Ceili Dancing

(random web photo)

There are very few perks to working retail in a bad economy, yet they do exist. One of them is that you occasionally get a full Saturday off, so this weekend I went Ceili and swing dancing, which included a Lindy Hop workshop. Yay for last minute plans and 8 hours of dancing!

(random web photo)

The ceili dancing was great, as always. We did a set I was already familiar with, and then some new ones.  Here's a quick video with parts of dances shown, to demonstrate the way some ceili dances flow. I want to do a snow ceili next winter!





This one is a better view of a complete figure. A set is made up of three of these figures, each danced immediately after the other if you know them well. Each set is different, but with a few similarities to connect them like verses of a song. I don't know about all dances, but many have reels for one figure, jigs for the next, and then slides. There is some specific footwork used at different times, but I haven't learned any yet. I just stick with the basic skips I remember from Irish dancing years ago.



When danced by only by men, like this one is, they call it a buck set :)







Post about the swing dance coming up!