Newcastle Irish Set Dancers

Sets, Steps and Ceilis: Irish Dancing - A Quick Primer

Arthur Kingsland

Newcastle Irish Set Dancers

Mention "Irish dancing" and immediately your audience think of "Riverdance", Michael Flatley and Jean Butler. Micheal Flatley moved on to "Lord of the Dance" after disagreements with the producers, so the lead dancers in the second incarnation of Riverdance are Jean Butler and Colin Dunne. The latest show of this type is "Dancing on Dangerous Ground" and features Jean Butler and Colin Dunne. It had its World Premier on 6 December at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London. These popular shows have grown out of competition dancing in one of the forms of Irish dance, but there are other forms bringing together people from diverse backgrounds in social settings.

Irish dancing can be subdivided into Step Dancing, Country Set Dancing and Ceili Dancing. The structural root of Irish dance is found in step dancing with solo performance, intricate and energetic footwork and precise movements. The historical roots for Irish dancing lie in the Ceili dance. This article discusses these forms of dance briefly and provides detail about the movements, music and footwork for Set dancing. The "Sets" are a form of social dancing usually for four couples arranged in the form of square "sets". Examples of the activities within the classes of Newcastle Irish Set Dancers are used to illustrate various points.

Step dancing

A number of historic influences served to suppress Irish dancing and other aspects of the Irish culture from the 14th century. Penal Laws enacted in the late 17th century sent Irish culture underground. These laws included the banning of education of Catholic children and led to the creation of hidden (hedge) schools. Irish dance continued during this period of intense repression - albeit in secret. Dance Masters appeared in the mid-18th century (Haurin & Richens 1996). The dance teachers traveled from town to town spending some time in each teaching dance in kitchens, farm outbuildings, at cross roads, hedge schools, etc. Each dance master had a repertoire of dance steps and created new steps over time (Haurin & Richens 1996). Sometimes the dance masters competed at feisianna, the winner being the one who knew the most steps. In Irish dancing a "step" is eight measures or bars of music. These men were the creators of set and ceili dances and created schools of dancing - the precursors of those we see today.

In 1893 the Gaelic League (Conradh na Gaeilge) was formed to help the revival of Irish culture. In 1929 the Irish Dancing Commission (An Coimisiun le Rinci' Gaeliacha) was formed to establish rules for teaching, judging and competitions for step and ceili dancing (Haurin & Richens 1996; Murphy 1995:31-33).

This standardization means that the form of Irish dancing known as Step Dancing uses Set Step Dances (usually just called "Set Dances") where the dance contains specific foot movements and sequences to specific set musical pieces. Poise, posture, hand, back, leg and foot position and use of stage are all considered in addition to the expectation that the steps will be in accordance with the requirements for the specific set dance. Individual interpretation is in terms of the skills of performing the set steps. Instead of the conventional 8-bar structure used mainly in social dancing, the set dance tunes have a one or two part structure with 8 or 12 bars in the first part and 12, 14 16 or more bars in the second part (Rince Ceol Amhrön 1997).

Ceili Dancing

Ceili dances come from the informal tradition of dances evolving through time as is seen in most cultures (Rince Ceol Amhrön 1997). Ceili dances take a number of forms as round dances, line dances, progressive line dances. Many modern ceili dances have known authors courtesy of the efforts of the Irish Dancing Commission.

A "Ceili" has a number of meanings depending on which Celtic grouping is being considered. In the context of Irish dancing a ceili is a gathering with music, song and dancing and participation by all those attending.

Set Dancing

The Sets or Country Set Dancing is social dancing usually in the form of square "sets" comprised four couples one on each side of the square. Irish set dances evolved from a combination of the footwork and movements of the step and ceili dances and the French Quadrilles or court dances of the 18th and 19th century. These dances were brought to Ireland and taught by the early dance masters. They were adapted to traditional Irish music and modified and elaborated to show off the dancers' prowess.

Each dance is comprised of several figures (usually 5 or 6, but ranging from 2 to 9) set to traditional Irish tunes such as reels, jigs, polkas or hornpipes. The footwork ranges from simple stepping to fast battering steps, but generally the foot is relatively flat avoiding the leaps and travelling of the other forms of dancing. In set dancing you dance with your partner, yet in each figure each couple also dances with one or more of the other couples in the set. The sets are the only form of Irish dancing that retain the strong regional identity with differences in the types of tunes used and differences in the type of footwork.

While Step dancing requires considerable fitness and agility almost anyone can participate in set dancing. A certain amount of stamina is required but simplifying the footwork and shortening the distance traveled when progressing can make a large difference to the amount of energy expended.

