Irish Sean-nós Dance – Sean-nós & Set Dance with Maldon

This is the Connemara step. This version is the step version vs the hop version. Both versions are at the heart of Connemara sean-nós dancing and Connemara set dancing. It is a key component of the Connemara Set, island sets like Inis Oirr and Inis Meáin, and the Claddagh Set, which Seamus O Meoloid revived in Ráth Chairn, Meath.

Ráth Chairn, a village with a rich history, was founded in 1935 by 27 families from Connemara, with 11 more joining in 1937. These families brought with them vibrant traditions, including the Claudagh set. Known for its sean-nós dance heritage, Ráth Chairn was designated a Gaeltacht in 1967.

I had the privilege of attending a set dance workshop led by Seamus at the University of Limerick. Seamus was generous and an excellent teacher. If you get the chance to watch him dance, take a lesson, or chat with him, don’t miss it. His dancing style is delightful; he often starts with a smooth lead-in before transitioning to percussive dancing, almost as if testing the tune. He has a playful style reminiscent of the dancers from the late 1990s—a joyful, fun, and sometimes comic approach that I don’t see as often today. It’s the kind of dancing that makes you smile.

Below is a video that breaks down the step without music. We also offer practice videos with music to get you started on the Connemara step. Enjoy dancing!

intro

week 1

Beginner

123’s
side step

Intermediate

Double time
- shuff-le backs
- hips

Advanced

Double time
- shuff-le backs wiht single time
- hips with single time

week 2

Beginner

Chose any or all steps from last term and dance it to a polka.
Explore Roisin’s jig steps.
Abolute begginners class or vocabulary steps and try them to polkas. Search this on the site.
Beginner Jig course

Intermediate

Chose any or all steps from last term and dance it to a polka.
Chose any reel, jig or slide step and dancing it to a polka. Jigs and slides replace the 1234 sound with a reel rhythm or a 123 sound ilke the 123 step from week 1.

Advanced

Explore polka courses and lessons

Discover the dance trick that will blow your mind

week 3

week 4

Dancing the Tune!

Biddy Martin’s

Playlist for kid’s class with polka songs and steps

week 5

Improvisation!

There is no right or wrong here today. Improvisation is about play and playing with your steps and the music. Mistakes are not mistakes, keep going and exploring.

Full variation & creation list document – This is a google document. You can view it and if you want a copy or want to edit it save it to your google drive and you will be able to do anything you like to the document.
Variations & creation list
28 | Tea Time Talk | Improvisation

week 6

Step Creation!

Beginner

123’s – insert a movement

Intermediate

Advance & Retire step – insert a movement

Advanced

Double time reel step (shit step) – insert a movement

Insert a movement – insert a movement or a pattern into the original step. You might have to remove an equal amount of bars to make the step square or you can choose to leave them in and have a step that goes across the bars of music or something that you square off eventually.

Insert: the Swung side step
- Insert: one of the reel steps from Spring term.
Direction: Create something that works for moving in a leadaround pattern.
- Play with another direction.
Rearrange the Step: Move the parts of the step around to create a new pattern.
Rearrange the rhythm – rearrange the step to create a different rhythm.

Full variation & creation list document

week 7

Putting it all together!

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

Set Dance steps – Mapped, Half Mapped and Unmapped

You can also apply all of what we have learned over the last 6 weeks to your set dancing. Here’s the Cashel set if you would like to apply this to your set dancing.

Cashel Set – You could map what advance & retire step you might use for the Cashel set. There are other polka sets as well that you could do this with.

Mapped out

Here are a few mapped out options for you to explore.

Roisin Steps to Polkas – Mapped out

Stamp & Stamp
Heel & Stab
Cross Step
Circle Step
Zig Zag
Side Step (3)
Single Side step
Heel Toe Heel

Polka steps – Mapped out

123’s (with or without heel or tap extra beats)
1 & 2 & 123 (with or without heel or tap extra beats)
Side step (with or without heel or tap extra beats)
Mick’s Advance & Retire Step
Kick Up step
Any trick in polka time with 123’s as the timming step

Half Mapped

Alternate between happed and unmapped. Chose one step to keep going back to or map out a routine and leave everyother 8 bars open.

Unmapped

Unmapped. You can take everything you have learned and dance unmapped. Your steps can be unmapped but if you want some guide rails try picking a few improvisational tricks and dance with them in mind. In class we only danced one at a time as an exercise. The skys the limit. Pick as few or as many as you want to play with. Full variation & creation list document

week 8

Putting it all together!

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

Continue to work on your routines mapped or unmapped.

tunes

Music page – Membership music page. Here you will find many of the tunes on this site in one place. Each tune has a page with resources and downloads. Some tunes have a breakdown of the tune in a spreadsheet that you can use for writing and mapping out steps. If there is a tune that is not done yet and you would like to use it please let me know and I will create a breakdown for you. Over time my hope is to have a breakdown for each tune on the site to make it easy for you to create routines and choreography.