Barrow Walk

No post about set dance this week because both session were a recap of the three dances that we've already covered: the Ballyvourney, Slieve Luchra and Merchant. I expect we will have a new dance to learn in the upcoming week.


This is the midpoint of my visit to Ireland and I just can't believe how the time has flown by.  Last weekend I arranged a walk on the River Barrow with a group of friends that I've walked with many times during my stays here, although my dearest friend, Mary, was unable to make it. 

We set up base at The Clink Hotel in Carlow, https://www.theclinkboutiquehotel.com/ which couldn't have been better.  If you are ever anywhere near County Carlow in Carlowtown, this is the place to stay. The sleeping rooms and the meals were all perfect for the two long walks we did.  The Barrow Way is just a stone's throw from the hotel.  We arrived on Saturday morning and started our walk to Milford, where we were treated to a catered lunch provided by The Clink.  White table cloth, napkins, upholstered chairs and two staff served an amazing lunch for our group of 10.  We returned on the same path in reverse, for a total of 12 miles.

On Sunday we were provided a bag lunch and walked 19 kilometers to Athy, where the drivers in our group dropped their cars earlier that morning.  The whole thing was amazing, fun and very taxing.  I was so happy to have done the arranging and to have everything come off so well.

Merchant Set

This week we learned the Merchant Set a relatively new dance developed in Dublin, a city not otherwise known for sets.  It's a modern set, created in 2011, a testament to the resurgence of set dance in Ireland.  It was named for a pub in the City Center by Pádraig & Róisín McEneany (Patrick and Roseann) who taught at that pub for many years.  Ironically, as my set dance teacher informed us this week, shortly after it was completed, the pub discontinued set dance as a regular feature on Mondays. Here is a link to the written instructions for the dance: https://danceminder.com/dance/show/mercha  .  If you look at the instructions you can see some of the commonalities in all set dance:  'advance/retire' 'house' and 'swing' are found in almost every set.  This is what makes set dance fairly easy to learn.  While it's always fast, the steps endure.

Since this is a Dublin set, I've been musing on why this city so appeals to me. My first trip to Dublin was in 1967 and still remember the feeling of romance and history I felt then. Walking across the Liffey River over the O'Connell bridge when I was 19 is so vivid to me even 50 years later. To top it off, I met an Irish boy who was attracted to my youth and American accent and we spent the day walking around Dublin with him showing me the sights.  It turned out he was a train conductor and was able to tell me how to get to my father's home town (Moate, Co. Westmeath) on the train and the hotel to stay in while I was there. Years later, I'm sorry I didn't note his name, he's probably still living in Dublin and we could have kept in touch.

As I said in my first post of this visit, one of the great things about Ireland is the friendliness and curiosity of the people and, even with the smallest effort, one can make fast friends as I have.  Upcoming tomorrow is a little trip south to Carlow with a group of 10 of them.  We will stay overnight in a hotel and walk in two directions on the River Barrow. http://riverbarrow.net/barrow-way.html

We will walk south to Milford on Saturday and north to Athy on Sunday.  I've arranged the hotel and the meals and I'm hoping all goes OK with it.  My friends are all very excited to do the trip, we hope there will be no rain.  The hotel actually is arranging the lunch and they will bring a table, linens, real silverware and chairs to the mill at the halfway point on both days. If you have seen the movie just out now, Victoria and Abdul, I'm thinking it will be akin to the scene in which Victoria decided to have lunch on the top of a mountain in Scotland, maybe a little less grand, but certainly more than I've ever experienced on any other walk here or elsewhere.  This is the kind of treatment we needed on the halfway point on the Bright Angel trail in The Grand Canyon!

Slive Luchra Set

Last week we learned the Slive Luchra Set which starts about 1:40 in on the video at this link:
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-mozilla-002&hsimp=yhs-002&hspart=mozilla&p=sLIVE+LUCHRA+set+dance#id=5&vid=2fdeb025ee8293cf6cdf0f3d7f8fe9dd&action=view

It looks complicated, but my friend Dorothy did this whole dance when she visited in 2013, and with the right music, anyone who gives it a try can do it.  As a reminder, sets are made up of 'figures' and there are usually 4-5 figures inn each set with a little break between each figure.  Once you get the basic steps, all the figures use pretty much the same ones. This dance lasts a while because you see the people forming, the break between each figure and, for the most part, the four couples in the group dance either in pairs or alone. 

Slive Luchra is a region in the provence of Munster spanning the Blackwater River flowing through Counties Cork, Kerry and Limerick.  It's an inhospitable area of upland bogs but, during the height of the English repression in Ireland became a refuge for native Irish and a place where their culture of dance and music flourished.  In reading the history of the area, I was struck with the similarities between this area and Accompong in Jamaica, an area that the British were unable to control that became home to the Maroons, the only free people in Jamaica during British rule and now a separate state within the country.  If you go there, the headman is proud to stamp your passport because you are no longer in the jurisdiction of the Jamaican government in Kingston. 

I am not a lawless person, but the idea of people being able the throw off the yoke of an unfair government is resonant to me.  I'm particularly inspired by people's efforts to ensure that their freedom and cultural heritage in the face of systematic oppression.

