The Quintessential Dance Master Passes May 15, 2008 From the Hob by Paul Keating MY recent visit to St. Finbarr’s Hospital in Cork City was arranged by the O’Donovan family to visit the patriarch of the Cork family that was synonymous with traditional dancing both in the city and throughout Ireland and America. Daniel Joseph, age 89, more commonly known as Joe, was in his final days there. The family kept a daily vigil as his health declined swiftly from the Eastertide when he was hospitalized and unable to attend the Killarney event where TG4 awarded him and his wife Siobhan, their lifetime achievement award as part of their annual Gradam Cheoil awards. Before leaving his room that Sunday knowing his time with us was short, I bade him goodbye by saying Slan Abhaile (safe home) and saw a huge smile of recognition come over his face which I took as his last expression of the friendship we shared for 24 years. Three days later, on April 30, 2008, Joe O’Donovan, the dancing master, was gone to his eternal rest a few months shy of his 90th birthday. At least he left this world knowing that his native country had truly recognized how much he had added it to its legacy and heritage as symbolized by the TG4 award. Driving around Ireland, I had a lot of time to reminisce about Joe and Siobhan O’Donovan and our first meeting in Miltown Malbay back in July of 1984 at the Willie Clancy Summer School. As a younger — and much fitter — ceili dancer and teacher at the Irish Arts Center, I wanted to learn the country set dances of my parents properly. I had heard that since 1982, there were formal dance classes established at the WCSS organized by Joe O’Donovan, the Cork City native who spent a lifetime gathering sets from all around Ireland along with fostering sean nos (old style) step dancing learned from his own father, who had a dancing school. I was immediately impressed with his command and control of a large class in the Miltown Community Hall and the sense of banter between him and his wife Siobhan, whose sense of humor took the seriousness out of Joe at times and helped make the classes both productive and enjoyable. Separated by just a few months in age (Siobhan will be 90 in June), it was clear they were close friends as well as a married couple who had a zest for life. They found a pastime that allowed them to stay young and to meet and make new friends from all over the world. I learned my lessons well with him and began to teach set dancing at the Irish Arts Center upon my return, the first such class in New York City at that time, but in my mind I felt that more formal instruction would be necessary from a more authoritative voice. When I returned next year in 1985, I asked Joe and Siobhan if they would consider coming out to America to teach set dancing in cities where I knew there were dancing contingents in place. Since Joe had retired and they were in good health, they were eager to do it. Ironically we pulled together a network of cities or towns where ceili dances (think figure dances promulgated by the Gaelic League) prevailed, and asked them if they would consider showing students some variations in Irish folk dancing in the country sets as taught by the O’Donovans. Lo and behold, we were able to create the first tour for a set dancing master in America that lasted almost six weeks in May and June of 1986. So popular were they, it was even easier to put a similar junket together in 1987 in the late summer and fall, including the very first Cape May set dancing weekend at Congress Hall in 1987. Subsequently there were three more excursions to America teaching set dancing and performing step dancing at festivals and events as far west as the Mississippi River (Missouri and Minneapolis), up and down New England and as far south as Virginia.The organizational work of Joe O’Donovan put a fast-growing set dancing program in place at the annual Willie Clancy Summer School that sparked the extraordinary setdancing revival of the 1980s in Ireland. He incorporated the incredibly organized and modern-thinking Brooks Academy wing of the Dublin-based Pipers’ Club (Na Píobairí Uilleann), who not only learned the sets but published books and tapes that facilitated the spread of the country sets along with the Clare and Kerry dancers who had the original style that characterized the regional sets to lead classes as well. Joe laid the foundation for that revival both at Willie Week and throughout Ireland, and inspired many other dancing masters who had different skills and mobility who took advantage at the new-found interest in Irish set dancing as a social and healthy past time. In America where the country sets had been transmitted in extremely limited fashion and were in danger of dying out all together as the tradition bearers who knew them died out, a more pro-active stance had to be established. With the availability of a knowledgeable dance historian