Eglish National School

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Eglish National School

• This is our DVD about Irish music and dancing.
• All of the music and dancing you see are
  performed in school by Eglish pupils.
• We hope you enjoy it.

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The Beginning

• The history of Irish dance begins with just a few
  references in ancient texts. Evidence reveals
  that the druids were among the first dancers in
  Ireland. Their dances were an integral part of
  their religious rituals honoring the sun and the
  oak tree. Remnants of these early dances survive
  in the ring dances that are still performed
  today.T

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Ceili Dance

• Traditional dances, or ceili dances, include
  sword dances, round dances, line dances and
  progressive line dances. The Normans are credited
  with bringing the round dance to Ireland in the
  12th century. The Rince Fada or long dance is
  actually a family of line dances that was brought
  by the Normans. The Carol was another of these
  dances brought by the Normans when an Irish town
  was conquered, the dance would be performed by
  the Norman invaders. In this dance, the leader
  sang, and the dancers in a ring around him sang
  the song back to him.

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Dance Masters and Step Dancing

• Dance masters were first mentioned in "A Tour in
  Ireland, 1776-1779" written by Arthur Young. Each
  dance master would travel to different houses in
  his area teaching dances and steps to the local
  youth. Dance masters standardized the solo steps
  for jigs, reels, hornpipes and slipjigs. Step
  dances emerged in the late 18th century, created
  by the dance masters. These dances, along with
  the ceili dances, were often performed at
  weddings, patron's and saint's days, annual
  festivals and Sunday gatherings.

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Set Dances

• Set dances are a category of step dancing. These
  dances evolved from quadrilles which came from
  the French court. The dance masters changed them
  to fit Irish music, and elaborated on the steps
  so that they could showcase their dancing skills.
  Unlike ceili dances, which have been made uniform
  throughout the country, these dances have
  regional differences. In 1936 the Catholic Church
  tried to wipe out these dances using the Public
  Dance Hall Act, but they survived in homes and at
  local gathering places

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Dances Made Irish

• There are several dances that do not have their
  origins in Ireland but are now performed as
  traditional Irish dances. Among these are
  couple's dances and waltzes. The round dance and
  the quadrille are also imports made Irish. "Shoe
  the Donkey," "Stacks of Barley," the "Gay
  Gordons" and "Schottische" are among the imports
  regularly performed at ceilis. This amalgamation
  of dances and styles has led to beautiful dances
  such as "St. Margaret's Waltz" and the "Pride of
  Erin."

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The Gaelic League

• Due to the Public Dance Hall Act of 1936,
  traditional dance was nearly lost. This act
  specified that all dancing events had to be
  licensed. The Gaelic League helped to save
  Ireland's tradition of dance as part of the
  efforts to help restore the sense of Irish
  national identity. In 1897 the League held their
  first ceili in London. At this event there was
  Irish music and singing, step dances and waltzes.
  After this event the ceili spread to Ireland, and
  to Irish communities globally. Ceili events have
  since become a matter of national pride and
  identity.

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Irish dances

• The following are traditional Irish dances
  performed by pupils at Eglish National School,
• Ahascragh,
• Ballinasloe,
• Co. Galway
• Ireland

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Gay Gordons

• Irish dance danced to any march. Left hand to
  left hand in front of couple right hand of man to
  right of lady over her right shoulder. Direction
  of dance counter clockwise around hall. Basically
  a walking dance with four spins by lady.
• 1st Part
• Start forward on left foot with left, right, left
  and then shift on with walking backwards.
  Continuing in same direction (though walking
  backwards) , with left, right, left, then shift
  on right and walk forward with left, right, left,
  right.
• 2nd Part
• Lady spins holding man's hand over head, right
  hand to right hand, 4 spins eight bars of music,
  two bars to each spin, ends with weight of each
  on right foot. Start part 1 sequence again on
  left foot.
• Continue until music stops.

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Shoe the Donkey

• Shoe The Donkey
• Lady on right. Holds left hand to left, right
  to right in front direction counter clockwise
  around floor. This is a forward, turn and return
  dance. All action is on outside foot (lifting and
  stamping). Inside foot hops continually.

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• 1st Part
• Hop 2-3, hope 2-3, hop-turn-2-3 Stamp on 4
  outside foot (note all hops are on inside foot).
  Note, having turned, inside and outside feet are
  now reversed. Repeat sequence three times more.
  Total of four turns. Total eight bars of music.

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• 2nd Part
• Hop-turn 2-3 stamp on 4 on outside foot. This
  sequence is repeated seven more times. total of
  eight turns. Total eight bars of music.
• Repeat part 1 and 2 until music stops

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• The Walls of Limerick.
• The Walls of Limerick is a dance commemorating
  the victory of the people of Limerick over the
  forces of King William of England in the 17th
  Century. The repulse of William the Third from
  Limerick in 1690 is one of the most treasured
  memories of the Irish people and is to this day
  continually before them. Songs are still sung
  about the famous victory, and orations delivered.
  

