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.