The 13th Sets Mad weekend was at Cliddesden, near Basingstoke on the 27 to 29th September. The popular combination of teachers Padraig and Roisin McEneany and Rise the Dust Ceili Band were back again for another lively weekend of Irish Set dancing. The weekend was organised by the Basingstoke Set Dancing group, fronted by Kevin and Carol Monaghan.
We kicked off in Cliddesden village hall on Friday evening. The ceili didn’t start till 9 pm, but Kevin still had a programme of 10 sets before we ended at midnight. The hall was full with 13 sets of dancers from all over the UK, Europe, and USA and Canada. It was great to see Rise the Dust again. They, and their partners, are a very friendly group of people, and they gave us lovely, lively music all weekend.
Saturday
We reassembled in the hall on Saturday morning for workshops with Padraig and Roisin McEneany. As usual, they began with some step practice. The first set they taught was the Monaghan Set, which uses reels, jigs, polkas and hornpipes, so we practiced all those steps before the relevant figures. I think there were about ten sets of people on the floor for the workshop. Padraig followed that with the Auban Set, a lovely jig set from County Cork. I think I will add it to my repertoire, there is nothing difficult, just nice flowing moves.
The hall at Cliddesden is a little out of the village, and not near any shops cafés, so a buffet lunch was delivered to the hall (for those that had ordered it). There was a delicious selection of pastries, sandwiches, tartlets, and cakes for afterwards. The catering company were excellent!
After lunch we practiced the reel step again, and tried to add embellishments to our advance and retire. Padraig gave us plenty to think about and practice when we got home again! After that Padraig and Roisin taught us the Wessex Set, which was composed by some members of the Basingstoke dance group. Those of them that were there stood up with the McEneanys to demonstrate the moves before we danced them. We had revised the set in Newton Abbot before the weekend, and I was glad of the practice. Some of the moves can be a little challenging until you get used to them, but it was lovely to do again.
We finished the afternoon with a polka set, the Roschahill, or West Galway. The young people from Prague made a very lively demonstration set. Unfortunately, most of the rest of us didn’t have the energy to emulate their style, but we enjoyed the dance anyway.
After all of that we were glad to get back to our hotel for a rest and a bit of down time before the evening ceili.
The ceili began at 8 pm, and I lost track of the number of dances we did. It was a great night with Rise the Dust keeping the energy up all evening. The time flew by, and suddenly it was nearly midnight and we were dancing the Plain Set.
Back at the Holiday Inn there was more music, singing and dancing. I was staying at a different hotel, so I didn’t get to enjoy it myself. A couple of musicians from Germany played some great Irish tunes on the concertina and pipes. A video of some impromptu morris dancing was posted on Facebook and I heard there was singing too, including Jim’s Lidl-Aldi song.
Sunday
In Sunday morning’s workshop we danced the Old Mill Lancers, Pat Murphy’s 2019 composition. Four figures of reels and a hornpipe, with two line up figures and enough complexity to keep us concentrating. It has become a tradition in Basingstoke for the three members of Rise the Dust, and their partners, to join the McEneanys in demonstrating the dance for the Sunday morning workshop. They are all lovely dancers, so it was a treat to watch them.
After a short break it was on to the final ceili of the weekend. I must say my legs were feeling pretty heavy after the first couple of dances but I had a second lease of life after the tea and home-made cakes provided in the interval. A chocolate muffin did wonders for my energy levels and I was back to full speed dancing!
At the end it was good-bye to the Village Hall, as this was the last Sets Mad weekend at Cliddesden. We have danced there for eight years now, but this was the last time. Future events will be held in a bigger venue, in Rotherwick, on the other side of Basingstoke.
Zizzi’s
The grand finale of the weekend was the social evening and meal at Zizzi’s restaurant in Basingstoke. Around 80 of us assembled there on Sunday evening to eat and drink and have some of the chats we didn’t have time for during the rest of the weekend. Our own Perfect Cure played background music while we ate, joined by several other musicians for some of the numbers. A few people got up to dance a set or two. It all finished with moving the tables so we could all join in with a Chapeloise around the restaurant. It’s a dance where you keep changing partners so there is time to say a very quick hello and goodbye to lots of people. After that it was out into the night, and back home to real life until the next time!
Keep an eye on the Sets Mad web page for details of future events in Basingstoke.
