Tag: Canadian Barn Dance

barn dance, Carharrack, ceilidh, classes, community

Ceilidh classes – let’s dance our way into summer

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Isn’t it lovely that we are seeing the sun, after what must be six months of rain! I’m so happy I could dance…

Perfect timing really – ceilidh classes start again on Tuesday 23rd April and we’ve got the venue booked fortnightly right through until mid December, with a teeny break in August.

Despite being rather quiet on the website front (dratted illness, but much better now, and joyful busyness with ceilidhs and day-job work), we’ve been having fun with ceilidh classes over the winter-spring term, and have welcomed a lot of new dancers into our community. It has been lovely to see familiar and new faces enjoying themselves on a Tuesday evening.

Here’s an Orcadian Strip the Willow at a recent public ceilidh that I called in Carleen, West Cornwall. The band are The Rosevilles.

If you fancy joining us, or tried it out during the winter but were put off because of the chilly weather, then please do feel very welcome to come back and join us. All our classes can be stand-alone, so there’s no problem if you’ve missed any or not been before. We still meet at Carharrack Social Club and classes are 19:30 – 21:00 fortnightly on Tuesdays.

So, what have classes been like during the dark and rainy winter (and spring too)?

Would you enjoy them?

Firstly, they’ve been good for getting the blood circulating and warming up chilly fingers and toes, and everything in between! We’ve had classes in storms and I was so grateful and delighted that people ventured out through the rain and wind to have a dance – thank you!

As with the first term in the autumn, our first couple of classes were very full in January, with people keen to try out this ceilidh thing, over 40 people each time. Then, as things settled down a bit we’ve had around 24 people at most classes since then (not always the same people, but there are some regulars and often a few people who are just trying it out).

We’ve learned a few ceilidh classics and some less well know dances, as well as few from beyond our shores.

Here are some dances from our classes before Easter. I’d love to know which ones people liked best.

Goathland Square Eight

A square dance, where each couple forms the side of the square, often mixed up with Holmfirth Square or other similar square dances, but quite easily interchangeable and that’s not necessarily bad. This version in the video above is fun – crossing the set with arches like this and grand chains around the circle are fun (alternating right and left hands with other dancers as you move around the set – you go one way, your partner goes the other way, you meet half way and then again where you started out – potentially very civilised, like shaking hands with everyone in the group in turn (haha, maybe not, this is ceilidh, potential for chaos). There are several dances with ‘Square Eight’ in the name, prefixed by different locations, e.g. Cumberland Square Eight, Yorkshire Square Eight. They are usually fun, and square eight just tells you how many people are needed and what shape to start out in. We sometimes like to play around with numbers and shapes though, so everyone can join in.

Country Bumpkin

A relatively modern dance with an interesting variation of a grand chain, the horseshoe grand chain (‘trousers’ – up one leg and down the other!) rather than a circle, written by Mike Barraclough in 1982.

Old Swan Gallop

Any dance where you can gallop and infiltrate other sets is a hit! Here you start in a Sicilian Circle formation – one couple facing another couple in a minor set of 4 dancers within the wider big circle shape. This dance has evolved, as described by Lisa Heywood, but in this form was written by Dave Hunt, adapted from a dance by Roger Watson.

Circle Waltz

Beautiful, graceful and reminiscent of the elegant dances in historical dramas, I love the Circle Waltz. Also, an excellent dance to have a change of tempo and a wee bit of breather between all the jigs and reels.

Riverside Jig

Here’s one where you’ll need a breather afterwards! The Riverside Jig is a popular and easy ceilidh dance, and also fast and furious as the top two couples at the end of each time through the dance rush over the heads of all the other dancers right to the bottom of the hall. The dance is named after the famous Riverside Club in Glasgow which used to hold regular ceilidhs.

Canadian Barndance – to Salsa Celtica

My favourite! Here’s us dancing this spring at our regular Tuesday class in Carharrack. It’s fun to play around with musical genres!

Look good?

Feel most welcome to join us on a Tuesday evening at Carharrack Social Club – more details about classes can be found here.

Carharrack, classes, community, dance instructions, Uncategorized

Ceilidh class notes (12/09/23)

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Wow, thank you so much to everyone who came along on the 12th September. It was fantastic to see so many people having fun!

Here are some notes from the class, in case you want any refreshers, or haven’t been along and are wondering what we get up to 🙂

In class one of our autumn term we covered a brief introduction to travelling steps (forwards skip change step and sideways slip step), by way of two set dances – Dhoon Jig and Boston Tea Party – and we danced the Canadian Barn Dance as a reminder of a ceilidh classic that we’d had a go of in workshops during the summer.

Dhoon Jig

The Dhoon Jig (4 couples, but can be more or less; music 32 bar jig; author Jessie Hamilton) is a Scottish country dance more than a classic ceilidh dance, but it is simple and lots of fun, and we think it should become a ceilidh fixture. In terms of moves, it gives you a chance to practice side steps (slip steps), forward travelling steps (skip change steps) – but you can also just relax, have fun and ‘walk’ the steps if you prefer – and casting. The key thing to be able to do in this dance is to be able to differentiate between your right and left!

The Dhoon Jig, devised by Jessie Hamilton, in a book ‘for children’ – but fun for all!

Boston Tea Party

Another longways set dance that we learned was an English ceilidh dance, the Boston Tea Party (5 – but can be more or less; music 32 bar jig or reel, author Jean Butler). This one also gives plenty opportunities to use travelling steps as the top-couple gallop down the set, over the top of both lines and up the set again, casting, plus some fun with arches, dipping and diving!

Boston Tea Party with some optional fancy fun-looking moves after coming through the arch at the end of the dance!

Canadian Barn Dance

This was a bit of a reminder for anyone who has come along to a previous Ceilidh Cornwall workshop or ceilidh evening. We love to do the Canadian Barn Dance to songs! It is a couple dance, danced in a large anti-clockwise round-the room layout. Half the length of most set-dances, it is very quick to learn, a ceilidh classic and one of our favourites.

Canadian Barn Dance with The Rosevilles Ceilidh Band

Looking forward to seeing everyone at more classes in the future.

Glossary

Cast / casting: Usually in longways sets, dancers dance to the outside of the set and move to another position – often to the end of the set farthest from the band, but sometimes to intermediate positions. See the Dhoon Jig video where the top couple casts one place down, meets in the middle of the set between the two lines, dances back up to the top, then casts to the bottom of the set.

Gallop: Couple joins hands and dance with slip steps / side steps usually down the middle of a longways set, as in the Boston Tea Party.

Longways (or longwise) set: two lines of dancers usually arranged down the room (usually the ‘top’ of the set nearest the band/music and the lines running away from the band, but orientation of the set sometimes depends on the shape of the room). Couples face each other, one in each line. Traditionally, when facing the band/music, the line on the left is men and the line on the right is women, but in Ceilidh Cornwall classes we don’t bother so much about this, because all dances can be danced with people of any gender in any position.

A set: a group of people arranged to dance together.

Slip step: A simple side step (step to the side, place feet together, step the side, feet together etc), often used in circling moves, used at the start of The Dhoon Jig and in gallops in the Boston Tea Party.

Slip step (sideways travelling step – here in a circle)

Top couple: The pair of dancers closest to the band/music.

Travelling step (skip change step): A step used to travel forwards rather than sideways. You can also walk these bits, which many people do in ceilidhs – but using this travelling steps makes it feel more ‘dancey’ or flowing. Best demonstrated in this video (complete with classic accordion cord at the start!), rather than using words:

Skip change step (forward travelling step)