Irish Music

Traditional Irish music uses jigs, reels, polkas, hornpipes and mazurkas. The most commonly used depends on the region being considered. For set dancing the most common are Reels, Jigs and Polkas. It is generally accepted that the jig was derived from ancient Irish roots. Reels are considered to have come from Scotland and to have been developed to a distinct form by the Irish as played in modern Irish interpretations of traditional tunes.

The time of music defines how fast and how many notes are played for a given measure. For example, jigs are in 6/8 time meaning there are six beats per bar (the standard measure) and each beat is 1/8. A full note is a brieve (shown in musical notation as an open ellipse without a tail). A half note is a semi-brieve (an open ellipse with a single vertical line); a quarter note is a crochet (a black filled in note with a single vertical line); and eighth note is a quaver (a filled in note with a vertical line and a small tail). Figure 1 shows part of the tune "Sweets of May". This starts with a crochet followed by 7 quavers, etc. The vertical lines indicate the start of each bar.

Figure 1: Sweets of May (part)

In the Jig with 6/8 timing there are 6 notes per bar and an even emphasis on each beat: ONE-two-three-four-five-six. The Reel has a timing of 4/4, i.e. four crochets per bar. The emphasis is ONE-two-three-four.

Jigs and reels are played relatively quickly. Newcastle Irish Set Dancers teach and demonstrate various sets. In teaching figures that use Jigs the tempo is usually from 65-68 bars per minute while the performance group often uses a tempo of 68-70 bars/min. For reels the tempo varies from 58-64 bars/min for beginners, however the demonstration group uses much more complicated footwork known as battering and requires music somewhat slower than that used for beginners. At present the group uses reels varying from 50-58 bars/minute.

Hornpipes and Polkas are also in 4/4 timing, but use different combinations of long and short notes to give a different sound and feel. The hornpipe is usually relatively slow (45-52 bars/minute) with the emphasis on the first and third beats, i.e. ONE-and-a two-and-a THREE-and-a four-and-a. Polkas are usually played and danced to a very fast tempo. The beginners in Newcastle Irish Set Dancers learn polka figures using a tempo of 65-70 bars/min while demonstrations use a tempo of up to 75 bars/minute.

Position and Footwork for Set Dancing

In set dancing most of the movements are performed with your partner as part of a couple. The gentlemen place their partners on their right (or ladies place their partner on their left!). Figure 2 shows the positioning in a typical set. Most dance instructions are written from particularly male perspective, as in the instructions above, where the gentleman is expected to take the lead. This slant is interesting when contrasted with the observation that a lot more women than men participate in most forms of dancing and often have to dance as "gentlemen". Very infrequently do men have to dance as "ladies" and usually they don't do a very good job as they are not used to the mirrored movements.

Figure 2: Typical Set Positioning

A few movements require that you dance with your corner (the person beside you who is not your partner). In some movements you dance with the person opposite who will usually be of the opposite sex. In these movements the two individuals dance in towards and perhaps around each other, then often swing before returning to place with their partner. There are many combinations of partner, corner and opposite-couple dance movements.

Sometimes in a couple the ladies and gentlemen dance using the same feet (left and right foot movements) while at other times they dance in mirror image, that is the gentleman may dance left-right-left while the lady dances right-left-right.

It is very difficult to describe in words the footwork used for dancing. Moylan (1985:67) states that the rhythmic pattern beaten out by the feet on the floor must match the type of tune, however, within those constraints considerable improvisation is possible. There are many different ways of dancing a simple or a battered reel step for example, although each will fit within the 4/4 timing and use a ONE-two-three-four emphasis.

A simple Advance and Retire movement for a reel can be used to illustrate some of the principles. In this example the gents and the ladies use opposite feet, that is when the gent uses his left foot the lady will use their right foot. The Advance part takes two bars. The Retire movement also takes two bars and repeats the foot movements except the foot being used is reversed, while the direction of travel is also reversed. Figure 3 shows the foot sequence used for the Advance movement, Figure 4 for the Retire movement.

In the "Advance" the lady moves forward placing the right toe (or ball of foot) down (first beat), then brings the right heel down (beat 2), then moves forward onto the left toe/ball (beat 3) and lowers the left heel (beat 4), then a sequence (virtually in place) of right toe - left toe - right toe in a simple motion hopping or stepping from one foot to the other (beats 5-7). On the final beat the lady lowers her right heel. This end foot movement becomes the start position for the next movement - the Retire in this case.

Moylan (1985:67-72) provides a detailed description for many of these steps for reels, jigs, horpipies, polkas and slides, and for various different movements for each type of tune.