like Joe and his spirited partner Siobhan, who could take extended journeys over to America, the proper grounding was assured here, and it made it much easier to build on and welcome the likes of Connie Ryan, Mick Mulkerrin, Donncha O’Muinneachain, Timmy McCarthy, Jack Slattery and others who carried it further to the vital state it exists in at present in the U.S. It was more than serendipity at work when our paths crossed in Miltown Malbay back in 1984 when I was returning to my own dance roots in exploring the country sets that my own parents and their parents danced in Clare. By engaging with an elderly couple from Cork who were completely devoted to one another, there was much more than the simple transmission of steps and the movements that go with them. The importance of dance in Irish society bore lessons that Joe and Siobhan taught in a variety of ways, sometimes with even speaking or lifting a foot. While Joe had danced all his life since his father had a dancing school in Cork City after the Civil War along with his brother Mick (who married Siobhan’s sister Breda, who was a champion dancer from the school), Siobhan was a late bloomer. After their three children were reared (Michael, Rory and Maire), she took up step dancing at the age of 54 so she could spend more time traveling around with Joe, who was increasingly in demand for his teaching skills. Talk about the mature learner, but it was also indicative of the close bond between them that made any reference to one without the other an unnatural utterance. If the clergy were trying to take sensuality and romance out of Irish dancing, they had their work cut out for them with people like Joe and Siobhan and the feelings they help to generate when they taught their workshops, and afterwards when you spend time in their company in the after hours. It is those after hours in their company as we went from place to place or homewards that left such an impression upon me and the others who grew fond of them from their American visits. Joe was definitely an original and a proud Irishman who viewed his life through that prism. One would be tempted to say that his like will not be with us again, but amidst his incredible body of work he inspired a young man with Clare roots who happened upon one of his workshops in London as a small boy. Padraig O’Dea was so taken with the dancing master that he soaked up all his knowledge and steps and channeled his mentor as he devoted his own life to teaching dancing of sets and sean nos steps. He became so close to Joe and Siobhan that the family asked him to dance at St. Oliver’s Cemetery where Joe was laid to rest on May 3 in Cork. Broken-hearted, the 30-year-old O’Dea danced the Blackbird, one of the old set dances handed down through the generations which he learned from Joe. I can just imagine Joe with a broad smile looking down from above and conspiring with the good Lord to see if there was another “Siobhan” out there to lift Patrick’s spirits and make his life complete. Condolences can be sent to Siobhan O’Donovan at Dunchaoin, Iona Park, Mayfield, Co. Cork, Ireland.
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The idea behind this project began life long before I saw the Instep funding opportunity. During the pandemic I started to teach solo Irish dance online, I offered new material each term, and as a consequence dusted off many steps and routines that I hadn’t visited for quite some time. I also started to learn new repertoire, the Arts Council of NI awarded me a grant to meet with Joe McGuiggan, who taught me some of Frankie Roddy’s dances. I can remember asking Joe if he knew who was currently dancing these steps, I was shocked by his response: “me and now you”. When I came across the Instep call for projects, I saw it as an opportunity to revive more of Frankie’s steps and deliver them to a global audience online. Here is the journey to date: Scroll to the bottom if you would like to read these events in chronological order. October 2024 - Frankie's great grand daughter starts to dance ... How sweet - Frankie's grandson, Emmet, sends me a photo of him teaching his 1 year old daughter, Caragh, her first dance steps - ❤️ September 2024 My Frankie Roddy project is gathering momentum! A video of his hornpipe steps will be released before year end from a number of contributors - watch this space. Back at the ranch, I am tackling another part of the project, notating the steps into Michael Tubridy's system of notation. I have decided that Friday mornings will be devoted to this task, well, Friday morning #1 lasted well into the afternoon! Jackie O’Riley did warn me, that it'll take at least 10 times as long as I expect! Part of the funding covers Jackie tutoring me in this system of notation - yes, I am learning a new skill. So, given this was the first free weekend since my summer travels, and my sarcastic self, has entitled them "Fun on Fridays with Frankie" - I hope it is giving him a laugh! Even this initial template alone took quite some time to create, oh for the love of dance! Can anyone hear the pitter patter of tiny feet? My thanks to my nephew, Josh, for creating these icons for me. - my workstation - July 2024 - Frankie's dances shared - his memory lives on This isn’t part of my project, but I thought you’d like to know that we taught Frankie’s Derry Colmcille set at the Grand Bal this summer. Here’s a few photos from the ceili, there wasn’t an inch of space at the workshop, probably 30+ sets! Many of those participating in the workshops bring the dances back to their own associations, so Frankie will be all over Europe soon! No better man ❤️ June 2024 😊 - what gal doesn’t like a compliment … this came from a young man “Emmett Doyle”, we live quite some distance apart, and but for my current dance project, our paths may never have crossed. Emmet came across one of my home study courses, and made contact. I recently invited him to be a guest of honour as I delivered some of Frankie’s steps to an International audience of advanced dancers and teachers of traditional dance – they attended from as far west as Oregon, as east to Japan – and a number of countries in-between – there are no borders in dance. Emmet is Frankie’s grandson, and is adding a layer to this project that I never had expected. We met recently for the first time in person, and I believe this to be the beginning of a long friendship created through our love of tradition, and our dedication to passing it on to the next generation. To quote Emmet: “Annette is a fantastic teacher of Traditional Irish Step dancing, I have studied both on her home study courses and online workshop, she breaks down steps to an easy to digest level and her passion for dancing shines through.” June 2024 I began to teach 5 related hornpipe steps to an international audience, I delivered 5 sessions in total, teaching to two different groups, firstly my "Steps Across the Pond" colleagues in dance - a mix of percussive dancers from the US, Canada, Ireland, Scotland, Germany and Russia. The second group, were my advanced online students, and I also opened this class up to other teachers of Irish traditional dance. There are a few photos of our sessions below. We made an extra special welcome to Nora who zoomed in at 6am from the West Coast of the US, and Mika who watched from the comfort of her seat while travelling across Japan on a night bus! Others zoomed in from various other countries and time zones in between. We have come a long way from the days of the travelling dancing master. I also invited Frankie's grandson, Emmet, as a guest of honour and it was wonderful to hear him reminisce so warmly about his grandfather. The next step in this project will be to create some home-study videos; these will be made available to all, and will be free to download. Funded by Instep Research Team. May 2024 Frankie Roddy memorial ceili, Guildhall, Derry – sure how could I miss it given my current project researching some of his solo steps. A number of his family members were there and I was thrilled to meet with them for the first time ever, two daughters, Theresa and Noeleen, as well as a grandson Emmet. Emmet and I have already been chatting online and sharing some steps via video – what fun to finally meet in person. I took great pleasure in asking Noeleen for the last dance, and Emmet caught us on video. I plan to meet family members later this month to talk more about Frankie and take my project a “step” further. This year is the 20th anniversary of Frankie’s passing. From left to right, Noeleen, Annette, Theresa and a short video from the ceili with Noeleen & Annette dancing together. Check out this article from the local paper, regarding the ceili:
April 2024 Step Two! As many of you will know, I’m in the States and dipped into Boston to catch up with my dance buddies. Jackie O’Riley & I also set some time aside to work on my Frankie Roddy project, the funding covers a number of hours with Jackie to tutor me in the finer details of Michael Tubridy’s system of notation. We had planned to do this online, and I firmly believe working together in person saved us many hours of work and probable frustration! As we were notating the steps, we were up and down from our notebooks, initially to teach Jackie the steps, and then to begin to analyse the physical detail as well as the rhythm of the movements, to help perfect the written notation. Next step: finalise this draft on paper, another review with Jackie before I take the 10 pages of notes to the computer! No doubt another review with Jackie: it is just as well she likes this stuff! After that I will start afresh with the 2nd dance: The Three Sea Captains in jig time. March 2024 Step 1 - what a wonderful start to my Frankie Roddy project, I met with Joe & Mary McGuiggan, and together