Besides the ceili's, we danced several Irish Set Dances
in September - including the Caledonian
Most
"sets" are danced with 4 couples in a square
and the maneuvers may include: a house around,
little Christmas, lead around, chain, or dance in
place. (see graphics on the left )
The names of set dances often indicate what region of
Ireland they originated in. The Caledonian
set is from County Clare.
Instructions
for the Caledonian Set Dance:Bill
Lynch of Kilfenora has instructions available online for
all the figures of the Caledonian Set Dance (as
well as many other set dances) so click on this
link and you can learn the
pattern.
Battering
to the Caledonian :You
may have heard Michael
"battering" (making lots of
noise with his fancy footwork ) during the
Caledonian. If you'd like to learn a basic
battering footwork for the Caledonian, jump to
this page Fun
Feet
Sound Sample of the Caledonian in Ireland:here's
what it sounded like in Ennis Ireland with 15
squares, all battering to the Caledonian :
The live music was provided by the Four Courts
Ceili Band. This set dance ceili was held
at the Auburn Lodge on the north side of Ennis
Ireland during their November Trad
Fest. Don't worry about keeping up
with their lively feet - just practice and get
the basic footwork down first.
Video
sample with Battering:
I couldn't find a good video of a Caledonian set dance
online but here's a group dancing the Clare Plain set
with some battering footwork. Normally
its 4 couples, so this small group is only a "half
set".
Caledonian Set Dance
