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News Archive
Bellow you will find past archives of new articles, press releases, dance updates and more.
June 6, 2007 Hi Everyone, I am very excited to be producing a major sean-nós dance event at the newly-organized ICONS Festival. All are welcome, so please come and spread the word. Bring your dancing shoes! Kieran Irish Connections "ICONS" FESTIVAL Playful, rhythmic, inventive, musical and expressive, Sean-nós dance is a solo percussive dance form originating from Ireland. Sean-nós means ”old-style“ in the Irish language. Historically performed in informal settings by male dancers, the “old style” is looser and more improvisational than the newer Irish step dance styles that have prevailed since the early 1900s. In the 20th Century, sean-nós dance experienced a serious decline, and the art form nearly disappeared. But in recent years, a handful of influential dancers have brought the steps and traditions back to life, and now, sean-nós dance is flourishing. A sean-nós dance revival is sweeping Ireland and spreading to American dance communities as well. Many viewers of sean-nós dance comment, “That’s the way my grandfather used to dance.” This once male-dominated style is now seeing a surge in women’s participation — as students, teachers, scholars, and performers. Shannon Dunne (Washington, D.C.), Alicia Guinn (Seattle, WA), Kieran Jordan (Boston, MA) and Maldon Meehan (Portland, OR) are four American women who are actively building sean-nós dance communities in their respective regions of the country. These four women will join the 2007 Icons Festival to explore and present the fascinating trends and techniques of Irish sean-nós dance. “American Women In Sean-nós Dance,” produced by Kieran Jordan, will feature workshops, panel discussions, demonstrations, and performances in sean-nós dance. The event will take place in or adjacent to the Irish cottage, an actual Irish cottage built on the grounds of the
Friday, March 30, 2007 The Sean-nós Dance website is up and running. When we first began thinking about this site we wanted a creative, artistic website that was new and innovative while still preserving the old-style feel of Sean-nós dance. We are firm believers in community organizations and businesses. So we went looking for a website designer and found a young multi-media company called Modern Mythos. The company is run by artist Graham Smith. Graham is a multi-artist, including web, sound, graphic, video, animation, performance and music. To reflect the theme of sean-nós, meaning old-style, Graham created a rich tapestry of both old and new imagery, including creating a new logo in the form of dance shoes laced in a Celtic knot. In addition, he designed the site to have to the older feel of parchment paper, classic aged photos and clean lines. The site is still in process and is updated daily, so keep your eye on the site. We're very excited about the site and would love to hear from you. Give us your input and thoughts on the site. Also if anybody has photos or articles from past events email them to us and we will put them up on the site Ronan & Maldon
Wednesday, March 7, 2007 Maldon Meehan and Ronan Regan represent two dynamic figures in the revitalization of the sean-nós dancing tradition of Conamara. Their ability to work together as a performing duet and teaching duo while maintaining their unique styles and approaches to dancing is noteworthy in itself. Their recent involvement in the Sean-nós Milwaukee festival, which took place on February 16th and 17th 2007 accrued just as many interested students for sean-nós dancing as did the great Cúil Aodha singer Eilís Uí Shúilleabháin whom also performed and taught at the festival. Their positions as intermediaries between music and dancing traditions brought a magic to the event seldom witnessed at the best of such festivals in Ireland—a complete melding of dance and music, which seemed to progress with ease throughout most of the weekend’s events—neither one dominating the other but mingling as they did fadó fadó ó shin in the teach cheoil and crossroads of folk memory. Their masterful and playful interpretation of this dance form situates them prominently amongst the greatest figures of the music and dance traditions of Ireland today. Brían Ó hAirt Thursday, February 15, 2007 Teri Sullivan, founder of Irish Set Dancing in Cedarburg (which meets weekly at the American Legion Post) reveals that Regan first contacted her about his and Meehan’s upcoming visit to University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. “I took a chance,” says Sullivan, “and asked if they would like to make a stop in Cedarburg?” To her delight, they agreed. The two visitors first started co-teaching workshops in 2004, although their individual performance histories actually go back much further than that. Regan, who hails from Galway on the West Coast of Ireland, is