Ken Lamport and Sarah Loweth report on the Irish dance weekend
This was the third Irish Set Dance weekend (and the third full house!) but the first to be held during the summer so we were hoping for good weather to show off the Manor at its best. The wow factor on arriving at Halsway never seems to diminish but arriving in the sunshine just makes it that little bit more special. Mind you, some dancers still said they missed having the roaring fire in the hall! You can’t please everyone!
With Irish Set Dancing you can pretty well guarantee fun workshops and an exciting ceili and this weekend certainly did not disappoint. The dance workshops were led by Maggie Daniel from Newton Abbot and she chose very enjoyable dances that very few of us had done before but certainly want to do again. The resident band for the Friday and Saturday evening dances and the Sunday afternoon dance was Pendragon who have that brilliant ability to produce driving music so essential for set dancing. The after dance sessions in the bar do tend to turn into marathon sessions for those who don’t seem to need much sleep!
The compliments Sarah and I get as organisers of these weekends could hardly be better and the proof of the pudding is that the same dancers eagerly attend each of the weekends. We do get a few new faces each time who say they are overwhelmed by the welcome and encouragement they get; you do not need to be an experienced dancer to enjoy set dancing, just a willingness to throw yourself in at the deep end!
Our next Halsway set dance weekend is not until autumn’09 but if anyone is interested in investigating the world of Irish set dancing I recommend this website http://www.setdancingnews.net/
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