Class Notes Juy 21

Hi all,

I really enjoyed myself in class to today, thanks for coming out and dancing. I especially want to thank the musicians, Dawn and Joe for playing during the class.

All those of you who are new to class thanks for coming out. Just to let you know there is a blog for the class in case you want to look over some notes from other classes. I also wanted to reiterate that the very first step, one of the building blocks of sean-nós, is also one of the harder steps. It takes a bit of time for the step to feel natural, but once it does you’ll be flying as it is the basis for many of the future steps.

Bellow are the notes from the class.

-Maldon

Beginners Class Notes

Connemara Step

Hop(L), heel(R) step(R), heel(L) step(L), Stomp(R)
Hop(R), heel(L) step(L), heel(R) step(R), Stomp(L)

The clip bellow is of the Connemara basic step. It is from the Dance Sean-nos DVD.
Dancer: Maldon Meehan, Musician: Johnny O'Holloran.

Irish Sean-nos Dance Connemara Step

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Skip Back step (Máirtín Beag Ó Gríofa)

And(L) back(R) and(R) back (L)
Hop(L), heel(R) step(R), heel(L) step(L), Stomp(R)

Máirtín Beag Ó Gríofa was a beautiful dancer. Today in Ireland there is a competition held honor. The late Cóilín Sheáin Dharach, who I have mentioned in the past, is the only dancer to win the Máirtín Beag Ó Gríofa competition twice. If you ever have a chance to talk with a singer, dancer or musician from Connemara there’s a good chance they have a story or two about Máirtín. He was a great dancer and is remembered by many.

This particular step is dance quite often by sean-nós and set dancers. You’ll see it danced frequently in the Connemara set.

Intermediate class Notes

Advance and Retire #2 (Maldon Meehan)

step (L) heel(R) toe (R) and(R heel drop)
step (L) heel(R) toe (R) and(R heel drop)
step (L) heel(R) toe (R) and(R heel drop) step (L)
step (L) shuff(R heel)-le (R toe) and (L heel drop)
step (R) shuff(L heel)-le (L toe) and (R heel drop)
step (L) shuff(R heel)-le (R toe) and (L heel drop) step(R) step (L)

With this step you can leave a pause between the advance and retire or you can also ad another beat by stepping on your left foot again before you retire. You can also ad the lead in beat when you dance it twice in a row by stepping on your left foot again before you advance the second time.

Toe rhythmic step (Maldon Meehan)

1(R) 2(L) shuff(R)-le(R) and(R) step(L)
down(L) shuff(R)-le(R) and(R) step(L)
and(L) a(R) 1(R) a(L) 2(L)
shuff(R)-le(R) and(R) step(L)
down(L) shuff(R)-le(R) and(R) step(L)
(repeat again)

This step is danced entirely on your toes. A few years ago I went up to the Friday Harbor Irish Music Camp when Mick Mulkerrin and Mairéad Casey were teaching. At the camp Mick taught a really nice battering step (I’ll eventually teach you the step). The step was amazing, but I had trouble dancing it up to speed with music, so I created this step, which has a very similar rhythm. Today I will dance both steps, quite often I’ll use Mick’s step on the low part of a tune and the other step on the high part of the tune. They are quite nice steps together.

Hey, Graham and Melia, I remembered the step that you were asking about. It was an advance retire step, bellow are the notes. I will go over it with you the next time you're in class, just remind me.

Advance and Retire #1 (Maldon Meehan)

and(L) a(R heel) 1(R step) and(L) a(R heel) 2(R step)
and(L), heel(R) step(R), heel(L) step(L), Stomp(R)
and(R) heel(L) and(L) heel(R)
and(R), heel(L) step(L), heel(R) step(R), Stomp(L)

When I taught this step we also looked at making extra beats coming back. You can come back with (and, heel, and heel) as I have written above or you can dance (and a heel and a heel). To do this instead of putting your whole foot down put your toe first then the whole foot and you will get two beats.

Next class Sat. July 21st
Performance Works Northwest
4625 SE 67th Ave, Portland