Beginners, Classes, Current Classes, Intermediate, Irish Sean-nós Dance

Wednesdays Sean-nós Dance | Beginners & Intermediates

maldonm

overview

Hello dancers,

For the next 8 Wednesday evenings

week 1

Week 1 — You Can Dance

1. Start Here: You Can Dance

The goal of this course is not to collect as many steps as possible.

The goal is to be able to dance.

Some of my favorite dancers have only a handful of steps. What makes their dancing compelling is not how many steps they know. It is how they use what they have, how they listen, and how they play with the music.

This week we begin with three pieces of vocabulary: 3 Shuffles, 2 Shuffles, and 4 Heels. 

Intermediates you will have grapevine step & triplets.

These are building blocks, not a routine you have to reproduce.

One movement is enough to begin. A handful of movements can make a lot of dancing.

And one step is enough to begin.

Intermedates

week 2

Week 2 — Practice Counts

Practice does not have to be long, formal, or happen on a dance floor. Thirty seconds counts. One small piece counts. Coming back to it counts.

This week, beginners learn Cross Step and revisit 3 Shuffles, 2 Shuffles, and 4 Heels. Intermediates learn a cross step with extra beats and build on Grapevine and triplets, exploring direction, both sides, and connections to familiar movements.

Our focus is on making the movements more comfortable and finding our way from one to another.

Learn a Little Chunk

I once found myself practicing a tiny piece of a dance step in the cheese aisle at the grocery store. It helped change the way I thought about practice.

You can practice while the kettle boils, while waiting for something, or during a little pause in your day. You don’t always need music or a whole step.

Read the cheese-aisle story.

This week we’ll use a word I say often: woodshed.

To woodshed something means to take out one small piece, slow it down, repeat it, listen to it, and then put it back into the larger movement.

Where Is Your Weight?

When something feels tangled, ask:

Where is my weight? Where does it need to be?

  • Step: If you step it alows you to change your weight from one foot to the other.
  • Tap: If you tap it alows you to make a sound while keeping your weight the same.

Notice which foot is available for the next movement. Sometimes changing a step to a tap—or a tap to a step—opens up a connection.

Make the weight change obvious at first. You can make it smaller as it becomes familiar.

The Transition Game

Choose two movements. Dance the first into the second, then reverse the order.

For beginners, try Cross Step and one movement from Week 1. Intermediates can try Grapevine and something already in their feet.

If the connection feels sticky, practice just the end of the first movement and the beginning of the second. Then put them back together and try with music.

These are experiments. You don’t have to memorize a particular sequence.

Home base and Keep Dancing

Choose one comfortable movement as your Home Base. This is the step that is easies for you and that you can come back between playing with these steps. My dance teacher Mick calles this is banner step.

Put on a jig. Begin with your home base step and bring in another movement when you’re ready.

If you get lost, return to home base. Listen. Choose again.

You don’t have to use everything you know every time you dance.

Your Practice Menu

Choose one thing that helps today:

  • Practice one small piece for 30 seconds.
  • Revisit Cross Step or Grapevine.
  • Connect two movements.
  • Check your weight at a sticky connection or change weight in a step.
  • Listen to your feet without music.
  • Put on a jig and dance.

This is a menu, not a checklist.

What felt more comfortable this week? Where could a tiny moment of practice fit into your day?

week 3

Week 3 — There Isn’t One Right Way to Learn

1. Start Here

Different people learn in different ways. You may need to see something, hear it, copy it, stop watching it, slow it down, repeat it, understand the weight, or feel the whole thing first.

You may even need a different approach for different movements.

This week we add 8 Shuffles and begin treating our practice tools as a Learning Menu.

A restaurant menu gives you choices. It is not a checklist.

You would not go into a restaurant, look at the menu, and think: “I have to eat all of this.” You couldn’t. You’d make yourself unwell!

Our Learning Menu works the same way. Choose one thing that sounds useful. Try it. If it helps, stay with it. If it doesn’t, choose something else.

Don’t eat the whole menu.

https://maldonmeehan.com/there-isnt-one-right-way-to-learn/

2. Learn: 8 Shuffles or Run on Step

Listen to the sound first, without music.

Then ask a new question: can the same or similar sound be made with a different movement?

Intermediates  – run on and madness

What do my feet DO? What do my feet SOUND like?

Experiment with step, tap, shuffle, or weight change. Then return to The Black Rogue.

3. Practice: Choose How You Learn

If you are stuck, you do not always need to try the same thing harder. Change your approach.

  • Watch.
  • Listen.
  • Copy.
  • Stop watching.
  • Slow down.
  • Check your weight.
  • Step or Tap.
  • Take One Foot Away.
  • Use the metronome.
  • Take the music away.
  • Ask a question.
  • Leave It Alone.
  • Just Dance.

You do not have to use my menu. You might say the rhythm, write something down, use your hands, sleep on it, or invent another way that works for you.

Instead of “I can’t do this,” ask: “What else could I try?”

Leave It Alone

Leaving something alone is not the same as giving up.

Giving up says: “I can’t do this.”

Leaving it alone says: “My feet don’t have this yet. I’ll come back.”

Intermediate / Explore Further — Week 3

Use exactly the same concepts with more vocabulary: Step-Heel-Step, hips, Run On with Pause, triplets, weight changes, direction, and anything already in your feet.

Progression: Hear it → make it → repeat it → change it → remember what you did.

Music note: Tatter Jack Walsh — 80 / 100.

week 4

Week 4 — Take Stock: You’re Already Dancing

Here’s a simple one-hour outline based on your manuscript. editsSean_Nos_Full_Course_Manuscript_Weeks_1-8

  1. Warm-up & dance what you know — 10 minutes
    Play The Black Rogue. Start with familiar movements: 3 Shuffles, 2 Shuffles, 4 Heels, Cross Step, 8 Shuffles.
    Prompt: “What’s already in your feet?”
  2. Check in & woodshed — 5 minutes
    What feels easier? What needs attention? Choose one small piece to practice.
  3. Tip Step with Click — 15 minutes
    Demonstrate, break it down, and repeat. Take the click out to practice separately, then put it back.
    Cue: “Where is your weight? Step changes weight; tap keeps it where it is.”
  4. Transition game — 10 minutes
    Home Base → Tip Step with Click → Home Base. Try connecting it to another familiar movement.
  5. Three-step dance / partner practice — 10 minutes
    Choose Home Base, something you enjoy, and something you’re working on. Repeat, change the order, and make choices. Use breakouts online or pairs in person.
  6. DANCE & reflect — 10 minutes
    Listen to Winnie Hayes, then dance using those three choices.
    Ask: “What do you want to focus on next?”
    Home practice: dance three times this week with one focus.

Intermediate additions: Explore making Tip Step with Click two-sided; deliberately choose whether to repeat or change sides. Try a drum in different jig rhythms.

Tonight’s reminder: “You’re already dancing. Three movements are enough.”

Week 4 Halfway Reflection / Practice

This is a midpoint observation, not a report card.

  • What was my original goal?
  • Where am I now?
  • What is easier?
  • What is still hard?
  • How do I learn best?
  • Which practice tools helped?
  • What do I want to focus on next?
  • Has my goal changed?

Minimum practice: dance three times this week and choose one focus.

practice

Music

Practic Music – Google Drive Folder – download music

Videos

All The steps

resources

Resources

Published by maldonm