Category: Past Classes

Entire Playlist

Week 1

• Best Moments List – create a best moments list. This can be any best moments. You can start with childhood, last year, this week. I currently use this list on a regular basis as my gratitude list. In the past I have tried to do a gratitude journal but I never stuck with it and once I started the best moments list I began collecting best moments each day. This list can show you what is important to you and what you are motivated by. Jon Acuff has this as an exercise in his book All it Takes is a Goal. The next step is to look over your list and decide if something is an Experience, Achievement, Relationship or Object. Some might be more than one and that is ok. There is no wrong here. Then take a look at what you have the most of. Working on my goals over the years I have usually tried to give myself a reward for achieving that goal. And usually it was an object. Like losing 15 lbs and giving myself a reward of a new outfit. But I found that I wasn’t motivated by the new outfit or the object and when I look at my own list there is only 1% objects and the majority of my things are Experiences and Relationships. These are the things that motivate me so now I plan an experience with someone as my reward and it helps motivate me. This list also shows me what I want more of in my life and what I might want as goals in my future.
• Looking Forward to List – our next list is the looking forward to list. You can start this my looking at your calendar. What are you looking forward to in the next few days, weeks or months? What are you looking forward to further down the road that might not be on your calendar. As you build this list you might find yourself adding things into your calendar or making dates with friends, planning a trip. From your best moments list is there anything you want add to your looking forward to list. Jon talks about this list helping keep you motivated and positive. When you have things to look forward to it’s harder to be discouraged. While creating this list and the best moments list I found myself reaching out to friends, family and community members to set up tea dates or walks or meeting someone to listen to music. It inspired me to bring more relationships and experiences into my life and I started booking more things in my calendar that give me joy.
• Goal List – Next start creating your massive goal list. You probably all ready have some ideas for this list. Dream big. Put it all on there. Try not to limit yourself. Once you have your list go though it and give yourself permission to eliminate any goal that’s not yours. You might have things on there that you think someone who is shape might do, but it’s not something that you really want to do. One of the ones I had on my list was run a half marathon. I don’t even run right now and the idea doesn’t excite me. It’s someone else’s goal not mine. So I scratched though that one.

This first week we will make a best moments list, a looking forward to list and a massive goals list. These are lists that the writer and speaker Jon Acuff uses in his books. They have really helped me get into the right mindset for inspiration and motivation. Here are my lists if you want to see them. I currently keep a journal in my bedroom and will sit down here and there and add to my best moments list. I am finding that I add something most days and it brings me gratitude, hope, inspiration and joy. If fact my best moments list is on my looking forward to list!

• Maldon’s Best Moments List
  • Here are some questions that might help you with your best moments list
• Maldon’s Looking Forward to List
• Maldon’s Massive Goal List

Week

Homework – test one of your goals for a week.

Goals

• Carrer
• Fiance
• Health
• Relationships
• Fun

Notice what helps you with this goal and as we continue over the weeks. What helps me most is having a time and place in my calendar for that goal, accountability with others, being kind to myself and having a range of what it means to work towards this goal.

Week

• From week 1 we have our
  • Best Moment’s List
  • Looking Forward to list
  • Goal List
• Week 2
  • Habit Stacking
  • Model – your thoughts generate your feelings,
    • Circumstance –
    • Thought –
    • Feeling –
    • Action –
    • Result –
  • Tested goal

Sound track’s “Our dreams are all unique but our doubts are all the same.” Jon Acuff

This week pick a goal for the month. Dump the things you need to do for that goal.

• Easy Medium Hard
• Make an impact

Week

Calendaring

• 3 days is firm
• 3 weeks is fuzzy
• 3 months is fiction

What can you do in the next 3 days that will make the next 3 weeks better?

What can you do in the next 3 days that will make the next 3 months better?

Week

Week

Week

Week

Books

• All it Takes is A Goal by Jon Acuff
• Atomic Habits by James Clear

Playlists

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Practice videos – I have all the steps that we will cover over the 8 weeks in the video playlist on the intro page. Feel free to dig around in there. They should be in the order that I will be teaching them. On this week 1 tab you will find notes for what we covered on our first day. Also the practice videos that I made in class and below that you will find our practice videos for the 3 shuffles, 2 shuffles, 4 heels step.