we worked on 5 hornpipe steps from Frankie. The first one I have known for quite some time, and would you believe, I first came across it on YouTube, with Kieran Jordan of Boston teaching – link below. It also appears in the South Derry Dancing video, and is the opening step to Frankie’s series of 5 steps. Joe gave me 3 further steps that he knew, and then we learned the last step from a video that Joe had of Pat Henderson dancing step 5. Pat isn’t dancing at the moment, but was able to meet us for lunch, what joy. I have now notated all five steps in my own shorthand, and the next step will be to transfer those notes into Michael Tubridy’s system of notation – with the help of Jackie O’Riley. After Easter I will be running online workshops to deliver these steps to you, I have included a video, a sneak preview to one of the steps, newly learned by Mary & I! What joy to learn from Joe, who lilts throughout! I am also planning to meet other people who knew Frankie, to build up some detail on his life. People speak very warmly of him, and he also seems to have been quite the character! I look forward to learning more, talking to members of his family and regret that I never got to meet him in person. Related info: Kieran Jordan teaching the Derry Lead: Here South Derry Dance video: Here Recorded during our practice session, for the sheer fun of it. From left to right Mary, Joe, Annette. Joe on vocals! July 2023
Thrilled beyond belief - to tell you that I have been awarded a bursary from Instep Research Team for a new project concerning Frankie Roddy of Derry: champion dancer, teacher and adjudicator. I will be: - looking into his life, and talking to people who knew him - learning some of his repertoire - delivering these dances to an online audience - creating tutorials for the dances - learning a new skill! I will notate these dances into Michael Tubridy’s system, and look forward to collaborating with Jackie O’Riley who has an in-depth knowledge of his system. Many thanks to the Instep Bursary Team for supporting my proposal. I look forward to learning more about Frankie, learning some of his repertoire, collaborating with Joe & Mary McGuiggan, Margaret Wray and other dancers in Derry who knew him - and delivering these dances to you for free. Or you may wish to work from the home study package - also a free resource, all funded by Instep. I will begin this project in September, and deliver the classes in 2024. Drop me a private message if you knew Frankie, or have any information about him! Of note: Facebook page: Instep Research Team Website: https://insteprt.co.uk Teacher, Choreographer, MusicianIn preparation for my upcoming workshop in Belfast, teaching The Butterfly, I sought out some background information on lady who created its beautiful choreography and taught it to me - non other than: Maria Monakova. We meet online each week along with a number of other percussive dancers, and enjoy each other's company and steps! BIO
Maria Monakova is a self-taught dancer and musician living in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. She plays and sings in a band called "Magic Beans" and loves to create rhythmical patterns on the bodhran. She learned to play the piano as a child and has transferred some of these skills to the piano accordion. Maria began her journey in dance in 2005 with Irish competitive dancing; she then discovered traditional step dancing and sean-nós improvisation, and ultimately gave her heart to this discipline. Maria learned her first sean-nós steps from Marian Conneely, Ronan Regan and Emma O'Sullivan when they visited Russia (2011-12); she took lessons from Mick Mulkerrin and Mairead Casey during a later visit to Ireland. From Maria: “My first real sean-nós workshop took place when Marian came to Moscow, by that time I already had a good understanding of Irish dance and my competitive background was of great help, so sliding into this style was a very natural process.” Maria now choreographs her own steps, and her routines are loved by all who see them - around the globe. She loves to share her work and passion for Irish dance with enthusiasts in her hometown as well as online. She continues to watch and learn from other percussive styles. From Maria: “I am often asked why I chose a foreign tradition over my own; the answer is a simple one, Irish music stole my heart the very moment I heard it.” ---------- Link to Maria's YouTube channel (theselfstarter): click here to view. Link to The Butterfly, choreographed to the popular tune of the same name, a slip jig in 3 parts, 9/8 time: click here to view. In preparation for my King of the Fairies class, I asked Mary McGuiggan for some background information on May Allen (Close) and received the following text in October 2020. "May Allen lived, all of her life, outside Randalstown in the townland of Gillistown. She taught throughout South Derry and West Antrim and