Heritage Events Archive

Local community organisation Sult na Sollan is hosting a Sean Nos Dancing workshop, the first of its kind in the North Kildare area. The dance workshop is open to young and old alike and promises to be great fun.

This coming Sunday 3^rd February, Sult na Sollán, will run the first ever Sean Nós dancing workshop in the Sallins/Naas area. 

This special workshop will be run by Liam Ó Scanláin, a previous all Ireland sean-nós dancing champion. The dance workshop is open to young and old alike and promises to be great fun. There is no entry free although a voluntary contribution at the door would be appreciated. The workshop will take place in the Sallins Community Centre and will start at 3pm. The workshop will be followed by a short traditional Irish music session, open to all ages, so please bring your instruments along if you can play. It should finish up around 4.45pm.

Sean-nós dance is an older style of traditional solo Irish dance with strong roots in Connemara and the Ráth Chairn Gaeltacht in Co. Meath. It is a casual dance form, as opposed to the more formal but commonly practiced form of Irish step dancing. "Sean Nós" in the Irish language means "old style" and refers to various activities, including sean-nós song and sean-nós dance. Sean-nós dance is characterized by its characteristic  footwork, improvised steps and free movement of the arms. By its nature, it follows the music closely. There has been an explosion of interest in Sean Nós dancing in the last fifteen years, with new sean nós schools appearing all over the country.  Comhaltas Ceoltóirí run a sean nós dancing class every Tuesday evening in Clane GAA at 8.30pm – for more information on these classes, please contact Liam at 086 3941007. One of Liam's students, Úna Ní Fhatharta, achieved second place in the national sean nós dancing competition at OIreachtas na Gaeilge, Letterkenny last November.

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