Tag: set

O’Flaherty 2017 – Set Dancing Master Pat Murphy Comes To Texas!

Calling all y’all who love Irish set dancing…

Whatever it takes, you do not  want to miss the 2017 O’Flaherty Irish Music Retreat in Midlothian, Texas.

Why?

Drum…

…roll…

…please…

Pat Murphy, Irish set dancing master, is coming to Texas!!!

If you’re not excited yet, you will be.  A brief bio, taken from Joanie Madden’s cruise page:

Pat Murphy is an accordion player and renown Set Dancing Master from Upperchurch, County Tipperary. His first contact with set dancing happened in his own home where his father Jack played the accordion and often the Ballycommon and Castle sets were danced. Upon retirement from his job as a primary school teacher in the early 1980’s, he got actively involved in teaching and reviving sets. With his wonderful demeanor and way of teaching, his reputation soon spread and he was invited to teach set dancing all over the world. He has lead workshops in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Russia and practically every country in Europe! He is the author of four books on Set Dancing; “Toss the Feathers”, “The Flowing Tide”, “Apples in Winter” and “Tabhair Dom Do Lámh”.

Pat is an amazing teacher, and it’s a rare treat that he is actually coming to Texas.  Save the dates!  Save your pennies!  Lie to your boss if you have to, but make sure you’re in Midlothian next October!

Now…who wants to get together for extra dance practice before then?  The more we know, the more we can learn from Pat.  This is going to be awesome!

Keep an eye on the O’Flaherty web site (and here) for more information.  Registration will begin in May. Keep your calendar open for October 19-22!

Set dance classes at Trinity Hall Sep/Oct

Another round of Trinity Hall classes are coming up in September.

Here’s the plan.

Where: Trinity Hall

When: 7-9:30pm
Sep 3rd, 17th
Oct 1st, 15th
Nov 5th (delayed one week!)

What:
We’ll start off with basics/review at 7 for the common steps/movements used in the more popular set dances (advance and retire, sevens, basic battering to be used later, etc).  If you haven’t danced a set in a while (or ever) or if you would like a review (or just want any excuse to get up and move around) this is for you. The others might want to show up during this period just to settle in before we start the first set.

We’ll break for a short while about 7:45-ish and move on to working on the current round of sets.  If you’ve come for the beginner portion, stay for the rest!  There’s usually enough experienced people that we can (gently) drag you through the movements.

We went through The Merchant Set and The Connemara Reel during the last session so we’ll rip through those on the 3rd and follow those in later sessions with the Corofin Plain and Camp Set. Depending on how things go we may add more sets to the list and/or spend some extra time on footwork.

Except for the beginning and ending time, the schedule will be somewhat fluid depending on the experience of the attendees and how quickly we progress.

Who: While there’s no particular age or height limit, this is more of an adult or young-adult kind of class in that it works best with people of similar height and attentiveness.  If you aren’t sure, just ask!

Cost: Whatever you can afford or think the class is worth, we’ll have a tip jar at the entrance to the dance area.

Q. What should I bring?

A desire to get up and move about.  Shoes that are comfortable and allow you to slide easily (but not too slippery!) on a tile floor.

Friends and family!

Q. What should I do to prepare?

Feel free to take a look at the notes linked above though this isn’t required.

We’d also like to know who’s planning on coming so please respond with an “I’ll be there and I’m bringing X people!”

if you can commit to the entire set of classes that would be best.

Set dance classes at Trinity Hall for the summer

It’s official, we’ll be having a bi-weekly set class series through June and July (starting actually at the end of May).

Here’s the plan.

Where: Trinity Hall

When: 7-9:30pm-ish
May 28th
June 11th
June 25th
July 9th
July 23rd

What:
We’ll start off with basics/review at 7 for the common steps/movements used in the more popular set dances (advance and retire, sevens, basic battering to be used later, etc).  If you haven’t danced a set in a while (or ever) or if you would like a review (or just want any excuse to get up and move around) this is for you. The others might want to show up during this period just to settle in before we start the first set.

We’ll break for a short while about 7:45-ish and move on to working on the current round of sets.

We started with The Merchant Set and The Connemara Reel last time so we’ll continue with those on the 28th.  We’ll follow those in later sessions with the Corofin Plain and Camp Set. Depending on how things go we may add more sets to the list and/or spend some extra time on footwork.

