Reviews

Step into the west weekend, Ennistimon.

Saturday morning the workshop with Gerard Butler began at 10.30am. There were nine full sets to begin, and I really thought after the hour, the dancing and the craic last evening, it was a large group of dancers, but by the time he had taught the first figure of the Atha Caoire Set, a new set from West Cork, there were twelve sets of serious dancers on the floor! This set was lovely and consisted of figures called the ring, slide, polka basket, diamond slide and hornpipe diamond.Ger Butler is a wonderful instructor. He is very patient and certainly uses humor to fill out the difficult spaces in the learning process. I found him watching the sets intently; keeping the footwork tidy at all times is very important to his tuition. I noticed whether he is teaching or not his feet are going all the time, absolutely all the time! Following the Atha Caoire we did a two-hand dance called the Spanish Jive, a great dance full of life, and then he taught some sean nós steps. I loved the way Ger said about sean nós dancing, “From the head to the heart and the legs,” in other words, learn it, feel it, do it. It was then time to break for lunch as there would be another workshop at 2pm.

At 2pm it was time for more tuition. This time we worked on the Claddagh Set, North Roscommon Half-Set, Polly Glide (a two hand dance) and the Circle Waltz. During the break I chatted with Joe Mannix, one of the founding members of the Atha Caoire branch of Comhaltas dance group out of West Cork. The set taught in the morning by Ger Butler comes from their homeplace and Ger utilized them to show the different figures of the set. After two sessions with Gerard Butler I found him to be a man who pays great attention to detail. Though he is an excellent dancer himself, he hasn’t forgotten the need for the new dancers to learn a step at a time and if he sees they are having trouble he is right in there until it is worked out. If you have an opportunity to take tuition with him your time will be well spent.

Gemma Burke Bourré, Belcarra, Co Mayo

Mullaghboy Co Louth.

I expect it must be a record that the workshop in Mullaghbuoy Community Centre on the Cooley Peninsula in Co Louth has been held annually on the last weekend in April since 1983 with only one break when we were statutorily prohibited from holding the event because of the foot and mouth epidemic. In those years we have had a variety of tutors starting with Joe and Siobhán O’Donovan for the first twelve years. We then had Mick Mulkerrin, Declan Morris, Colin Butler and for the last few years Gerard Butler.

Gerard arrived at the venue promptly at 10am on April 30th and after setting up his equipment and having the cupán tae he was ready for action at 11. By this time there were eight sets in the hall and when they had the welcome cup of tea and scones Gerry got them warmed up with a few figures of the Plain Set.

He then proceeded to teach the Deradda Set with emphasis on the Mayo style. He followed up with the Ballyduff Set again emphasizing the Waterford style of dancing. He then took time to teach a few sean nós steps which created a lot of interest. His rhythmic style of dancing is unique and he did his best to pass on this style to all the participants with varying degrees of success. The morning session was now completed and all present took a break for some welcome refreshments. Some of the dancers availed of the break to brush up on their sean nós steps.

After lunch Gerry taught a few two-hand dances which recently have become popular. As luck would have it we had Marie Garrity from Dromore attending the workshop and she is recognized as an accomplished teacher of two-hand dances. Gerry availed of her expertise and together they taught the Back-to-Back Hornpipe, the Long German, the Three Step and the ever popular Polly Glide, which was danced to both hornpipes and Carrick-on-Shannon Cajun music. This part of the workshop proved very popular and we thank Marie for her help.

Next Gerry was requested by some of the dancers to teach the Claddagh Set and we can only admire his patience in teaching all present the difficult third figure. Tea was again served in the afternoon and the break from the pressures of the Claddagh was very welcome. After tea Gerry taught the battering step, going into great detail with every movement and again his patient method of teaching was greatly appreciated. He concluded the workshop with a reel set to give everyone an opportunity of putting the steps into practice.
Gerry was thanked for his contribution to the success of the workshop and before finishing he did a few sean nós steps in the company of his brother Colin who had arrived in the afternoon with his friend Mary from Scotstown to give moral support to his older brother. Their performance received tumultuous applause.

Beidhmuid arais arís le Cuideadh Dé i mí Aibrean 2006.

Michael McGlynn, Riverstown, Co Louth