northern area of Tyrone. Mostly on both sides of the Bann River. I was lucky enough to attend her class in Bellaghy (my home town) when I was four. I remember getting my first dance costume ... blue ... Bellaghy GAA colours! Then, because my daddy was travelling to Belfast on a Wednesday, I moved to Greenlough, just down the road in the opposite direction. No big deal, same teacher but purple costume. And there began a friendship that continued until she died. She married Joe Close, had 4 children, Anne, Thomas, Aileen and Deirdre. Although she hadn't learned her dancing through an Coimsiún (feiseanna), she decided she wanted to compete there and so had to attend classes with a qualified teacher. This meant her taking lessons with Anna McCoy in Belfast. She went on to qualify as a dance teacher and adjudicator. She played piano accordion in the Green Cross Ceili Band, taught dance in all the local primary schools, choreographed concerts and talent competitions, Scoreanna, her dancers involved in feiseanna at local, Ulster and All Ireland level. She was also involved in organising many of these events and found time to have extra practices in her house where she also found the time to bake scones and apple tarts. Phenomenal woman. We learned jigs, reels, slip jigs, hornpipes and many set dances including King of the Fairies. We had no taped music, she lilted everything but for our set dances, she played her accordion. We loved it when she brought it to class. Most of the music we danced to was Scottish Dance Music. I only became aware of that in later years. Our only live dance music was Ceili House on Saturday night on the radio. Makes sense as we lived in the heart of what is now called “Ulster Scots". She taught lots of 2,4,6,8 team dances including a newly composed which we called the Big Twelve!! She encouraged me to teach, sending me off to teach a class of over 100 children in a wee hall outside Portglenone when I was only 16!! Myself and her daughter Anne became her first dancers to qualify as teachers. She has many more since then, including all her own family." These words were written by Mary McGuiggan of Balachy, Co Antrim, N Ireland. 🥾👟🥿 - where to start, and it is a question that comes up time and time again from new dancers, and even proficient dancers will talk endlessly about shoes!
I'd have to start with "Shoes are such a personal thing"! My preferred shoe to dance in, isn't even a dance shoe - bought from TK Max, a discount store here in Ireland. I am a size 40 European, and I found this preferred pair in the men's section. They have leather soles, and make a great sound - from both the soles and the heels (quite low). I had another great pair of shoes that had a hard resin sole and they made a great sound too, I was very sad when they wore out. My advice is to look outside the box - 🙂 I have a pair of "Just for Tap" shoes, that are quite heavy, I tend to use them just for teaching or performance due to the weight. Even after having the sole reduced, most people picking them up would think they are heavy - they came with taps - but I didn't attach the taps, I know a number of Irish dancers who use this shoe. They are quite expensive, and as a consequence I asked my 2 brothers to buy me 1 each for my birthday! The beauty of this more professional / expensive shoe, it will take a long time to wear out. For practice purposes, or if I'm attending a long day of workshops, I like to use a "dance sneaker", they're really comfortable, and make a good sound, here's a link to one site but all the dance accessory sites sell them. The only downside, is that they get a bit hot. Capezio sneaker: I think you would enjoy this video that Siobhan Butler created in 2023: click here Kieran Jordan on shoes: click here Happy dancing everyone! If you have any thoughts/comments/questions, just post them below. 🙂 Margaret Wray (1952 – 2023) These words were written by Margaret in May 2022:
I was born in Bishop Street, Derry in 1952, I started to dance at the age of five, I had seen my cousin dance at my aunt’s house, she had started dance classes and I wanted to go too. I cried until my mother let me go! My teacher was Marie Barrett and the classes were held in the Owen Roe Memorial Hall, in the back lane off Hamilton Street. I was hooked from day one! My two brothers and sisters attended as well but only Liam and myself kept going. By the age of 6 years, I had started dancing at Derry Feis, solo as well as three, four, and eight hand dances. Marie would usually lilt for us, but leading up to the Feis Frank McFadden, a local man from Bishops Street would play for us at the class. I also competed at other Fesianna in the area, Rosnowlagh, Ballinascreen, Buncrana, and Moville. When I was thirteen years of age, I changed dance teacher to Lilian Moore from Derry and continued classes until I was fifteen or sixteen years of age. It was the done thing at that