The Hurling Boys - version 1 - Home Study Course
Old Style Irish Step Dancing is a Living Tradition.
Margaret Wray's version of the Hurling Boys (version 1) - the dance consists of an 8-bar step (repeated) and a 14-bar set (repeated). Please note you can purchase a 2nd version of this dance separately, those who buy both versions will receive an extra video linking both versions together.
Click here to view an autobiography, written in 2022.
Annette received this dance at a workshop in Belfast, lead jointly by Joe McGuiggan and Margaret.
You can watch Margaret dancing another of the set dances at the Willie Clancy Festival here. You can possibly tell from the video that she never liked to perform!
There can be many versions of a set dance, each one from a different dancing master and all danced to the same tune. Dancers regularly dance two versions of a "set dance" back to back, which is twice through the tune.
Part of the beauty of the Irish dance tradition is that it continues to be passed on from one person to the next, one generation to the next.
Level 3 description - for those who have been dancing a while and are ready to start memorising longer and more complicated routines.
Summary - you will receive:
- accompanying notes
- background information
- videos of the step and set broken down, no music
- videos of the step and set with music, at a number of speeds
- a video of the full routine
Annette looks forward to leading you in dance - her reputation as a teacher of traditional dance grew hugely during covid. Her online programme reached as far west as Seattle, and east to Japan - teaching to a growing community of old style dancers from all around the world.
Between May 2020 and December 2023 Annette delivered 14 courses of dance, at 4 levels - including beginners - as well as private online classes and workshops.
Annette is currently running new initiatives in dance, in her home town of Lurgan (Co Armagh) and in Belfast (Co Antrim); as well a relatively new series of solo dance workshops in the Cobblestone in Dublin - which are repeated online shortly after the in-person event.
Also available in the shop - recordings of Garden of Daisies - Jockey to the Fair - King of the Fairies, recorded and arranged by Annette - sheet music also available.
"Research has proven that dance is one of the best forms of activity for keeping the body active and the mind alert."
