SNNW & PCS Join this February!

Portland Ceili Society and Sean-nos NorthWest join together for a weekend of Irish culture. 

5^th Annual Sean-nós Northwest Festival February 17^th, 18^th  and 19^th 2012

PPAA & Multnomah Village, Portland, OR 

www.seannos.org

The 5th annual Sean-nós Northwest festival returns to Portland, Oregon for the third weekend of February 2012.  SNNW aims to promote and educate the community at large on the sean-nós or “old-style” of interpretive percussive dance and unaccompanied song.  These art forms, both emanating from the Irish Gaelic speaking adistricts of Ireland, are rather apart from the stage craft of the many ubiquitous Irish dance shows touring the globe today.  You are invited to come and witness the remarriage of music, song and dance during this weekend-long celebration featuring workshops, performances, and sessions open to the public!

The festival opens Friday night with a dance at the PPAA, 618 SE Alder Street and continues Saturday and Sundazy with events held at the Multnomah Arts Center, 7688 SW Capitol Hwy and the Lucky Labrador Public House, 7675 SW Capitol Hwy. The festival will conclude with a concert on Sunday, 7pm at the Lucky Labrador.  

The Friday night ceili is sponsored by the Portland Ceili Society. The band for then evening will be Sean McComiskey, Bob Soper, Elizabeth Nicholson and Chaning Dodson. Also joining them for performance will be all the SNNW festival artists. It's a ceili not to be missed. 

Heading the weekend of festivities will be singer Micheál Ó Cuaig and dancer Ronan Regan, both natives of County Galway located in the culturally rich west of Ireland.  Micheál, from Cill Chiaráin in Connemara, is a singer, poet and retired educator who currently organizes the annual Féile Joe Einniú—a festival celebrating the life of Joe Heaney, a highly respected sean-nós singer who spent a considerable amount of time in the Pacific Northwest before his death in 1984.  Micheál has also served as Sean-Nós Singer in Residence at the Centre for Irish Studies at the National University of Ireland in Galway, where he helped promote the traditions of his upbringing.  Ronan, from the thriving art center of Galway City, is a dancer, fiddler and educator who has toured extensively, promoting the tradition of sean-nós dancing throughout Europe and North America.  He has also produced two instructional sean-nós dancing DVDs and in 2012 won the All-Ireland Sean-nós Dance competition at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann hosted in Co. Cavan.       

 Also headlining the festival will be Traolach Ó Riordáin and Seán McComiskey.  Traolach, a native of County Cork in the south of Ireland, will be featured as this year’s premiere Irish language instructor.  Holding a PhD in Irish Literature from the National University of Ireland, he has taught at the University of Notre Dame as well as the University of Montana where he helped establish a program of Irish Studies.  He has lived in Missoula, Montana for over a decade now promoting the Irish language at the community and university level.  Seán McComiskey, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, is the son of famed button accordionist Billy McComiskey.  Having learned under the tutelage of his father, Seán’s personal musical style has afforded him many great accolades as a performer and teacher at some North America’s most prominent music festivals and concert halls.  He currently performs with fiddler Cleek Schrey and sean-nós dancers Kieran Jordan and Shannon Dunne as The Kitchen Quartet.

Seán Williams, lecturer of Ethnomusicology and Irish Studies at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington and Bob Burke, lecturer of Irish language at Marylhurst University in Portland, Oregon will be joined by a host of local professionals including sean-nós dancer and instructor Maldon Meehan, singer and recent president of the Portland Folk Music Society David Ingerson and public speaker Kimberly Goetz to round out the weekend festivities, which joyously celebrate the cultural richness of Ireland.  

Press page with photos, videos and bios. 

http://seannos.org/press.html

Dance Workshops with Patrick O'Dea

Monday February 13, 2012

Irish Set Dancing Workshop, 7:00pm

Collins View Dance and Art School

318 SW Palatine Hill Rd, Portland, OR

Admission: cash only please  $10 per person with pre-registration , $15  at door  

(Student w/school ID: $5 per person with pre-registration or $10 day of event)

Contact: For additional info call:   Betty Woerner  (503) 244-1593 or  Judy Russell (503) 452-7544  

Shoes: Low heels with smooth/slick soles best, avoid gym/running shoes if possible

Irish Old-style Step Dance Workshop, 3:30pm

Stomptown Collective AudioCinema Building 226 SE Madison Street, Portland, OR

Admission: $15 general, $10 studio members

Contact: Maldon Meehan (503) 206-9311

Patrick O'Dea of Roscommon Ireland will be in Portland for one night only to teach Traditional Irish Set Dances and Old-style step dance. Set are lively Irish dances similar to square dances. Patrick has taught throughout Europe, Japan, Ireland, the US, and is a regular instructor at the Willie Clancy Summer Festival in Ireland. Beginners are encouraged to join the fun.  No experience needed, all dancing taught and called. His vast experience and humorous personality will get your feet moving in the right direction. Patrick is highly regarded for his Munster style footwork & keeps the old set dancing traditions alive by generously passing steps on. Come learn a dance or two and have a lot of fun!



From Wikipedia:

"Stepdancing as a modern form is descended directly from old-style step dancing. There are several different forms of stepdancing in Ireland… but the style most familiar to the public at large is the Munster, or southern, form, which has been formalised by An Coimisiún le Rincí Gaelacha—the Irish Dancing Commission. Irish step dancing is primarily done in competitions, public performances or other formal settings."