A simple demonstration of what is expected is the preferred teaching method. To learn new dances the teachers for Newcastle Irish Set Dancers have found videos of Irish dancing to be invaluable. Invitations to attend workshops run by nationally and internationally recognized dance teachers are eagerly sought as events not to be missed.

Battering and Tapping

Traditional Irish dancing is performed with little or no battering. Battering is the tapping of the toes and heel stamps most noticeable in solos, duets and line performances in Riverdance, Lord of the Dance and similar shows. In these shows the dancers wear "hard shoes" as used by Step dancers for specific dances. The hard shoes have either substantial metal taps or fibreglass mouldings added to the toe and heel. The result of using such shoes is that the battering or tapping of the toe and heel is loud enough to be heard above the music and, with a skilled performer, is quite a spectacle.

In traditional Set dancing battering is not aided by the use of metal or fibreglass taps. The auditory feedback is much more subtle and less likely to interfere with the musical performance. The feet remain more or less horizontal and are never far from the floor. The battering of the toe is achieved by a quick forward and back movement where the toe/ball of the foot taps the floor as the foot is moving forward, then again as the foot is drawn backward as shown in Figure 5. This is has a number of names such as a "flap" or a "toe-toe" action.

Figure 5: Toe battering.

Newcastle Irish Set Dancers

Newcastle Irish Set Dancers, located in Newcastle, New South Wales (Australia), teaches classes mainly concentrating on Irish set dances. The group also learns occasional ceili dances. The dancers also give some public demonstrations and performances. The teachers have come from a background in Australian Colonial Dancing which has its roots in dances derived from those imported from England, Ireland and Scotland brought out with emigrants from the United Kingdom mainly in the 19th century. The teachers learnt Irish Set dancing from a visiting Irish Set dance instructor, from videos and the occasional workshop.

Weekly Irish set dance sessions are held in a local church hall. In these classes no experience is necessary with beginners being introduced to the dance movements and the footwork as they learn a new "Set" and its constituent figures. A set consists of a number of figures, typically 4-6. Each figure is taught separately although there will often be common features and movements between the figures of a given set. The more experienced dancers continue after the beginners class with drill and practice of more complicated battering footwork and in perfecting their demonstration pieces.

Newcastle Irish Set Dancers have a web site where information about the group and its actitivies can be viewed.

http://users.tpg.com.au/juliasm/Irish-Dance/

The site also has one of the more comprehensive collections of Set dancing instructions.

http://users.tpg.com.au/juliasm/Irish-Dance/instructions.html

Figure 1 of the The Plain Set

The instructions for Figure 1 of the Plain Set are given below as a typical example of a figure from an Irish Set. This set is one of the most commonly known sets and is danced all around the world. The instructions indicate who is dancing, an abbreviated version of what action or movement is required and the duration of the movement in bars.

References and Internet Reources

Ann Robinson's Irish Dance Links (1999). [Web site: http://tigger.cc.uic.edu/~aerobin/irlinks.html, Accessed: 13 December 1999].

Biography - Colin Dunne (1999). [Web site: http://www.ondangerousground.com/bio2.htm, Accessed: 13 December 1999].

Biography - Jean Butler (1999). [Web site: http://www.ondangerousground.com/bio.htm, Accessed: 13 December 1999].

Brooks Academy - Instructions for 17 Set Dances (1999). [Web site: http://www.setdance.com/sets/content.html, Accessed: 13 December 1999].

Haurin, Don & Richens, Ann (1996). Irish Step Dancing: A Brief History. Richens Academy of Dancing: Ohio. [Web document: http://tigger.cc.uic.edu/~aerobin/irhist.html, Accessed: 16 April 1999].

Irish Dance Webring (1999). [Web site: http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=irishdance&list, Accessed: 13 December 1999].

Lynch, William (1999). Set Dancing News [Web site: http://www.setdancingnews.net/, Accessed: 13 December 1999].

Moylan, Terry (ed.). (1985)."Irish Dances". Second Edn. Na Pêobairê Uilleann: Dublin.

Murphy, Pat (1995). "Toss the Feathers: Irish Set Dancing". Mercier Press: Dublin.

Newcastle Irish Set Dancers (1999). [Web site: http://users.tpg.com.au/juliasm/Irish-Dance/, Accessed: 23 July 2004].

Rince Ceol Amhrön (1997). A Brief Overview of Irish Dance. Rince Ceol Amhrön: New York. [Web document: http://www.inx.net/~mardidom/rcidance.htm, Accessed: 19 May 1999].

Vint, Jim. Irish Set Dance in North America and Elsewhere (1999). [Web site: http://www.execpc.com/~jimvint/setdance/, Accessed: 13 December 1999].

Page created by: Arthur Kingsland