Reels 192
  6. Ballyvourney Jig Set | 4 Slides (32bar tunes) 4x each
  7. Fairy Reel | Reels
  8. Antrim Square | Reel 144, Jig 136, Slides 152
  9. Waltz

resources

  • Set Dancing Resource Page | An all in one resource page for set dancers. More resources added regularly.
  • Spotify Music Playlist – please save this playlist in your Spotify account. When ever possible I will add the music for each set on this playlist. A great resource for practicing or teaching the dances to your friends and family.
  • Youtube Set dance playlist – please save this playlist in your YouTube channel. I will work on adding each dance we learn to this playlist. Having them all in one place will make it easy for you to learn and remember the material we cover.
  • Irish Set Dance Notes – I love the way this site describes the instructions and how the instructions are laid out. If a set is on this site I usually use it first as my reference.
  • Dance Minder – my friend Michael Harrison runs this site. It is a great recourse for dancing notes and music references.