I thought this day would never come...

I officially know all thirty ceili dances. Leabhar 1, Leabhar 2 and Leabhar 3. Ar Rinci Foirne, inside out.

Well, probably not "inside out" but definitely cover to cover. For each dance I can draw the formation and list the movements in order along with bars. "Inside out" will come later. I don't know how I feel now. Sad that there are no more to learn? Definitely! Happy that I can start doing past papers in full? Yes, strangely.

So many times I've looked at a dance and tossed the blue book to the other side of the room because it just seemed impossible. I remember back in May or whenever it was, being utterly flummoxed by Advance and Return and Right and Left Half Turn (Antrim Reel). I remember seeing the diagram for Square (Fairy Reel) and thinking I might as well be looking at quadratic equations - same for Swing Into Line in the Eight-Hand Jig, although in my defence the typesetting has clearly gone wrong in my edition. I remember being terrified by the Sixteen-Hand Reel. Sixteen dancers? As in, double the usual amount? How on earth was I supposed to learn that? But all you really have to do is break it down into couples - in the body, each couple and the one either side of them. In the figures, their opposite. I feel a bit silly that so many dances I put off and put off actually turned out to be quite straightforward.

The home straight has been scarily easy. I guess the more ceilis you learn, the more familiar you are with the terminology and the more accustomed you are to the whole process. The last few have flowed into my brain almost effortlessly. But, I'm a regular visitor to the TCRG Voy. Most of the candidates passed ceili written with marks well into the 90s. I think I spotted one model student with 100%! As I said a few weeks ago, the booksmarts were always going to be the easiest for me.

I suppose now the real work begins. *





* I'm not going to type out St Patrick's Day or the Sixteen Hand Reel. You'll have to take my word, because I'm going to do the first of many practice exams.

It's results season...

This week, people just like me learned their fate. The results from the Washington and Boston exams were released, and while I was able to congratulate one or two friends, most of the people I've got to know needed a pep talk and a virtual shoulder to cry on. And it's their experience that has stayed with me for the past couple of days, rather than the jubilation of the people now embarking on their new life as a TCRG.

I even dreamt about receiving my results, and how unrealistic a dream it was! Full marks in the dancing yet 13% in the written ceili? Must be unheard of for anyone, let alone me. I woke up sad that I'd failed, yet relieved that for me it was just a bad dream. For some people it's reality. They're further along in the process than me, and have been of enormous help as I've struggled through my 29 ceilis and 2 trad sets (to date). They've given me a leg up, and somehow they're sitting disappointed and disheartened.

Don't quit. Please don't let it get the better of you. A few weeks ago I was disillusioned and grumpy; after a little time and a little study, I've weathered the storm and am full of enthusiasm, ideas and dreams. Once the initial shock has subsided, and you have your full results, I'm sure you'll feel the same. Ready to pick up where you left off. Maybe you'll be angry. As dancers, we're always told to use that negative energy for a positive purpose, and put it into our dancing. We can do the same as exam candidates - use our disappointment to fuel our final push for success.

I don't doubt I'd be just as heartbroken to fail. I don't imagine I'll pass first time. But I know that despite everything, I want this. I'm never going to be able to turn my back on Irish dance and airbrush it from my memory, so while I'm able, I'm going to keep trying. I really hope that everyone who suffered disappointment this week will keep trying too. And one day we'll be able to laugh about all of this, over a well-earned drink at a major championship, where one of our own has just recalled for the first time.

I think you'll all make damn good teachers.

Excitement!

Oh! I just experienced a small but exciting moment of realisation. I know all the eight-hand ceilis!*

The excitement I'm feeling right now is a culmination of the last couple of weeks' work, and is the result of how my emotions towards dancing have done a complete turnaround during the same time. I'm right back where I should be. I love dancing again.

I don't suppose it ever fully went away. It was just disillusionment - more to do with external factors like my illness than the dancing itself. I was kept from dancing, and absence doesn't always make the heart grow fonder. In this case it made me angry at myself for not trying harder to fit dancing in, for how easily I let it slip away - however briefly. I won't be afforded that luxury when I have my own school and that responsibility for my dancers.

