6th Midsummer Irish Set Dance Weekend (Violau, Germany)

Here we go again!

I know that "blogs" are supposed to be "diaries", which means you can read new articles daily, but this one is a bit different. However, I have to say I feel exactly the same like 4 months ago after the Erlangen weekend. It doesn´t really matter if it is Erlangen or Violau, I guess it always makes you feel a bit sad and a bit consufed and really happy, when back home. I parked my car in Prague on Sunday at 10PM, and despite being awfully tired, I couldn´t fall asleep, because my entire body was still swinging and battering. On Monday, I tried to focus on my everyday life, failed, and decided to create another "set dance weekend article", as a way how to finally move my mind from Germany back to the Czech republic...But not to get lost in my thoughts, let´s start!

Our group was a bit different that time. Tereza and Markéta stayed at home and instead of them Gabriela joined us. Now it was her first time, so I could describe her my own feelings. But actually, I have to admit I really didn´t feel more confident just because I knew what was going on. I skipped many dance classes because of my university entrance exams and CAE exam this spring, so I was really nervous, because the only set I was sure about was still - yes, Ballyvourney Jig. 

Apart from people on our team, we changed a driver as well. Er, the only reason I´m mentioning it is that I was the driver, and maybe I feel a need for boasting a bit, because it was my first journey longer than 2 hours. Talking about driving, we arrived to Violau with great timing, right for dinner. I was really glad to see that everything is at one place. Our room, ballroom for workshops and ceilis, dining room...Knowing that you could eat your breakfast (almost) in pyjamas is just great! But maybe I should stop talking about food and describe our dance lessons.

To be honest - I don´t remember our Friday ceili much. And I swear I didn´t even touch any glass of wine. Maybe I was just tired after the driving plus I was trying to remember the new faces, recall all the figures...But I can proudly say that the very first set of the weekend was Clare Lancers and I didn´t make any mistake! That information will probably make more sense after mentioning how lost I was in Erlangen during the Carnival night. To sum up, we ended up in bed after midnight and after a really long time I felt the mixture of doziness, tiredness and euphoria, which helped me to fall asleep immediately. I was looking forward to a nice long sleep, with my alarm clock set on 8:45.

Unfortunatelly, my plans were ruined at 7:46, when an old jazz CD started playing. And it kept on playing for an hour. I was told afterwards that it was because of the boy choir. We saw that group of about twenty little eight year old boys, who were staying at the same venue, the evening before. I thought they were cute. But I wasn´t that sure on Saturday morning.

After breakfast, the first workshop with Gerard Butler took place. I really enjoyed his way of teaching, and I´m already missing his "lovely stuff, well done". Frankly, I can´t tell you the names of all sets we went through during the two Saturday workshops, but what amused me was a hornpipe figure in Kilkenny Lancers with "throwing the ladies". During the evening ceili I paid attention to be a gent in that set. 

But I´m skipping my storyline again. We (I mean me, Jana and Gabriela) found a while between dinner and ceili for a short walk in the village. Well, we wanted it to be a long walk, but we somehow accidentally fell asleep after the afternoon workshop...anyhow, it was lovely! And I mean it! The atmosphere of tiny German village during the early evening, with all of those stables, nice houses, grass-plots...it is really unforgetabble. And  I am glad girls forced me to get up. 

Maybe you´re wondering how is it possible that I haven´t mentioned any delay yet, because the Erlangen article was full of our late arrivals...well, here we go. We were 15 minutes late for the evening ceili, but fortunatelly, we missed only one set. Well, I missed, girls joined one group in the middle of it. The whole evening was brilliant, magnificent, splendid, wonderful...is that enough? :) I was taught to be abble to use many different synonyms for one situaton...No, seriously. Johnny Reidy Ceili Band did an amazing job. Maybe it´s because I´m still new in this world, but I really appreciated how they were in touch with the dancers. I had a feeling it was not just a music, it was like they were giving a pieces of their hearts or at least their mood in it. It might sound like a cliché, but it´s true. Actually, I enjoyed everything. The music, the Spanish Jive, the second half of Ballyvourney Jig with Andrea (thanks for the little bag once more!), the waltz (thanks for the dance...) and in the end, two slices of melon before we went to bed after midnight. I have no idea who placed it there, but there is a big THANK YOU! 