currently completing his MA in Traditional Music Performance in Micheal OSuilleabhan’s Irish World Music Center in University of Limerick. Known for his lyrical playing and his infectious pace, fans find it impossible to stay in their seats once he picks up his fiddle and starts playing. A regular performer throughout Ireland, Scotland and France, Regan has also won a huge following here in the United States. Rhythm should be Meehan’s middle name. Not only has the young teacher earned recognition for workshops in the United States, Canada and Ireland, but as founder and director of Meehan Productions, she is known for her performances at festivals and concerts, often in collaboration with international artists such as Kevin Burke, Jackie Daly and Johnny B Connolly. Her passion for the historical and cultural context of dance led her to enroll in the Masters of Ethnochoreology program at the University of Limerick, Ireland, and she graduated with honors. For the last nine years, Meehan has devoted herself to sharing Irish dance, music and culture with students, both here and in Ireland. The steps the two teachers will be sharing with dancers in the area next Monday are special steps for set dancing that Sullivan describes as “close to Appalachian clogging or tap dancing.” For anyone not familiar with “Irish Set Dancing” – the most popular form of traditional social dancing in Ireland today, which has also gained a following in the United States – it can perhaps best be described as dancing in square formation with intricate and rhythmic footwork. To register for Monday’s workshop ($20) go to http://sets.sulliassociates.com or call (262)302-7854. - View full News Graphic Article January 17, 2007 In its five year history, the event has celebrated one of Ireland’s oldest traditional folk arts, sean-nós singing. Sean-nós, which means “old-style” in Irish Gaelic, is a type of a cappella singing associated with the Irish Gaelic-speaking areas in the West of Ireland. This year Sean-nós Milwaukee is expanding its series of concerts, workshops, and lectures to include sean-nós dance, a form of traditional Irish step dancing that emphasizes personal expression, a relaxed upper body, and steps danced close to the floor. “Sean-nós dancing is really different from other forms of Irish dance, like Riverdance,” says Maldon Meehan, one of the internationally-known sean-nós dancers who will be teaching at the festival. “Sean-nós is a living folk tradition, a lifelong pursuit.” Meehan teaches with Rónán Regan, a fiddle player and sean-nós dancer from Galway, Ireland. Both hold advanced degrees in Irish music and dance from the University of Limerick’s Irish World Music Center. They recently released an instructional DVD called Dance Sean-nós. “Sean-nós dancers are the visual and percussive expression of the Irish musical tradition,” explains Rónán Regan. “The musician and dancer are in conversation, and the conversation takes on a life of its own.” Meehan and Regan will be teaching two workshops at Sean-nós Milwaukee on Saturday, February 17, at 10am and 3pm. Both workshops will be held at the Hefter Conference Center, 3271 N. Lake Drive, Milwaukee, WI. About Maldon Meehan and Rónán Regan:
The following archives are from Ronan and Maldon's October 2006 tour of Oregon, Washington, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Mississippi. We hope you have as much fun reading them as we had writing them. Be sure to read 'When Irish Legs are Shinning: Dancing in Phoenix' and ‘The Twilight Road East’. Wednesday, September 27, 2006 We are looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones. We are also eager to see how people are getting along with the DVD and dancing a few steps with you all. FALL TOUR 2006 Dates Thursday, October 12, 2006 Thursday, October 12, 2006 On Sunday there was a Céilí at the PPAA. The céilí was great. We had all ages dancing set and céilí dances. Several families attended with dancers as young as 6 years old. On Tuesday night we were joined by Hanz Araki and Susan Taylor for a performance at the Alberta Street Public House. At one point during the show the Portland set dancers joined us for 2 figures of the Caledonian, showing off a few of the steps they learned in the workshop. Friday, October 13, 2006 Sunday, October 15, 2006 We started off the workshop around 3pm teaching a Connemara battering step and the Connemara Set. It was a real treat to have live music for the workshop and to see the musicians’ get up and dancing a few steps. By the end of the workshop Ukiah was flying it with steps. After the workshop we all went for an amazing meal at a Japanese restaurant in town. If you're ever in Ukiah, you should check it out. The best food we've had the whole tour. We may even have to go back to Ukiah when travel back North, just to have a meal! The céilí started at 7pm. We danced céilí dances, sets, 2 hand dances and a waltz or two. There