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• If you go to a céilí an Irish evening of
  song and dance and story-telling you may dance
  The Walls of Limerick.
• The Walls of Limerick is a dance
  commemorating the siege of Limerick, which took
  place in 1690.
• Symbolically you will make the circuit of the
  walls, passing from partner to fresh partner.

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•   At the start, the dancers line up in couples,
  girl on boy's right, each set of two couples
  facing each other. It is danced to reel-time, and
  consists of four movements as followsThis is
  only the floor pattern walk only. Girl on the
  right of boy. Walk forward, walk back x 2. 2
  opposite 2

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• Right shoulder leading in cross overs. Ladies
  cross to each others place. Boys cross to each
  others place. Walk with opposite partner out to
  the sides and return.Walk around with own
  partner.Repeat formation using appropriate dance
  steps.Take right hand to the sides.

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• Walk a circle, anti-clockwise around opposite
  circle.Advance and retire using 1,2,3's. Cross
  over using side step.Out to sides using side
  step. Circle around using 1,2,3's.After
  circling, couples must finish up facing the
  direction they started the dance in.

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The Siege of Ennis

• Background 
• Ennis is a town in County Clare on the west
  side of Ireland.  This dance represents the
  battle when Ennis was under siege.  The dance is
  known as a progressive dance because the dancers
  move forward to meet a new line of dancers on
  each repetition of the dance sequence.In the
  advance and retreat(or retire) portion of the
  dance, one can imagine a battle taking place,
  followed by a rearrangement of forces, a
  confrontation or struggle, then a moving on to
  begin again.

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• Formation Lines of  four dancers facing each
  other. Dancers are organized in partners standing
  side by side.

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• Irish songs and Ballads

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Star of the County Down love at first sight

• The Star of the County Down is a story of love at
  first sight involving a young man who sees a
  beautiful young girl while out walking.
• He first sees her as she walks down a boreen a
  small country lane one summer morning.
• She has bare feet so she is a poor girl but that
  doesnt diminish her beauty.
• In fact, she is so stunning that the singer has
  to shake himself to make sure he is actually
  standing there and not dreaming.

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Óró Sé do Bheatha Bhaile Irish rallying call 

• Óró Sé do Bheatha Bhaile had been rallying call
  for Irish nationalism for nearly 300 years. It
  was widely used as a marching tune for Irish
  rebels taking part in the 1916 Easter Rising and
  has remained popular ever since.
• In 2006, it was put before a worldwide audience
  when it was featured in the misty, atmospheric
  marching scene in the Ken Loach film, The Wind
  That Shakes the Barley.

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• There are two versions of this song. The one
  you are about to hear is the Padraig Pearse
  version, and is sung by the pupils of Eglish
  National School senior classes.
• It sings of Granuaile, the famous pirate
  queen, who became a symbol of Irish rebellion
  against English rule.

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The Bog Down In The Valley O

• (Also known as The Rattlin Bog, or The Rathlin
  Bog)
• This is an Irish folksong, played in this DVD by
  Alana Mulry on the tin whistle.
• The tin whistle is a traditional Irish instrument
  and comes in the key of C or D

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The Nightingale

• The Nightingale(A Traditional folk song)
• Sung by Ciara Cusack

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Galway Girl

• Galway Girl or The Galway Girl is a song
  written by Steve Earle and recorded with Irish
  musician Sharon Shannon, which was featured on
  Earle's 2000 album Transcendental Blues. A cover
  version of the song by Mundy and Shannon reached
  number one and became the most downloaded song of
  2008 in Ireland.

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• On this DVD, The Galway Girl is sung by
  Geraldine and Nora Corcoran

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The Dawning of the Day

• (Irish Fáinne Geal an Lae, literally "The bright
  ring of the day") is the name of two old Irish
  airs. "Fáinne Geal an Lae" (sometimes called "The
  Golden Star"), an air composed by the
  harpist Thomas Connellan in the 17th Century.

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• The Irish-language lyrics of "Fáinne Geal an Lae"
  describe an Aisling or vision poem, (a poetic
  genre that developed during the late 17th and
  18th centuries in Irish language poetry) where
  the poet encounters a mysterious beautiful woman.
  In this case, she upbraids him as a frivolous
  rake and points to the approaching dawn.

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• On this DVD the melody of The Dawning of the
  Day is played on the tin whistle by Kevin Mulry

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• There is a booklet accompanying this DVD which
  gives the history and other information on all of
  the dances and pieces of music mentioned in it.
• It has been fun for us to put this together,
  and we hope you enjoy watching our DVD and
  reading the booklet.