Though I was dozing off on our short way back to our room, I couldn´t sleep well that night. You must know it - you´re swinging, and housing, and advancing, and retiring, and ladies-chaining...etc etc. But after all these dreams full of dancing, I woke up fresh and ready for the Sunday programme (with a little shadow of sadness - the last day). We spent our workshop with Rinkinstown, which I had done twice before, once in Prague and once in Erlangen, so I enjoyed watching the others and the feeling that I don´t have to panic when a music starts playing.

It was interrupted by a little surprise - remember the boy choir? They all came to sing for us and it was just...indescribable. I had goose bumps for like 5 minutes. I made a huge silent apology for complaining about the CD playing last morning. They were just sweet. After a big applause, we all danced the Spanish Jive with them, which was really really nice. Even though they apparently didn´t share our opinion. Mostly. 

And here comes the time for a last (maybe) paragraph, dealing with the last ceili. Well, I already have swung really fast before, but the swing in Ballyvourney that afternoon, I thought I would fly. Like literally! Then I managed to dance most of the sets without really thinking about them, which is a big plus I think. Unfortunatelly, Plain Set, which was the very last one, is not my cup of tea. And I´m afraid it was obvious. I just hope that those of you who were watching us had fun. After that little fiasco (even though Jana tried very hard to organize us), the time for long and endless applauding came. For Sabine and Diana, who organized the weekend, for Johnny Reidy Ceili Band, for Gerard, for Sabine and Diana, for Johnny Reidy Ceili Band...but what can you do when you know they totally deserve it? You just clap and clap and clap and think "wow, they really did a great job".

I was thinking about some nice closing paragraph. The paragraph that would end my whole article nicely, in a natural way. Slowly. But then I realized that the weekend DIDN´T end slowly, naturaly and nicely. It just happened, immediately, although I didn´t want it to end. So it´s impossible to create an ending like this. All I can say is thank you for reading, and I hope to see you all soon! Actually, I hope to see you all in August, when Bernard´s Summer School takes place! Are you planning to come? Leave a comment! Well, you don´t have to, but I found out that it´s really "in" to end your blog article with "leave a comment"...

Whatever,
keep swinging!
Barbora

Irish Set Dance meets Carnival - Erlangen 2013

Hi everyone!

This is my first blog in English, but I quess except language everything is the same. Before I briefly introduce myself – I have to ask all native speakers and well-educated non-native speakers to overlook my mistakes. Especially my friendship with articles, prepositions and word order doesn´t work very well sometimes.

To begin with – my name is Barbora (call me Bara), I´m 19, I´m Czech and I accidentaly fell in love with set dancing. For those of you who haven´t heard that term before: it´s a traditional kind of irish dancing which is mostly danced in pubs with your friends to the lovely irish music. But I suppose you are reading this because you found my link on the Facebook page of Erlangen 2013, and that probably means you know much more about set dancing than I do.

As I said, I became a keen fan of this activity. And it happened recently. To be concrete – last weekend in Erlangen, where „Irish Set Dance meets Carnival“ took place. I have been doing set dancing since September 2012. We have a group of aproximately 16 set dancers in Prague and we practise every Monday evening. I always liked it. But I found the real deeper meaning of this hobby in Bayern among all of the international dancers and it charmed me that much that I decided to create a blog and write a review of the whole weekend, which is going to be a little „thank you“ to Andrea Forstner and her family for organizing such a great event. So – here we go!

We set off from Prague on Friday at 2 o´clock in the afternoon (a bit later than planned). When I say we, I mean me and my three friends Markéta, Jana and Tereza. Well, I should probably say me, my friend Markéta and my two dance teachers Jana and Tereza, but I guess it won´t cause me any troubles to use the shorter form. :D We arrived at Fürth after three hours of driving – the place where was our lovely, small, tiny and familiar hotel.

Frankly, I really started to be nervous at that time. Girls were talking about the different sets they like or don´t like, they were discussing the difficult ones (such as Clare Lancers and one particular figure that caused me many problems during the ceili carnival) and they were looking forward to their international friends.

My only memorized set was Ballyvourney Jig and the only people I knew were sitting in the same car… But the amtosphere and dancers were so much friendly and familiar when we arrived at Erlangen that all my stress just fade away during the first workshop with Tony Ryan. I don´t have any experience with any other foreign teacher so I can´t compare him to anyone, but I can definitely say I enjoyed the way he lead all the workshops. It seemed to me like he was a magical grandfather from some children fairytale, because of his kind voice and the way how he got our attention back after each set.