time to stop at that age. I had started to work and there seemed to be no future in continuing to dance, so I stopped. Twenty years later, when I was about thirty six years of age, Frankie Roddy, a well-known dance teacher from Derry returned home from England to live. He started celli dance classes in Pilot’s Row Community Centre and we started to dance in competition including Fleadh Amhran Angus Rinnce in Ballycastle, Co Antrim. The Fleadh had a national traditional step dance competition and I won that in 1992. Around that time, we were invited to dance in Italy and it was there that I met Joe McGuiggan. Joe was from Co Derry originally but was living and working in Derry City, we both shared an interest in the old traditional style of step dancing. From then on, for the past thirty years or so, we have met once a week in my kitchen to practise our dancing. During those years, as well as dancing all our solo dances from our youth, we have expanded our dance we with dances learned from old style dancing teachers throughout Ireland, including Joe O’Donovan, Celine & Michael Tubridy, Tony McNulty and Frankie Roddy. We have learned around fifty distinct reels, jigs, hornpipes and set dances including the Donegal Mazurka, Clap Dance and Maggie Pickie. My dance journey has also introduced me to the sean nós style of dancing and expanded my experience of the diversity of Irish dance. During those years I have had the privilege of dancing throughout Ireland and abroad including France and Italy. For most of those years Joe McGuiggan and myself have taught, together and individually, traditional step dancing in Derry on behalf of the Derry City CCE. I have taught traditional dance to students at the Traditional Music and Dance Academy in the University of Limerick and for years I was resident dance tutor at the Willie Clancy Summer School in Miltown Malby, Co Clare. “Margaret Wray”, deeply missed by all who knew her, may she rest in peace. In 2020, I started to teach traditional Irish solo dancing online to an adult audience - in reality, I had no other option for work - and what an amazing experience it has been. In April of that year, I advertised my first series of classes at 4 levels of tuition and never ever thought that another 11 terms of dance were to follow, with over 150 adults attending since then from around the globe. Zooming in from Ireland, England, Scotland, Britanny, France, Germany, Sweden, Spain, Belgium, Ukraine, Serbia, Lithuania, USA, Canada and Japan! It has been great meeting you all, online and now some of you in person too! So, December 2022 saw our end of term party, and what a great time we had in dance, music and poetry – with some FAB party pieces from: Anne (UK) - a poem Heidi (US) - on the harp with a piece by Turlough O'Carolan Nicole (Germany) - new choreography, in hornpipe time - dressed for the season - see if you can spot her below! The Grüneberg family (Germany) - a mix of tunes We also danced through all of this term’s repertoire from each of the four levels: Level 1 - Slip jig from May Allen, passed to me via Mary McGuiggan Level 2 - Hornpipes from Joe O'Donovan (adding the easy hornpipes first) Level 3 - Dan Furey double jig (from Michael Tubridy’s book 1) Level 4 - Caitlin Nic Gabhann's St Brigid's Day Set Dance - a slip jig And finished with the Little Dutch Dance, also from the Dan Furey repertoire.. Here are a few photos from our evening, and a copy of the presentation created. Enjoy! I hope to see you again in 2023 either online or at one of my in-person initiatives, check my other pages for details. Happy Dancing everyone – Annette 🎶 - view the presentation below - End of Term Party - my 11th term since May 2020, and what a FAB time we had in dance, song, music and poetry – with people attending from around the globe. Here are a few photos from our evening, and a copy of the presentation I gave. We also danced through all of this term’s repertoire from each of the 4 levels and a few extra favourites too. Until the next time, hopefully both in-person and online classes in the Autumn. Happy Dancing Everyone - 😊 #stepwithannette #dance #tradition #percussivedance #irish #online
This memory resurrected itself recently, while chatting / sympathising about the importance of our animal friends ... and how difficult their loss can be. I will let the story unfold ... written in January 2019 when I lost my own pet - Sidiki - his loss left me bereft - "pets, they leave paw prints on your heart". Back in 2019 ... on Thursday evenings I lead a dance session with a friend at the Camphill Community near Belfast, a residential home for adults with learning difficulties. There would be 30-40 participants, including some staff, each enjoying dance in their own way. We get to know the names of those residents who are able to tell us, many are not able to speak. One young man, a tall red-head, comes to every session, he is