Ballyvourney Jig

All set dances are named for the region or town in Ireland where they developed.  The Ballyvourney Jig set is one of the most beloved dances and is the one that ends the evening in the classes taught by Pat O'Reilly, my teacher in Dublin. This is the set that Pat teaches at the beginning of each season and during our first class last Tuesday (September 12) he covered all five figures of the set. If you want to see the dance in its entirety, go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Fa0h_ieKeU

Ballyvourney is a small town in County Cork. In Irish, the name means "Town of the Beloved" and it is the home of the medieval monastic site dedicated to St. Gobnait, the patron saint of bee keepers.

You can see the bees in the stained glass image surrounding St. Gobnait's head and neck. 

One of the things that first attracted me to take up set dance is the sense of place that each dance represents and the layers of engagement it provides. The physical challenge of the dance is apparent and needs no explanation but that just scratches the surface of its allure for me.  I, like most people that explore their ethnic dances, get great spiritual and emotional satisfaction in coming closer to my own history. This is something we all share, no matter what the dance heritage. People worldwide can identify with it.

When I first started dancing, early in 2012, I was embarrassed about my lack of cultural awareness. And I was intimidated by the speed and seeming complexity of the patterns and footwork involved in successfully performing the dance. I persevered because, even early on, there were moments when I knew I had it and was able to internalize the rhythm and form.  This kept me going. 

At my first class last week I had the added delight of seeing old friends.  Many of the dancers were people I knew when I was here earlier and it was a pleasure to see them again.  Although Pat doesn't like picture taking in his class, I was able to snap the photo below at the end of the evening. From left, Una and Noel started in our class in 2013 in preparation for the dance they would do at their wedding.  He is from Kerry and wanted to help Una learn their regional dance as a surprise for his friends and family. Now they are regulars and both dance beautifully. Geraldine was my partner that first night and also a member of our walking group.  It was a pleasant surprise for both of us to meet up there.  I can't wait for tomorrow night!

Set dance is not River Dance!

When most Americans hear about my plan to come to Ireland to take Set Dance instruction, they think either of "River Dance" or their childhood experience taking "Irish dance" instruction. That is "Step Dance," characterized by young girls and, less frequently, boys dancing alone on a stage in elaborate costume, hair and, in the soft shoe, high on the toe or in hard shoe tap.  My father called this "jumpin and leapin." Set dance is much more informal.

Set dance is likely a precursor of square dance, although there is no caller and the footwork is more complex. It, like square dance, is influenced by French quadrilles arriving in Ireland in the 17th century.  Like most cultural evolution, the Irish added their own flourishes and regional influences. Early on, dances were taught by an itinerant "dance master" who usually stayed in a town for several weeks, teaching new dances and learning the local steps.  Dances are usually named for a particular town or region, but all involve a combination of swings, advance/retire and dance around movements.  This short video (2 min) shows a "figure" of a dance from the Connemara region.  Dances are made up of 4-7 figures and this is the first one of the Connemara dance, it will give you an idea of how much more informal set is as compared to step:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmkaWZ9ieGU

During the late 19th and early 20th century, this type of dance fell out of favor with the Catholic church in Ireland, which called it "lewd, licentious, immoral and unbecoming to it's flock." Dance was condemned. This attitude contributed to the decline of dancing at crossroads or in country homes throughout Ireland. This gradually changed, along with the Church's decline in influence and set dance has experienced a real resurgence since the 1980's.

My set dance classes start next week.  I am taking from the great teacher, Pat O'Reilly who teaches at The Glenside Pub in Dublin (picture).  I am so looking forward to beginning. See Pat's website at: www.ceili.ie.  

 

Meeting Mary

One of the best things about Ireland for me was my great luck in meeting good people who have become fast friends, in addition to the family friends already made.  I met Mary during my first week in Dublin in 2012 and it seems I've known her all my life.  We have a lot in common: married the same Summer, fathers born and raised in Westmeath, a midlands county, mothers died in 2007, and a love for walking, We met on the walking tour that is offered weekly by the Dublin City Council starting in Sandymount and ending in Black Rock, all along the sea. Here's a picture of Mary taken just Thursday when we met for the first time since returning here last Wednesday. It's taken in Marlay Park, a beautiful park that was originally the home of the Taylor family of French Huguenots built in 1764.  See the link here:  http://curiousireland.ie/marlay-house-marlay-park-co-dublin-1764/

We've had lots of experiences together, in addition to walking sections of the Camino de Santiago ending in Compostela, Spain twice, we've done many Dublin-based walks along the sea to both Bray and Howth, along the Dodder River and, further out, on the River Barrow to the southwest.  The first time walking the Barrow was in 2015 when we did Sections 5 and 6.  We're planning another walk on October 7 and 8 on Sections 3 and 4: http://riverbarrow.net/barrow-way.html.  This adventure, like the one in 2015 will include a dozen other old and new friends and an overnight stay in Carlow.  Mary and I will take a road trip next Friday, Sept 8, to scope out accommodation for the group.  I have aspirations of organizing walking trips and this is a good exercise in how to do it.

It hasn't been a week yet, but I'm all settled in and eagerly awaiting the start of the set dance season next Tuesday (Sept 12). 

I'll be leaving for Dublin in less than a week!

I will return to blogging weekly from Dublin. My plan now is to organize my posts on set dance as that's the reason I'm going to be in Ireland for three whole months. I'll take a class twice a week Tuesday evenings and Thursday mornings with the great set dance teacher Pat O'Reilly

www.ceili.ie. 

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