First evening, we practised basic steps for each rhythm, such as reel, jig and hornpipe, and learned the South Galway set. Then there was an hour and half for dinner and the first ceili in my life was about to begin. I must thank my girls who didn´t leave me alone in this and spent the first ceili with me, so I could see that no one really cares whether you know each figure in each set or not, and relax a bit. We did 8 sets (Corofin Plain, South Galway Reel, Cashel, Claddagh, Ballyvourney Jig – yippie!, Moycullen, Sliabh Luchra and Connemara). The night was going on and on, guys from the Abbey Ceili Band were playing amazing, lively and energetic music and I didn´t know how, but the midnight and the end of the ceili came suddenly. We ended our first day with a big aplause. 

When we got to our car after midnight, we realized our GPS had broken down somehow. But guess what? We found our way to the centre of Fürth without any map, without any help and without any straying. In the blizzard and after a really tiring night. If anyone ever says girls have bad sense of locality, I´ll definitely kill him.

During the morning workshop on Saturday we learned Fermanagh and Rinkinstown set, which we had done in Prague before, but in Erlangen I realized it is completely confusing to change your position from tops to sides in this set. In the middle of the workshop came the great surprise – lunch! Thomas and Michael had prepared a smart system of ordering meals so all of us were able to make our lunch in an hour and half long break. To be honest, I really wanted to go to bed after a delicious minestrone soup and césar salad, but there was no extra place for sleeping during the whole weekend. At two o´clock the next ceili started and I tried for the first time how it is to dance in a set full of people you´ve never seen before. And guess what? It´s fun! As everything connected to set dancing. After Skibbereen, Clare Orange and Green, Fermanagh, Boyne, Rascahill and Mazurka came the 4-hour long break before Carnival Ceili.

What do you think? Are four hours enough to prepare for a carnival? I mean are they enough for 4 girls about twenty? Apparently not, according to our delayed arrival. But this time it was easier for us to mingle with the guest because a lot of people were wearing masks as well. By the way, there were some of them I really couldn´t recognize! And Tony as a cook was absolutely briliant. 

It was about half past nine when Andrea proudly announced their „Bayrish performance“. I had known before that there had been some surprise prepared for us, but I didn´t expect such a funny one. I can remember the melody of the song up to now and I think it will be in my head for really long time! Hats off for that performance which really made the atmosphere even better (if it is possible). The ceili went on with Plain Reel, Borlin, Antrim Square, Labasheeda, BVJ, Kilfenora Plain, West Kerry, Connemara and the final one: Clare Lancers. To be honest – I have never been so much dissappointed as during the fifth figure of that set. Never. I mean – everyone was shouting at me „go right, with the other ladies!“, but how could I know where is right and where is left at that moment? But despite being so much lost, it was fun as never before as well. Yes, one gin and tonic might have helped it a little bit, but only a little. We ended our carnival ceili late after the midnight with taking a picture with 4 monks and then drove home for another short and insufficient sleep.

Getting up on Sunday morning took us slightly longer time than the day before. We also had to pack everything and leave the hotel, so we arrived just a few minutes before the tea break. But Christian greeted us with a smile and a sentence „Hello girls! Great to see you, you are here right at the time, lunch will be ordered in a few minutes!“ and that comforted us. In the second half of the last workshop we tried how it feels to be a demostration set and we enjoyed that very much, even though I was a bit nervous. This was followed by another delicious lunch and the last ceili came. We danced just two sets which hadn´t been danced before: Calledonian and Balingeary. At half past 4 Tony called the last set of our weekend – the Connemara set. When the euphoria from dancing and from final (huuuge) ovation melted away I started to feel really sad. 

There were just 3 more hours in Erlangen left for us. We spent the first one in the beautiful, lovely and freezing city centre and then we moved to the brewery, where we talked with the rest of Andrea´s family for a while, danced our final Ballyvourney Jig in front of everyone…and after that great experience? Time to the last goodbye came. I felt really doleful because I met many new great people and the programme was so appealing, that I enjoyed every single second.

I would like to end my article (which is probably longer than it should be) with my final big “THANK YOU, ANDREA FORSTNER & FAMILY“. Your „Irish Set Dance meets Carnival“ changed one ordinary girl into a dedicated and enthusiastic set dancer.

PS: Those of you who were in Erlangen, are you planning to attend any other set dance weekend this year? Augsburg? Copenhagen? I´d like to know where I can meet you again, so please leave comments!