not able to tell me his name. In the circle-dances he holds my hand too tight, and sometimes he will take his other hand, reach across and pinch the skin on the top of my hand. When he does this, I look at him and wonder ... “what he is trying to say?” I learn to anticipate this and brush his hand away, or distract him in dance. Last night, we were in the circle, he was beside me, we were holding hands, he didn’t try to pinch me, he moved in a different way, he lifted my hand towards his face, it felt wrong to pull away. I had no idea what his next action might be, and wondered to myself ... is he going to try and bite me ... I was glad I had not pulled away as I watched him place the gentlest of kisses on the very spot he usually pinches. At that moment I said to myself ... “he knows my pain”. Just 4 days previous I had to take that terrible decision to put my dog Sidiki to sleep. He was deteriorating quickly from inoperable tumours which had only been discovered two days previously. He had been my companion for 11 years. I was heart-broken. The following day I heard the tragic news that a dear friend, Peter Woods, has also died. Peter’s funeral service was beautiful. He was deeply involved in the Belfast music and dance scene; it was he who asked me to take over the dance session at Camphill – introducing me to my red-haired friend. The pastor gave a wonderful tribute and at the end of the service we all sang ... "Dance, dance, wherever you may be , I am the Lord of the Dance, said He And I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be, and I’ll lead you all in the Dance, said He" Peter was a great animal lover and as reflect on a very difficult time, I take comfort in imagining Peter and Sidiki taking off on a whole new adventure together. I think of music as my oldest, most dearest friend, helping me cope through troubled times - whisking me away to another place, to heal and cope with what is going on around me. In January 2019 I was drawn to the piano once more, to a melody written by Bernard Loffet RIP - Valse à Mary - its sadness mirrored my own life at that time and I wrote this arrangement. ...
"THIS has really gone better than I was expecting" admits Irish dancing teacher Annette Collins of how she's managed to keep on sharing her dance expertise via online means during lockdown. Having become a self-employed dance and music teacher back in 2017, former administrator Annette (55) from Lurgan is one of the many people in our creative and performing arts sector whose livelihood has been severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Annette shows off her skills in the garden. Picture by Hugh Russell The Co Armagh woman teaches piano, whistle, concertina, traditional set dancing and solo step dancing. She has a particular passion for the latter, a percussive discipline related to sean nós dancing where choreographed steps are danced close to the floor, making it ideal for dancers of all ages – indeed, her eldest pupil is in her 90s. When Annette's regular “Step with Annette” classes were cancelled when lockdown began back in March, she decided to try something completely new by setting up weekly solo step dancing classes conducted via Zoom: thus, “Zoom with Annette” was born. "A couple of people had actually asked me about doing it before, but I just didn't have the time to try and figure out the technology involved," she tells me of her usual busy schedule, which involves teaching weekly classes at Lurgan's Town Hall, Belfast's Skainos Centre and at the Camphill Community for adults with learning difficulties in Seapatrick, work with a Parkinson’s Group as well as occasional weekend workshops and open floor events. "So this [lockdown] kind of gave me the time to explore it and get through the learning curve." Annette soon put together a 30 minute introductory solo step dancing tutorial video and uploaded it to YouTube. Although the video was free, she included a Paypal link for voluntary donations – it promptly generated £200. "I was shocked," admits Annette. "That probably spurred me on to set up the Zoom classes." However, it's one thing to teach jigs, reels, hornpipes and slip-jigs on a face-to-face basis in a space designed for such encounters – taking things online from home while attempting to keep her faithful dog Buddy from joining in added a few unfamiliar steps to the process, as Annette soon discovered. "I had many dry runs and people from my dance classes and the dance scene were very helpful with that," she explains. "Probably the hardest thing was just finding a suitable space, but luckily enough the house has wooden floors and I took down a wall last year so that the whole ground floor is open plan. So I was able to rearrange the furniture and now I have almost a little dance studio which I leave set up." "Lighting and audio was a bit difficult, because while Zoom is fine for just chatting, suddenly I