My dancers. Yes, I'll open a school. I'll be happiest with a small school. I've picked my colours already - in my mind, we already have a class dress and a little beginner's uniform. I've thought about how I'll structure it, where I'll hold my lessons. I'm actually daring to think about post-exam now, which isn't something I've ever allowed myself to do before. I'm beginning to feel a little confident that I'll pass.

I'm really good at the ceilis, the book-smarts. I've completely overdosed on Parades of Champions over the past couple of weeks - Southern England's, the NAFC belt, Canada. I wish the other regions would hurry up and have their Oireachtas already, so that I could watch their parades over and over. I've tried a few things. I don't think my own light dancing (or my attempts at teaching open dancers) would be so atrocious anymore. And I know I can get help with heavies, which has always been my weak point choreography-wise. Having said that, I even have ideas for beginner jigs and hornpipes. Like never before, I feel like I belong.

I'm back. Full of love for this ancient, glorious, silly, energetic, ridiculous, beautiful form of dance. How is that? Why does it refuse to let me go? Why is this the only hobby I continue to obsess about, out of all the others I've tried? It's the same for everyone, you know. There are very few people who manage to escape after they're sucked into Irish dancing. It makes everything understandable. Why we spend hours dancing on bloodied toes. Why we pay thousands for a dress. Why we'll fly abroad for lessons. Why the only websites on our favourites list are somehow concerned with jigs and reels.

There's only one thing I want to add, and it's the parade from the Southern England qualifiers. And I just want to draw your attention to one of my favourite slip jigs of all time, which begins at 06.50.



If, one day, by some miracle, I ever have a dancer like her, everything will have been worth it.





* For the eagle-eyed among you...I know I haven't typed up St Patrick's Day but I've been working on it for a little while and it's nearly there.

Eight-Hand Jig

Love this one, despite the fact that I avoided it for ages because of Swing Into Line, which is actually fairly straightforward. I was also put off by Set All-Round, until I realised it's actually exactly the same as your average Back to Back, but with one big circle instead of two 4-hand circles. Easy way to remember it? It's demonstrated on Olive by Sean Eireann McMahon and everything in the body begins with an S. Makes it so much easier when I recognise dancers and cay say "Sinead goes to the left while Tara goes to the right" etc instead of lady number 2 and lady number 3.



Please note I'm doing this in very short short-hand. I know it's not book-perfect in type but I think it is in my head.

Lead Around

Body
Sides - as in Humours of Bandon - see yesterday's post :)
Skip Across - unlike the Eight-Hand Reel, you do actually 'skip' across in this one. And you also give different hands - in the reel it's right-left-left-right, this one is left-right-left-right. All the gents go at the same time, with tops passing in the centre a fraction before sides. Give left hand to opposite lady, then chain to lady on left of original position and give right hand to her. Gents swap over to opposite position as before, left hand to lady, then back to partner with right hand.
Swing Into Line - all take right hands with partner. Top couple turn outward from circle (if in competition they would now be facing the judges/audience) and all other couples turn into place behind them - first sides directly behind, then second sides, then second tops - all ladies behind top lady, all gents behind top gent. Top couple cast off and retake hands at the bottom of the set, promenading back to place with other couples following suit. All turn to face partner, each line taking hands, and perform the rising step once on each foot then turn back to original position.
Set All-Round - like Back to Back in the Eight-hand Reel except all takes hands in one large circle. Tops swing around couple on left to finish.

First Figure - Advance and Retire
As in Eight-Hand Reel - tops advance and retire twice then swing around each other. Repeated by sides.

Second Figure - Right and Left Chain and Right Hand to Opposite Lady
Tops chain as in the Four-Hand Reel - So if I was the top gent I would give right hand to 2nd top lady, left hand to partner, right hand to 2nd top lady, and left hand to partner. I've seen that as an exam question actually, "which chain ends with left hand to partner". Then the second part of the figure is from the Sixteen-Hand Reel - again if I was top gent I would give right hand to 2nd top lady, back to partner with left hand, then take right hands with 2nd top gent in the centre and turn, then give left hand to 2nd top lady and back to partner. Swing around to finish, and sides repeat the figure.

