15th Annual May Bank Holiday Weekend in South Kerry
April 28th - 30th, 2006
Tutor: Betty McCoy
Every year, Portmagee hosts a weekend of Set Dancing and
Music for visitors from far and wide. Now in our 15th year,
the weekend is hugely popular and getting better all the
time.
Friday April 28th
Welcome to Portmagee with an evening of Set dancing, live
music and singing in The Bridge Bar.
Saturday April 29th
11 am to 5pm: Betty McCoy teaches a set dancing workshop
in the Community Centre.
6 pm: Dinner in the Moorings Restaurant.
9 pm: Traditional Irish Set Dancing in the Bridge Bar.
11:30 pm: Céilí in the Community Centre with Mort Kelleher Céilí Band.
Sunday April 30th
1 pm: Join in the session in the Bridge Bar with local
& visiting musicans, singers & storytellers. Everybody welcome!
3 pm: ‘Autumn Gold’ will play music for Set Dancing in The Bridge Bar.
7:30 pm: 'Harmonix' will entertain you in
The Bridge Bar followed by live music, Set Dancing & Singing.
Contact
Betty at 01-2956497
Gerard at 066-9477108
Weekend Package
3 B&B, 2 Dinners, Entertainment, Workshops and Céilí
- €185
Meals are available throughout the whole weekend in the
bar and the Moorings Restaurant.
For accommodation, contact
us directly.
Review of the 1998 Weekend
By Beryl Stracey
Portmagee is a small working fishing village in South Kerry
overlooking Valentia harbour. The population is around 600
but every May bank holiday weekend we experience a population
explosion and it is hard to find a bed in the area - not
that anybody spends much time in bed!
The reason is the Portmagee Dancer's Club set dance workshop.
They come from the length and breadth of Ireland and beyond.
Manchester, Birmingham and Coventry are well-represented
- not forgetting Dublin and Belfast, London and Paris. One
couple has flown in from London for the last four years
and each year they bring more dancers with them.
Portmagee is a good venue for a workshop because
sets have always been danced here and have never died out.
The South Kerry Polka Set has been danced at house dances,
weddings, crossroads and dinner dances without a break over
the years. My friend Mary Kennedy of Ahanboy remembers two
locations where there were concrete platforms at crossroads
where the local people danced.
At the present time, sets are danced two or
three times a week throughout the year and there has been
a revival in house dances and kitchen dances. The set is
very strong in the South Kerry area and keen dancers can
dance five nights a week without travelling very far.
The weekend is more than just a formal teaching
workshop. There are sessions in the
Bridge Bar, where singers and musicians as well as dancers
can get together and enjoy the music. Here you will have
a chance to see some of our older dancers who dance the
local set in the lovely old graceful style of South Kerry.
I have a friend, Tom Kennedy, who will dance a full set
in collar, tie, geansai, jacket and capwithout raising a
sweat or breathing heavy! They have kept the tradition going
and it's a rare gift they have handed down to us and our
children. Where would the sets be without them? it is through
some of these dancers that the Portmagee workshop had been
able to revive three sets that would otherwise have been
lost forever.
In 1992, Muiris O' Brien, after doing thorough
and painstaking research and probing the memories of several
old people, revived teh Valentia Right and Left set, an
elegant siz figure set with lots of variety. Joe Lynch from
Valentia Island was able to give Muiris all the details
of the set he danced in his youth. I have often danced the
Right and Left with Joe, and a fine dancer he is.
Muiris also revived the Portmagee Myserk,
a lovely jig set, and he was telling me one night in the
bar how he persevered with the research to save this set,
calling back several times to Joseph Falvey and working
out the figures - at one stage using a walking cane as a
partner! According to an old poem about a house dance, the
set must have been danced in the 1920s but had been lost.
Patrick Joy in Killorglin was the only man
who remembered the Caragh Lake Jig Set. A group of us went
to Killorglin where Pat gave us all his experience and knowledge
so Muiris was able to revive the set in 1993 at the Portmagee
workshop. It is a great set danced to jigs, slide, reel
and hornpipe.
But the weekend is much, much more than a
dance workshop. One of the highlights, for me, is the Sunday
Session, usually led by our good friend Michael Tubridy
on the flute with other guest who could include Ned O' Sé
on accordion, Seamus Tansey on flute and many local musicians,
singers and storytellers. A stepdance by Celine Tubridy
or Chris Gleeson adds a great variety to the session. A
wonderful mix of pure tradition.
A total break for all the dancers and chance
to relax comes with a spot by "Harmonix", a very
professional group who perform songs from the 60s, 70s,
and 80s.
In 1994, the great teacher, Connie Ryan, took
over as tutor and many will remember the great time we had
with this wonderful character. Connie enjoyed his visits
to Portmagee and continued teaching at the workshop until
his death, but he is still remembered by the many friends
he made in Portmagee.
Betty McCoy was Connie's partner and she has
been teaching the workshop ever since. She has been supportive
in everything we do and we welcome her back this year.
We are looking forward to seeing old friends
again making new friends. You are all welcome to the 12th
Portmagee Set Dancing & Music Weekend.
The workshop weekend always includes some great sessions
- sometimes a set in the street beside the harbour overlooking
Valentia Island. Goodbyes are said at last, addresses exchanged
and the little village returns to normal. We sit down with
a pot of tea and the talk begins - stories to tell of the
weekend and plans for next year.
Thanks to our friend, Beryl Stracey, who wrote this page.
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