needed to talk and play music too." Happily, with a little help from fellow dance teachers in Scotland and America, she was soon ready to put students through their paces three evenings a week across four different levels of competence, complete with 'homework' videos for them to study between lessons. "The advice was great and people were really open to helping," she enthuses of the help she received in order to get her 50 minute classes up and running on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. Annette has got to grips with new technology to keep her dance classes going during lockdown. Picture by Hugh Russell "There was a real feeling of camaraderie and pulling together." However, it seems that teaching to an empty room has taken some getting used to. "You learn by watching from behind, so I'm just teaching away to a white wall like I'm a mad woman," chuckles Annette, who does make a point of also chatting to her students face-to-face from at the beginning and end of each lesson, while also asking for plenty of thumbs up or down feedback along the way. The classes have been hugely successful, helping Annette to reach an international audience. Her Zoom With Annette classes have attracted 38 dance enthusiasts from around Ireland and beyond, including participants from Oxford, Manchester, London, Paris, Britanny, Hamburg, Brussels, Belgrade, Madrid, Ukraine and both US coasts. In fact, she recently had to turn some prospective students away – a big change from the more selective appeal of her classes in Lurgan. "Attendance has been good, but not great," says Annette of the latter, for which she specifically chose Lurgan Town Hall as a 'neutral' venue from which to share her love of step dancing. "I picked it because it's central and I really was hoping that it might be cross-community, but I don't think that has happened really." Annette describes solo step dancing as a "minority sport" even in Ireland. Despite having developed a love of set dancing back in the 1990s before she moved overseas for many years, Annette did not discover solo step until she returned to Ireland in 2006 and decided to attend a beginner's class. She was hooked straight away and began taking weekly classes with BelfastTrad to hone her abilities before striking out in a search for different dances and new teachers. "I think a big part of it's appeal was the rhythmic and percussive qualities," explains Annette, who holds a BA in music from the University of Ulster and has mastered the bassoon, piano, whistle and concertina. "I also like to be active, so it was hitting everything that I like to do. Suddenly I was dancing to my favourite music, and I liked the challenge of it too: they're not natural movements, you have to learn to do them. "Plus, it's a really happy environment. If you go to a solo step workshop, you don't get people who are fed up with life – you're meeting people who want to meet other people and try new things. I would look around to find any weekend festival that had step dancing workshops and I might go for the afternoon or stay overnight. I was just soaking up as much as I could." As a teacher, Annette's enthusiasm for solo step dancing is infectious, making her Zoom classes a relaxed, fun way for folks to give this 'minority sport' a try for the first time or stop themselves getting rusty while regular classes and workshops are unavailable. Since we're all being advised to look after our physical and mental wellbeing during the ongoing lockdown, Zoom With Annette could be ideal for ticking both of these crucial boxes, as she explains: "I push this in all my classes and advertising, that the research is there: dancing is one of the best forms of activities because it keeps the mind alert and the body active," Annette enthuses. With luck, lockdown measures will begin to ease over the coming months and the Lurgan woman can get back to teaching her regular Step with Annette classes. However, it seems that might not mean the end of Zoom With Annette – especially when it comes to her newly acquired foreign students. "I can see this taking off," Annette enthuses of her online activities. "I can see me still doing a little international class for those who want it." See FB.com/stepwithannette for information on “Zoom with Annette” classes and how to sign up www.annettecollins.com #dance #irishdance #percussivedance #traditional #OldStyle #onlineclass #adultclass |
AuthorAnnette is an accomplished dancer and multi-instrumentalist. Blogs to date:
-Joe O'Donovan -Frankie Roddy -Maria Monakova -May Allen Close -Shoes Shoes Shoes! -Margaret Wray -The Dan Furey Group -Xmas party! -Death-Dance-Dogs -Irish News Article -Warning re Dance! -Party time! -Aramco Newsletter -Old Style Step? -Dancing vrs Ageing -Party time 0721 -Old Style Steps Abroad -An Anniversary! -Thanks to my Funders! Archives
June 2024
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