Finish
As in Eight-Hand Reel.

Two to go :)

Sides

Inspired by the "16-Hand Reel Question" on the TCRG Voy, I wanted to see how many different movements come under the name of "Sides". The answer's ten!

1) Eight-Hand Reel, Cross Reel
Technically this is Extended Sides but I'll include it anyway. Partners exchange places with sidestep and threes, then continue on the same direction. Gent takes right hands with the lady on his right and they turn in place before chaining back to meet own partner in original place (16).

2) Morris Reel
Partners take both hands - right in right, left in left. Tops dance sidestep and threes to the right and back, while sides dance to the left and back. Tops then dance sidestep and threes to the left and back, while sides dance to the right and back (16).

3) High Cauled Cap
Partners take inside hands. Tops dance sidestep and threes to the right, sides to the left. Continue in the same direction back to place (16).

4) Sixteen-Hand Reel
Partners exchange places with sidestep and threes, then back to place (8).

5) Humours of Bandon, Eight-Hand Jig and St Patrick's Day
Partners exchange places with sidestep and rising step, then back to place (8).

6) Siege of Ennis
Partners take inside hands and exchange places with the other couple in their set of four, with sidestep and rising step, then back to place (8).

7) Harvest-time Jig
Each trio moves to the right with sidestep and rising step, then back to place. On the repeat, they move to the left and back to place in the same way (8).

8) The Three Tunes
All hold hands in a ring and sidestep/threes to the left and back, then to the right and back (16).

9) St Patrick's Day
Another Extended Sides, done in the same way as the Eight-Hand Reel but with the rising step in the place of the two short threes.

10) The Duke Reel
Partners exchange places with sidestep and threes, then return to place. Gents then exchange places with lady on their left in the same way, and back to place (16).

Thank goodness for consistency, right?! I think my favourite method is the Morris Reel, just because of the crossed hands.

The Three Tunes

I first saw this dance on the Worlds 1994 video; I think it was about 2002 by the time I finally got my hands on a copy of said video. A girls' team from the Scanlon school were performing what I later learned was the "Roly Poly", and I couldn't believe my eyes. Up until that point my ceili experience stretched only as far as the Four-Hand Reel and the High Cauled Cap. What were they doing? But it's now one of my favourites, just for it's complete uniqueness and the seamless link between each of the three tunes and the dance that accompanies it. It all just fits, perfectly. Looking at this ceili, and at the traditional sets, I can't help but wonder if people had a better grasp of rhythm, musicality and syncopation "back in the day".

Here's my attempt at remembering - corrections done after in some contrasting colour or another.

a) Sides (Haste to the Wedding)This would probably be called "Rings" in any other dance. Sidestep and threes to the left and back, then to the right and back.

b) Rings (Haste to the Wedding)Ladies take hands in the centre and promenade clockwise for 4 (back to place). All clap twice to one bar, then half-sidestep past partner (count 123, ladies in front) then full sidestep back to place (gents in front). Gents now repeat this movement! (How on earth did I forget that?!)

c) Lead Round (Leslie's Hornpipe)As ever.

d) Stamp and Clap (Leslie's Hornpipe)Stamp stamp stamp, clap clap clap. Partners exchange places with sidestep and back to places, clap hands above knees 5 times (RLRLR), clap clap clap. Repeat! Why do I keep forgetting the repeats?!

e) See-Saw (The German Beau)
Partners take hands and swing a complete anticlockwise circle, turning clockwise, back to place. Then reverse direction and swing a complete anticlockwise circle, turning anticlockwise, back to place.

f) Roly-Poly (The German Beau)With hands in fists and arms raised across chest, roll the hands around each other 3 times forwards then 3 times back. Pivot around on right heel and clap once. Gents shake right fist towards opposite in threatening manner whilst also stamping forward with right foot; repeat with left fist/foot. Gents stamp feet three times and clap hands near face of partner three times. The ladies usually raise up onto demi-pointe and turn their head to the right during the claps. Sidestep and threes (consecutive sevens - no threes) to exchange places with partner, and then return to place. Repeat.