We covered:

• Jigs – 6/8 timing, humpty dumpty is a jig
• tap step
• heel step
• toe behind step
• stamp step
• Shuffle
• 3 shuffles (with tap, heel, or toe behind endings)
• 4 heels (1234 sound)
• 2 shuffles and 4 heels
• Step: 3 shuffles, 2 shuffles, 4 heels

Practicing: You don’t have to practice but using the practice video of steps once or twice here and there will help. This will take 4-6 minutes. A good place to start a practice routine is to habit stack your practice sessin with a habit you already do. Like dancing while you are waiting in line for something, waiting for the coffee to brew in the morning, before you sit down for lunch, before after brushing your teeth. Find something that you do regularly and link it with your new dancing habit.

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• https://siamsa.ie/ – This is the streaming radio station of all Irish music that our fabulous accordion player Jim Loewenherz mentioned.
• www.youtube.com/@maldonmeehan1682 My youtube channel. I have loads of playlists of music and dance tracks and videos. Feel free to save any playlist to your own youtube account. In particular for this class I have a jig music playlist which you can slow down tracks and use for practicing.
  • Music Playlist: https://youtu.be/CMKeLWn7Buw?si=F5n_ONTcQNoTdCM8
  • Dance Playlist https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHFWC42DkugpZyFrzhjGZNKMK292GuRLW&si=3c6LVoPOiyuRdF8_

Playlist

Frame / Lead

Hands & turning

Hands & Turn

This is a playlist for ballroom lead and follow, but many of the things and tips will transfer over to set dancing. Set dancing frame looks more relaxed and the arms and elbows are not as high, but the tension and pressure is the same in the connecting points is the same.

Polkas / Slides / Hornpipes

Week one we will look at dancing to polkas, jigs and slides. In particular sets from Slaibh Luchra (Cork, Kerry and Limerick). I was lucky enough to be able to dance to the music of Johnny O’Leary, Timmy O’Connor and John Walsh. All great Sliabh Luchra musicians. Timmy recently passed this last month. I had the opportunity to spend my free time at Willie Week with Timmy and John. I had many lovely chats with both of them that week as well as danced to their music and danced with them. Beautiful music and people.

We will work on the down step used for polkas, slides and jigs as oposed to the up step used for last terms reels.

Solo

• Down 2 3’s
• 1 2 & 123
• & 1 & 2 & 1 2 3

Partner

• Swing
• House
• Body

Group

The Set of the Week: Sliabh Luchra Set

Timmy O’Connor

Timmy & John

Sliabh Luchra Dancing, music and history

Polkas / Slides / Hornpipes

Review – Sliabh Luchra Set

Week

Clare Dancing & The Caledonian

Steps

Willie Keane

Mick’s Advance & Retire Step

Week

Ormond Set – page with video and instructions.

Steps

Smooth Clare reel steps or other Clare battering steps. You can find those steps under the Clare dancing tab.

• Old Mill Lancers – page
• Instructions – google drive
• Instructions

Polka/Slide/Jig

review of polka and slide steps. These steps can also be used for dancing to jigs.

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TIps and Tricks of memorization and set dance deep dive.

• Set Dance Glossery (a work in progress)
• Set Dance Families and moves
• First Set of Quadrilles – Plain sets
  • Figure 1 – some form of Pass though, Cross over – Cashel 1, Clare Plain 1, Corofin Plain 1, Fermanagh Quadrilles 1,
  • Figgure 2 – Some form of crossing over to oposite – Cashel 2, Clare Plain 2, Corofin 2, Fermanagh Quadrilles 2
  • Looking at each figure next to eachother you can see the simliaries between these dances. There’s a full is of these dances Set Dance Families and moves.
• Dance list from the Ceili in Milltown
  • Corofin Plain Set  (1:35)
  • Sliabh Luachra  (27:30)
  • Clare Lancers  (49:20)
  • Moycullen (1:11:50)
  • Plain Set (1:32:50)
  • Ballyvourney Jig  (1:58:10)
  • Caledonian (2:08:40)
  • Connemara (2:30:35)

Susan asked a great question about the third set of quadriles that includes the Caledonian. It Pat’s book he just talks about this one dance. Future deep dives I’d like to look at some of the dances that would fall into this pattern. North Kerry and Sliabh Luachra have similarities as do all to the Jenny Lind sets, like Auban and The Jenny Lind. My goal is to put these dances into these catagories which I believe will help us see patterns and lead to memorizing and understanding more dances.