Okay so I absolutely love traditional Irish music as does my future husband and plan on having the band, Crumac, play at our wedding reception, July 7th. Although I am familiar with many Irish tunes (and also play the whistle) I know absolutely nothing on dancing when it comes to dancing to Irish music.
Anyone have any resources or basic steps (videos, online tutorials, etc) that’ll at least give me an idea on what I am supposed to do so my fiancee and I might look like we know what we are doing?
Your best bet may be to seek out a professional dance studio. Many offer courses in traditional Irish step dancing, set dancing, and general toe-crushing.
I suggest you get a caller. Crumac may know of one, or have a pet caller, or one of the band-members may be able to do the job. In my area, I’d could suggest a few, but I can’t do that for the States.
I’ve done Ceili dance calling at a Wedding. It was a package deal with half-a-dozen country dances as a relief from relentless disco. This was NOT an Irish wedding. It went quite well, and everybody seemed to enjoy it, even when one dance ended up as complete chaos.
If you can get hold of a caller, they’ll take you through some of the dances before the event.
I’ve played a few events (weddings, etc) where there was a dance caller who show people the basics of the simpler dances before they did the real thing, and it generally goes OK as long as people are paying attention. You’re supposed to be pretty drunk by that point, anyway; the guests will enjoy laughing at you if you’re laugh-worthy, so don’t worry about it [/list]
i played a gig during st. patrick’s weekend with a band put together by a master itm fiddler whose wife is an irish dancer. the club that hired us is a very well-heeled but not irish-related venue with a fancy restaurant and multiple sites including multiple bars, for simultaneous entertainment, with us assigned to a “pub” area with a dance floor. this club apparently pulls out all the stops to do theme entertainment when holidays involving mass celebrating roll around. (i’m embarrassed to say that their st. paddy’s trimmings included “little persons” in top hats and tails who were supposed to be…leprechauns. they wandered around the joint all night making racy remarks to people.) in any event, it soon transpired that guests who wandered into our area, though receptive, didn’t have a clue about irish dancing. they were just sitting around with their drinks while we played to an empty dance floor. but then our band leader’s wife, who was there as a guest, got up and began lassoing 'em onto the floor and arranging sets, teaching everybody how to do them, and “calling.” it worked out great and the booking manager insisted that she return as part of the gig the next night.
so i suggest that. i guess that is what a poster above meant by a “caller.” sets are easy to learn, at least for purposes of learning enough on the spot to have fun at a wedding, and a set dancer who can wrangle, teach, and call, could make your party.
It never even crossed my mind that members of this forum would not know what a caller was. Yes, it’s what ceemonster said. Very useful where some people don’t know the dances - which is most places outside Scotland, these days. (Scottish callers just announce the dance and then fold their arms. It doesn’t encourage newbies.)
Two weeks ago when I got married, people sang songs, made toasts, etc around the dinner table, and some said they wanted to dance a set for us. Around the campfire later, a few of them danced a half set, with my wife and I and a few other friends providing the tunes. It was really touching, especially with my family there to see my friends and this side of my life that is pretty new from their perspective, but so deeply ingrained for me now.
Definitely see if there’s a caller or perhaps even an Irish dance studio/teacher in your area with some set dance experience. Our band played for a friend’s wedding reception and she set up just such a thing – the caller taught the guests the Siege of Ennis, some steps for An Rince Mor (The Big Dance) and another set (I forget the particulars), and they had a BALL. At least 80 people were out there galloping around the floor, stepping on each others’ feet, and laughing hysterically.
The best photos of the entire wedding reception were from those segments!
theres one dance…trying to remember the name, but you can have as many people as you want, and its pretty easy to catch on to, great way to meet lots of people you keep changing partners..not to remember the name, I think it had donkey in it? it was a celli dance, and wow that was a pointless post, but if u go and get lessons, ask them about this one,
yeah, definitely look into getting a caller. ceili dancing of the sort you’d be doing is not hard at all (just simple patterns repeated over and over) and it’s a lot of fun. I’ve brought friends who have never irish danced before to ceilis and they always have a great time and don’t have any trouble catching on. congratulations on your wedding, and have a great time!
We got married in '84. We had a caller for part of the dancing, as well as some Scottish country dancing. People will still mention how much fun they had dancing at our wedding. My suggestion is to find either A celli caller or a contra dance caller to call some dances. Contra dance is easy , fun and most often it danced to Celtic music (in strict dance form). Ask your band if they know a caller that they work with, or contact the Country Song and Dance Society people. I believe they have links to callers nation wide. check the web for the dance community in your area. I have traveled about and found contra dance is just everywhere. Community Dancing, like Contra, Irish set, is just a fun way to get people to have fun with each other and it is really carefree. And nothing beats dancing to live Celtic music. Congratulations on you Wedding, I hope it is a wonderful day.
[/list]