g) Hook and Chain (Haste to the Wedding)
Gents hook left arms with the lady on the left and turn in place, then chain back to partner with right hand and continue the chain in the same direction until they meet their partner back in place.

h) Rings (Haste to the Wedding)As before

i) Sides Under Arms (Leslie's Hornpipe)Top couples form an arch under which couple to their left pass. Turn about and side couple form the arch under which tops pass. Tops then form an arch under which couple to their right pass. Turn about and side couples for the arch under which tops pass.

j) Stamp and Clap (Leslie's Hornpipe)As before.

k) Thread the Needle (The German Beau)All take hands in a ring except gent of first tops and lady on his left (lady of first sides). Top couple form an arch and lady on left passes under and back to place with all other dancers following. Lady then makes an arch with partner and top gent leads the line under the arch and back to place.

l) Roly-Poly (The German Beau)As before.

I also flipped See-Saw and Hook and Chain, but I put them back in their original places because my descriptions were correct. With some of the dances, remembering the sequence of movements photographically has helped, so I'll have to try and use that so I don't get it wrong in future. Overall though, quite pleased with how I did there.



So, twenty-seven down and three to go. I'm quite sad that there isn't more to learn, really.In terms of doing the exam 30 is more than enough of course, but if there was another book of dances that weren't on the exam then I'd want to learn them all too. I've enjoyed learning them all, I really have. A right little voyage of discovery.

I've also made a bit of a leap forward and (gulp) put some money in a savings account last night. The exam fund has begun. It's starting to get real.

The Sweets of May

I wish it was May :(

Corrections in a different hue as before - I'm yet to decide which colour to use.

First Figure - Rings
All take hands in a ring, sidestep to the left and back then the right and back, finishing each time with two short threes (16).

Body
Cross Over and Back - top couples take inside hands and exchange places, gents left shoulder to left shoulder, turning into places without releasing hands. While top couples are exchanging places couples 3 and 4 dance two threes in place. Side couples exchange in like manner while tops dance two threes. Tops return to place as before, followed by sides (8).
Advance and Retire - tops advance to centre while sides mark time with two threes. Tops retire while sides advance. Sides retire while tops advance, then while tops retire sides mark time with two threes (8).
Ringing the Bells - all beat hands above knees four time (right on right first) then clap hands twice. Repeat. Sidestep past partner and I can't remember! - sidestep past partner and dance two threes in place. Repeat whole movement this time sidestepping back to place (16).

Second Figure - Lead Round

Third Figure - See-Saw
Partners take both hands and swing a complete anticlockwise circle back to place, turning clockwise. Reverse and swing a clockwise circle back to place, turning anticlockwise (16).

Fourth Figure - Sides Under Arms
Tops make an arch under which sides on right pass (2nd sides under 1st tops, 1st sides under 2nd tops). Tops then pass under arch made by sides. Tops turn towards sides on left who pass under their arch (1st sides under 1st tops, 2nd sides under 2nd tops). Tops then pass under arch made by sides (16).

Can't remember if there's a finish or not... Repeat rings.

Not bad! :)



Can I make an announcement please? Of course I can, this is my blog.

I have finished Book Three!!!!!!

Trip to the Cottage

I remember at my first Qualifiers, the most repeated phrase was "Team number x, dancing Trip to the Cottage". I nearly died of boredom while waiting for my results, but now that I'm actually learning it I'm a big fan. No movement names to learn is always a bonus!

Here's my attempt at typing it out from memory - I'm not aiming for perfect terminology at this point, just checking my understanding. My original work is in black - any corrections are in a tasteful shade of orange.

Cross Over and Lead ARound
All couples are holding inside hands. Tops exchange places, gents passing shoulder to shoulder and turn into places without releasing hands. Sides exchange places in the same way. Tops return to original places in same way and all dance two threes in place (8). All perform a half-lead round anticlockwise for 4 bars then tops exchange places returning to original places once more; all dance two threes in place (8). All the above is repeated with sides going first (16).

