Back to the roots
For a couple of years, I have enjoyed set dancing on a regular basis. In Germany, however, we don't have that many opportunities to attend workshops and ceilis. At Christmas this year the situation was particularly bad: there was no set dancing for two or three weeks. So I decided to help myself and organized a ceili in my own house, like the old tradition in Ireland. As a member of our local dance club in Erlangen and having my own little set dance group, I called up some friends to get one set together for New Year's Day. They all gave me their "Yes" to come to my house, so we had one set and two extras. Some preparations had to be done before. With the help of my family, we pushed the furniture aside, removed the loose woven carpets, revealing a lovely wooden floor. We also moved the Christmas tree into the entrance hall. Finally, I had a picturesque 'Ceili' signpost as a help for my friends to find their way. All was arranged by 5 pm and after wishing everybody a Happy New Year, I started calling the Williamstown Set. Everything went fine and we had a tea and sandwich break after that. We continued dancing the High Cauled Cap. In the end, we finished with the Corofin Plain Set. We were all exhausted but very happy. My windows were steamed up from sweating. We said goodbye by 10 pm, everybody driving home on icy roads. Since Christmas, we had nearly half a meter of snow which stayed on the ground, and temperatures down to minus 20 degrees celsius. So, whatever the weather conditions, we will continue with this Irish tradition in my home.