Except for the beginning and ending time, the schedule will be somewhat fluid depending on the experience of the attendees and how quickly we progress.

Who: While there’s no particular age or height limit, this is more of an adult or young-adult kind of class in that it works best with people of similar height and attentiveness.  If you aren’t sure, just ask!

Cost: Whatever you can afford or think the class is worth, we’ll have a tip jar at the entrance to the dance area.

What should I bring? A desire to get up and move about.  Shoes that are comfortable and allow you to slide easily (but not too slippery!) on a tile floor.  Friends and family!

What should I do to prepare? If you like feel free to take a look at the notes linked above though this isn’t required.  We’d also like to know who’s planning on coming so please respond with an “I’ll be there and I’m bringing X people!” if you can commit to the entire set of classes that would be best.

Set dance class at Trinity Hall May 7

I know this is short notice but we’re going to have a trial class at Trinity Hall on the evening of May 7.  If the experiment works, we’ll have regular (weekly I hope) classes there.

Here’s the plan.

Place: Trinity Hall
When: 7-10pm
What:
We’ll start off with basics/review at 7 for the common steps/movements used in the more popular set dances (advance and retire, sevens, basic battering to be used later, etc).  If you haven’t danced a set in a while (or ever) or if you would like a review (or just want any excuse to get up and move around) this is for you. The others might want to show up during this period just to settle in before we start the first set.
We’ll break for a short while about 7:45-sh and move on to:
The Merchant Set.  It’s a new set that’s spreading quickly around the world and is a bit different from all the others.
We’ll break again for a short bit about 8:45 or so and then start on:
The Connemara Reel.  It’s a popular set that’s danced at every major ceili.
Except for the beginning and ending time, the schedule will be somewhat fluid depending on the experience of the attendees and how quickly we progress.
Who: While there’s no particular age or height limit, this is more of an adult or young-adult kind of class in that it works best with people of similar height and attentiveness.  If you aren’t sure, just ask!
Cost: Whatever you can afford or think the class is worth.

What should I bring? A desire to get up and move about.  Shoes that are comfortable and allow you to slide easily (but not too slippery!) on a tile floor.  Friends and family!
What should I do to prepare? If you like feel free to take a look at the notes linked above though this isn’t required.  We’d also like to know who’s planning on coming so please respond with an “I’ll be there and I’m bringing X people!”  If we don’t have at least a full set of 8 we’ll may have to cancel the class.

Weekend musing’s. Sometimes out loud

Susan: (while walking Chip) isn’t he cute?

Me: You’re cute, he’s adorable,

Susan: Gee thanks.

…

Susan: Is it still a white trash lawn ornament if the homeowners aren’t white?

…

Sign seen on Facebook “If you think you’re too small to have an impact try going to bed with a mosquito in the room.”
Me: Mosquitos have a built in weapon. So that sign is basically telling me to go through life with a sharp pointy weapon and get all stabby when I want to make change happen.

I guess I can do that.

…

Susan: be careful walking near the Cyprus, it’ll get in your fur.

Me: I’m not Chip.

Susan: Be careful anyway.

…

Seen at the library: “Brown bag book club”
Do they bring their own lunch or is it a club for books that can only be carried in a brown bag?
If the latter do they have the club meeting out in the open or do they use a back room? Do they leave the lights down low and wear masks so nobody knows who they are?

…

Peenyo nowarr

…

Susan: We have to water right after applying the pre-emergent and we can’t water until $%#^ Thursday.

Me: maybe we can just set the yard on fire come spring and re-seed.

Ahh, a September Ceili

It’s finally cooling off, the clouds saw fit to mizzle on us most of the day and the temperature was finally in the range where it was pleasant to go for a walk in the middle of the day.

Naturally we all piled into the pub Trinity Hall to jump around and get hot to good music played by the Trinity Hall Session Players

The dances done were:

Haymakers jig,
Siege of Ennis
Kilfenora Set
High Cauled Cap
Ballyvourney jig
Rakes of Mallow

Hopefully next month I’ll be able to spend more time dancing and calling than this time.  Thanks to everyone how came out to dance and to Trinity Hall and the session players for the venue and wonderful music!

Click on the picture for the full gallery.