About Me
Set Dancing , Sean Nos Dancing, Waltz , Jive , Two Hand Dancing are the type of dances i teach.I teach classes weekly in County's Roscommon, Leitrim and Sligo to both children and adults.below are some reviews of workshops iv given in the past.www.setdancingnews.netEnnistymon, Co ClareSaturday morning the workshop with Gerard Butler began at 10.30am. There were nine full sets to begin, and I really thought after the hour, the dancing and the craic last evening, it was a large group of dancers, but by the time he had taught the first figure of the Atha Caoire Set, a new set from West Cork, there were twelve sets of serious dancers on the floor! This set was lovely and consisted of figures called the ring, slide, polka basket, diamond slide and hornpipe diamond.Ger Butler is a wonderful instructor. He is very patient and certainly uses humor to fill out the difficult spaces in the learning process. I found him watching the sets intently; keeping the footwork tidy at all times is very important to his tuition. I noticed whether he is teaching or not his feet are going all the time, absolutely all the time! Following the Atha Caoire we did a two-hand dance called the Spanish Jive, a great dance full of life, and then he taught some sean nós steps. I loved the way Ger said about sean nós dancing, “From the head to the heart and the legs,†in other words, learn it, feel it, do it. It was then time to break for lunch as there would be another workshop at 2pm.At 2pm it was time for more tuition. This time we worked on the Claddagh Set, North Roscommon Half-Set, Polly Glide (a two hand dance) and the Circle Waltz. During the break I chatted with Joe Mannix, one of the founding members of the Atha Caoire branch of Comhaltas dance group out of West Cork. The set taught in the morning by Ger Butler comes from their homeplace and Ger utilized them to show the different figures of the set. After two sessions with Gerard Butler I found him to be a man who pays great attention to detail. Though he is an excellent dancer himself, he hasn’t forgotten the need for the new dancers to learn a step at a time and if he sees they are having trouble he is right in there until it is worked out. If you have an opportunity to take tuition with him your time will be well spent.Gemma Burke Bourré, Belcarra, Co Mayo..object width="425" height="355"