was even a bit of stepping it out in the Sean-nós style to great lively music. The band was great. Thank you lads for the tunes. Straight after the céilí we got into our car (nicknamed 'The Great White', as she looks like a great big white shark) and drove her though the night all the way down California and into Arizona, arriving in Phoenix the next afternoon at 4pm, wow what a drive. Monday, October 16, 2006 We taught a set dance workshop. The dancers were great, several of them had never danced a set or a step before that night and by the end of the workshop they were all stepping it out for the Connemara set (with battering). After the workshop we went over to the local session for a few tunes and a dance or two. The session was run by a German flute/guitar player named Sven. The session included some lovely piping, harp playing, flutes, fiddles, songs and bodhran. We meet a lovely dancer in the workshop, Sarah, who when we arrived at the session was playing some amazing beats on the bodhran, almost as if she was dancing with the drum. The next morning we threw on the shorts and strolled around Phoenix sporting our white legs. As we were walking down the dusty street, sun beating down on us, Ronan busted out with a few lines of: "When Irish Legs are Shinning, - Maldon & Ronan, from www.myspace.com/seannosdance blog Thursday, October 19, 2006 Sunday, October 22, 2006 We made the mistake of asking for non-smoking and were seated on the empty side of the restaurant. While all the craic was to be had on the other side of the wall. There was a request for a glass of wine with the meal, "This is a dry county" was the reply. The meal was nice and we headed back on the road. A few miles down the road there was a sign for the county line, as soon as you passed the sign, liquor stores colored the landscape. As Michael Harrison put it "Waite a minute, what is the name of this town? Stereotype?" October 22, 2006 They spent two hours showing us the basic steps for the Connemara Set and running us through the figures after which they gave us a demo of Sean Nos dancing to show us all what the footwork is really supposed to look like! Ronan also played fiddle for several of the figures and while we learned the footwork which was great to listen to and helped to keep us on track at a speed slower than the CD. I sure our neighbors wondered just what was going on Afterwards we hung out for a while and talked while enjoying some of the goodies brought by various attendees. It was a great workshop and we're looking forward to seeing them again one day. If you get a chance to attend a workshop with them definitely don't pass it up. - Michael Harrison, Dragon’s Eye News Monday, October 30, 2006 The high part of the road
Review by Alicia Guinn, 2006 Review by Cearbhúil Ní Fhionnghusa, 2006 Review by the Galway Advertiser, March 25, 2006 As a result, it's a good time to get to know this (dare we say it?) more 'authentic' style of Irish dancing? The teachers on this DVD are Ronan Regan from Galway and Maldon Meehan from Portland, Oregon. Both are experienced sean nós dance teachers. On the DVD numerous different steps are taught in the same way with Meehan and Ronan taking turns. The step is first danced at normal speed before being broken down and repeated several times. New pieces are added and practised until the step is complete, then it's practised slowly to music and finally danced once again at full speed. The slow step practice shows the dancers from behind and from the knee down, allowing viewers to see the actions and movements. Music is provided by the great Inishbofin melodeon player Johnny O'Halloran. The DVD was filmed in Árus na nGael and there is a final session scene in The Crane Bar. To order a copy of Dance Sean-Nós call 086 - 3751360." Review by Bill Lynch, February-March 2006 A dozen different steps are all taught in the same way with Maldon and Ronan taking turns. The step is first danced at normal speed, then it's slowly broken down and repeated several times. New pieces are added and practiced until the step is complete, and then it's practiced slowly to music. Finally it's danced once again to music at full speed. All the slow step practice shows Maldon or Ronan from behind and from the knee down so you can clearly see what to do and follow the steps easily. The teaching style is relaxed and effective. Inishbofin melodeon player Johnny O'Halloran plays the music, and he's so good you won't mind that he repeats the same tune for each step. The presentation is clean and simple, with just the musician and teacher on screen for the demonstrations and two legs in jeans for the practice. It was filmed in Galway at Árus na nGael and there's a final session scene in the Crane Bar, for a total of eighty eight minutes. Get in touch with Maldon and Ronan 086 3751360 to obtain a copy of the DVD. Samples are available for viewing on the web at www.hoilands.com/seannos.htm."