"Old-Style step dancing
Old-style step dancing is a tradition related to, yet distinct from, sean-nós dancing, though it is sometimes called "Munster-style sean-nós". Old-style step dancing evolved in the late 18th and early 19th century from the dancing of traveling Irish dance masters. The dance masters slowly formalised and transformed both solo and social dances. Modern masters of old-style step dancing style can trace the lineage of their steps directly back to 18th century dancers.

The Irish dance masters refined and codified indigenous Irish dance traditions. Rules emerged about proper upper body, arm, and foot placement. Also, dancers were instructed to dance a step twice—first with the right foot then with the left. Old-style step dancers dance with arms loosely (but not rigidly) at their sides. They dance in a limited space. There is an emphasis on making percussive sound with the toes. The Irish dance masters of this period also choreographed particular steps to particular tunes in traditional music creating the solo set dances such as the Blackbird, St. Patrick's Day, and the Job of Journey Work, which also persist in Modern Irish Step Dancing. In this context, "set dance" signifies a separate tradition from the social dance tradition also called set dance."

Mícheál Ó Domhnaill Documentary

This Sunday January 29th the Alberta Street Public House is a showing of a video documentary of Micheal O Domhnailll. There will be two showings on at 4pm and 7pm.

Alberta Street Pubic House
1036 NE Alberta Street, Portland

About Micheal
http://www.michealodomhnaill.com/

Benefit Concert in support of Finn Mac Ginty

Musician, actor and voice artist Finn Mac Ginty comes from Coole in county Westmeath. After moving from Japan, Finn and his wife, Tamara, lived in Seattle from the late 1980s until 2007, when he moved back to Ireland. While in the Northwest, he played with many local musicians, and in the bands The Suffering Gaels and Setanta.

On December 18th of last year, Finn suffered a fall at his new home in Cloughjordan, county Tipperary, resulting in a severe brain injury. After a couple of weeks at Beaumont hospital in Dublin, where he underwent surgeries and was treated for his injury, Finn is now being cared for at the hospital in Tullamore. He has not regained consciousness since the accident.



January 29, 2012 at 5:00 PM
The Tractor Tavern, 5213 Ballard Avenue NW, Seattle, WA


Feb. 5, 2012 at 4pm
Alberta Street Public House, 1036 NE Alberta Street, Portland, OR

Please do come along and show your support. Suggested donation is $20.

January Ceili

Event: The January Irish Ceili Dance

When: Friday January 20, 2012 Lessons at 8:00 PM, Dance at 9:00 PM

Location Name: PPAA
Address: 618 SE Alder Street

City and Zip Code: Portland OR 97214

Cost: $8 students/seniors, $10 general admission
Daytime Information: 503-701-3777
Nighttime Information: 503-701-3777

Event Description: Hanz Araki (Irish flute), and a troupe of great musicians will play for dancers and lovers of traditional Irish music. Join us for an evening of revelry. No partner or experience required. All dances are taught and called. Come at 8pm for the lesson, stay till midnight for the fun and frivolity.

The Portland Ceili Society is a 501(c)3 not for profit organization whose mission is to promote, preserve, educate and encourage the practice of traditional Irish dance, song and music in the Portland metropolitan area.

December Ceili

When: Friday December 16, 2011 Lessons at 8:00 PM, Dance at 9:00 PM

 Location Name: PPAA

Address: 618 SE Alder Street

City and Zip Code:  Portland OR 97214

Cost: $8 students/seniors, $10 general admission

No Registration Required

Daytime Information: 503-701-3777

Nighttime Information: 503-701-3777

Event Description:  Dave Cory will bring his banjo to play for dancers and lovers of traditional Irish music. Join us for an evening of Christmas revelry. No partner or experience required. Stay in shape this holiday season. All dances are taught and called. Come at 8pm for the lesson, stay till midnight for the fun and frivolity.

The Portland Ceili Society is a 501(c)3 not for profit organization whose mission is to promote, preserve, educate and encourage the practice of traditional Irish dance, song and music in the Portland metropolitan area.

November 18, 2011 Ceili

This month's dance will be a food drive for the Oregon Food Bank. We are asking that each of you bring 3 cans of food to the ceili on November 18th. We hope to raise at lease 300 cans of food.

County Offaly native Felim Egan (button accordion), University of Limerick graduate Eric Killops (fiddle) and Portland’s own Teresa Baker (penny whistle and keyboard) play for dancers and lovers of traditional Irish music. Join us for an evening of revelry. No partner or experience required. Get in shape for the holidays. All dances are taught and called. Come at 8pm for the lesson, stay till midnight for the fun and frivolity.

Félim Egan was born in 1972 in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway and raised in Cloghan, Co. Offaly (west Offaly). His dad has a passion for music and encouraged him to play He began lessons at the age of four with his father and then with a local Offaly fiddler Dan Cleary. He comes from a family of 5 children all well accomplished musicians. In his youth he the drummer in the Clochan Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann Ceili Band as well as competing in solo fleadh competitions on the Button accordion, Bodhrian and ceili drumming. In 1993 he moved to Portland, OR where he started doing his first gigs with Bob Soper and Aidan Brennan and playing at Mikey Beglan's East Avenue Tavern session.

Friday November 18, 2011 Lessons at 8:00 PM, Dance at 9:00 PM
PPAA, Address: 618 SE Alder Street, Portland OR 97214
$8 students/seniors, $10 general admission