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Upcoming Gigs

ST PATRICK'S DAY! Saturday, March 17th, at Llywelyn's on the corner of Main St. and Jefferson St, St Charles, MO

I help organize a ceili for set dancing. They are held at The Folk School in Maplewood, MO, and at Connections to Success in St Charles, MO. -- You can find the schedule here -- 

3rd Sundays I host a traditional Irish music session at Picasso's Coffeehouse 2-5pm on the corner of Main St and Jefferson St, St Charles, MO

I can also often be found playing at the Irish session at

Riley's Pub, Wednesday nights at 9:30pm, corner of Arsenal Ave. and Arkansas St, St Louis

More info about the session here

Some of my music has been published

Irish Set Dancing

Ceili (KAY-lee) noun: The name for the event that you attend in order to participate in Irish set dancing. example: I really love set dancing. I can't wait to get to the ceili tonight.

Ceilis take place on the 1st and 3rd Friday of every month, 8-11pm at The Folk School at 3155 Sutton Blvd, Maplewood, MO.


And on the "opposite Saturdays", 8-11pm at Connections to Success at 1701 N. 2nd St, St Charles, MO.


What "opposite Saturdays" means:

There will always be a ceili at Connections to Success eight days after a ceili at The Folk School. This is usually 2nd and 4th Saturdays, but not always. You will find a calendar at the bottom of this page.

The only cost will be a voluntary donation that will simply be used to support the ceili.

 

Judi Holroyd has started teaching set dancing in New Town, St Charles.

1st & 3rd Wednesdays 7-9pm @ The New Town Town Hall, 3300 Rue Royale St, St Charles, MO

I have set up a facebook group as a way for those interested in joining to communicate with each other. St Louis Irish Set Dancers

What is Set Dancing?

Set dancing is a form of social dancing which has been popular in Ireland for over 150 years. Sets are danced by four couples in a square. They are descended from the French quadrilles, and English country dances, and are therefore a relative of American square dances and contra dances.

What it is not:
Step dancing. In no way whatsoever does this look anything like Riverdance.

Why you might want to do it:
It’s a lot of fun. It is truly a social dance. It definitely counts as exercise. Set dancers tend to be nice people who like having fun, and you probably want more people like this in your life.



Below is a video showing what set dancing looks like. These are the people that I first learned to dance with when I lived in New Orleans.

 

 

I am also looking for musicians who are interested in playing for these ceilis. All that's really required is that you know how to play a few jigs and reels and keep up at a reasonable tempo. The video below is from the same group of people dancing at one of their regular ceilis. The band is just the local session players that anyone can sit in with and is a good example of what I would like this ceili to look like one day, and what is expected of musicians interested in playing.

 

 

The links below are PDFs of written instructions for the sets I have taught so far.

Ballyvourney Jig

Caledonian

Cashel

Clare Lancers

Corofin Plain

Mazurka

South Galway