December 2005 It is sometimes too easy to forget what a personal medium radio remains, but when it is done right it allows for a one to one connection between the presenter and the audience. Such a program is the weekly Celtic Sojourn on Boston’s WGBH-FM (89.7) hosted by Brian O’Donovan from Clonakilty in West Cork. His thoughtful thematic musical forays on Saturday afternoons (www.wgbh.org) seize the audience and spur Celtic cultural curiosity and variety, and he has developed a loyal if ethnically diverse following. Since 2003, O’Donovan has broken out of the confines of the radio station to share his Christmas Celtic Sojourn in a live performance, and the 2005 show captured the essence of the season in a dazzling show that may yet prove an enduring downtown Boston tradition at Yuletide. Last weekend four performances (one matinee was added to meet the demand for tickets) were presented in the gorgeous Beaux Arts Cutler Majestic Theater on Tremont Street in Boston’s theater district. This landmark ornate hall that originally opened at the dawn of the 20th century was marvelously restored to its original splendor by Emerson College and reopened in 2003. It continues a rich legacy of historic performances. The Christmas Celtic Sojourn playing to capacity crowds all weekend didn’t disappoint at the Saturday evening show that I attended, and provided entertainment that was as old-fashioned as it was innovative fitting a recurring theme of Sean Nos/Nua Nos (Old Style/New Style). O’Donovan presided over the stage production in animated fashion like Father Christmas sharing his many gifts. At times he was like the Fear a Ti (Man of the House) at an Irish Christmas party where he called on his many talented guests to offer their party pieces. A comfortable wing-back chair (something old) on the left of the stage allowed him to read poetry by Patrick Kavanagh and his own moving and comical West Cork Christmas remembrances, replacing Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales from earlier years. A remote mike (something new) allowed him to move about the stage freely to engage with individual performers as he might in radio studio interview on his show revealing information that gave context to the material. The stagecraft worked out in advance by Brian, his wife Lindsay and the artistic director Paula Plum was superb as it gave a sophisticated setting to what was essentially a very simple show that allowed the artists to blend together as if at a house party, and not in a The exceptional band Danu formed the musical base, and their spirited rendering of the jigs, reels, slip jigs and polkas flew the traditional banner in their very contemporary manner. Their singer Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh was prominently featured throughout, whether it was the humorous “Only Nineteen Years Old” or the poignant Tommy Sands’ song “County Down” about immigration, which is always a Christmas tide topic for the Irish. She also led the audience in singing the carols “Angels We Have Heard on High,” the “First Noel” and also an Irish song where the phrase “The Son of God will sleep in this house tonight” gave meaning to the custom of a lit candle in an Irish window. The Wisconsin-based a capella group called Navan (Sheila Shigley, Elizabeth Fine and Paul Gorman) harmonizes in six Celtic languages (www.navan.org) and O’Donovan has featured them in past efforts as well displaying his knack for finding good talent who enhanced this show. In that vein, Scotsman Tony McManus — now living in Toronto — gave ample display of his guitar artistry on several solos in each half while sharing his familiarity and necessity for seeking out Asian nail joints who service his right hand with acrylic nails, but only his right hand now. Rounding out the instrumental talent were Natalie and Brittany Haas, who played cello and fiddle respectively, proving that Celtic music truly knows no bounds. They played together and with McManus and the ensemble. What made this show extra special were the inclusion of Nua-Nos, four dancers who met at the University of Limerick and collaborated in this performance to underscore the importance of dance among the Celtic people in both the old and new fashion. Kieran Jordan, a Philadelphian who has remained in Boston since attending Boston College, obtained a Masters’ from the University of Limerick this past June studying modern dance after starting out as a competitive step dancer and she recruited the other dancers. There were Maldon Meehan (from Oregon), Ronan Regan (from Galway) and Mats Melin from Sweden but now living in Ireland, who managed to integrate their varied expertise into the show with only a couple of days rehearsal. Two pieces stood out for me not just for the artistry of the presentation but for the vivid demonstration that you might expect from students of dance. The first was Cape Breton stepdancing by all four solely to the mouth-music of Navan, and the second a side by side comparison of old (Meehan) versus modern step dancing (Jordan) with a visual clarity that was easily understood even for those without a knowledge of Celtic folk dancing. In addition, Jordan gave us an interpretative dance mélange that was both graceful and imaginative, growing out of her recent exploration of multiple dance forms to the accompaniment of a slip jig played by Danu. If there was a sense that we were all invited to an intimate Christmas soiree thrown by the O’Donovan clan, then the singing of 12-year-old Nuala O’Donovan would cap the evening. Delivering the calypso carol “Mary’s Boy Child’ in a poised and beautiful voice, the tone was set early on that this sojourn around the world through a Celtic prism was an evening to be savored. With her mother Lindsay also literally behind the scenes playing the piano and the backstage tea kettle, it only reinforced that image that the O’Donovans were gracious hosts to yet another successful holiday hooley. Wishing all my readers a Nollaig Shona Dhuit and see you back here in 2006! Paul Keating
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