Body
Top gentleman takes inside hands with partner and lady on left. All advance to centre (diagonally across the set) and retire (4), and repeat (4). Each trio now forms a ring of three and sidesteps to the left finishing with two short threes (4), then takes the remaining gentleman into the ring between the two ladies and sidestep to the right finishing as before (4). Each ring breaks into couples who take both hands and swing around each other anticlockwise back to place (8). All the above is repeated with side gentlemen taking inside hands with partner and lady on left (24).

First Figure
Lady of 2nd tops advances towards 1st tops and takes gent's left hand in her right. 1st tops make an arch under which 2nd lady passes, gent turns under and they form an arch under which 1st lady passes, gent turns under. Top couple form a final arch under which 2nd lady and gent pass, then the 2nd gent is taken into a ring of 4 between the ladies (8). All sidestep to the right finishing with two short threes (4) then perform the following movement without releasing hands: Top couple form an arch under which 2nd tops pass. 2nd tops then turn outward under their own arch and tops pass under own arch then 2nd tops arch, falling back into a ring (4). All sidestep to the left and finish with two short threes (4) then couples take both hands and swing back to place (4). Repeated by lady of 1st tops, lady of 2nd sides and lady of 1st sides.

Second Figure
Tops advance towards each other twice, retiring each time (8). Ladies of top couples promenade between couple on left, dancing around gentleman then passing between couple on right and again dancing around the gentleman, back to place. Gents of top couples perform the same movement but dance first around lady on right then lady on left (8). Gents allow ladies to pass before them at all times. [WRONG - Couples take both hands and swing a complete circle anticlockwise back to place (8) - WRONG]. Repeated by sides.

Finish
Cross Over and Lead ARound.



I'm well pleased with that, not too many mistakes. And the best thing is that is now only have five ceilis left to learn! Four of them I'm really not worried about - Eight Hand Jig, The Three Tunes, St Patrick's Day and The Sweets of May. I've read through them and seen them danced at competitions a fair few times; I understand most parts and they should be simple enough. I am petrified of the Sixteen Hand Reel, just because there are so many people, but hopefully by the time I get round to it I will have calmed down (having already learned 29) and can devote as much time as necessary to it.

In other news, my poor little blue book has finally become detached from its cover. Sniff. It was so neat and lovely when I bought it way back in April - six months later and it's well-thumbed, scarred with accidentally creased corners, and stained with the odd bit of food or dead fly. Poor book. Need to get an industrial-sized stapler.

Next up then, the Sweets of May.

Pre-Trip Review

No, I'm not going on holiday. I want to start Trip to the Cottage (the only remaining dance that I've done before) but I thought I should make sure I can at least remember the bare bones of the previous three first.

The Duke Reel
Ring
Body - Sides, Link Arms, Interlace, Advance and Retire
First Figure - Figure of Eight
Body
Second Figure - Right and Left Chain
Body
Finish - Swing Around

Humours of Bandon
Lead Round
Body - Sides, Half Right and Left, Sides, Half Right and Left
First Figure - Advance Through Centre
Body
First Figure repeated by opposites
Body
Second Figure - Centre Meet
Body
Second Figure repeated by opposites
Body
Third Figure - Ladies' Chain
Body
Finish - Lead Around

The Cross Reel
Lead Round
Body - Extended Sides, Full Chain, Gentlemen Interlace, Back to Back, Exchange Places
First Figure - Figure of Eight and Ring
Body
Second Figure - Circle Round and Hands Across
Body
Finish

*check*

Three mistakes, I've corrected them ^ above but here they are:

In the Duke Reel, I called the second figure Ladies' Chain instead of Right and Left Chain. In the Cross Reel, I forgot Gentlemen Interlace in the body and called the first figure Advance and Retire instead of Figure of Eight and Ring. Pretty inexplicable that one.

I'm happy enough though so off to the cottage I go.