Notes from the March 31st Class
The class this Saturday was great. We had a real nice balance of music, dance and song. Last week we began talking about Sean-nós singing. Nancy Jarrell was kind enough to bring in a CD of the Connemara Sean- nós singer, Áine Uí Mhuíneacháin. Once the CD was put on it felt as if we were in a pub in Ireland, there was complete silence as we all listened to Áine's voice. After the song was finished, Phil Meehan, sang us his newly writen song entiteld ‘Departures Lounge’. A powerfull song, one that will have deep meaning to anyone who has been part of this music and dance community over the years.
Both the beginners and intermediate classes covered variations of the ‘hips’ step. The ‘hips’ step is a step that I created. I tend to dance several varations of the step depending on what tune I’m dancing to and which musican is playing.
Beginners
We covered two variations of a movement from the ‘Hips’. The full ‘hips’ steps can be found on the Dance Sean-nós DVD.
Variation 1 ‘hips’
Toe (R) toe (R) heel (L) heel (R)
Repeat as many times as desired
Variation 2 ‘hips’
Heel (R) toe (R) heel (L) heel (R)
Repeat as many times as desired
Intermediate
Step (L) Heel (R) toe (R) heel (L)
heel (R) heel (L) toe (L) heel (R)
heel (L) heel (R) toe (R) heel (L) heel (R) down (L)
(repeat 3 times)
(ending step)
Step (L) Heel (R) toe (R) heel (L) heel (R) down (L)
Step (L) Heel (R) toe (R) heel (L) heel (R) down (L)
We also danced the ending step alternating right and left side.
There were several versions of this step taught and created. We will go over all of them again, just ask.
Next Class is:
Saturday April 7th
Lecture/demonstration: Connemara dancer Rosin Ni Mhainnin
Here is a video clip of one of Rosin Ni Mhainnin’s students. The clip is of a 7 year old girl dancing. I hope it gives you inspiration. If you want to see more of her dancing there is also a clip of her on youtube from when she was 6 years old.
