10 The Capital Times
Irish Dancers Rock
By Kristy Pipher
Staff Writer
By now most of us have seen Michael
Flatley’s Riverdance and Lord of the Dance
, but it’s a special treat to enjoy live Irish step
dancing in the midst of the St. Patrick’s Day
celebration.
On Tuesday, March 16, Colleen Coyle
Kelly, director of Coyle School of Irish
Dance, presented a lecture and demonstra
tion in the Gallery Lounge at Penn State Har
risburg. Kelly has been involved in Irish
dancing all of her life. She currently teaches
in the Central Pennsylvania area including
Carlisle, Hanover, Harrisburg, Hershey, and
York.
Barbara Roy, a Penn State Harrisburg stu
dent and two-year veteran of the Coyle
School of Irish Dance, was responsible for
the organizing the event, sponsored by the
Subcommittee on Diversity and Educational
Equity and Office of Student Affairs.
The demonstration included two types of
dancing: Ceili and step dancing. Ceili in Irish
means party or social. In the group or Ceili
dance, the arms are used in different move
ments to go around the floor while the danc
ers use the basic footsteps to get where they
need to go. Ceili dances normally done in
groups of 4,8 and 16. If there is an extra per
son, a different dance can be choreographed.
The second part of Irish dancing is step
dancing, in which the dancer does intricate
footwork with arms are by her sides.
Coyle gave a detailed lecture on Irish step
dancing history while Barbara Roy, her
daughter Liana Roy, Carol Thomas, and
Nancy Knoche performed demonstrations of
Ceili and step dancing.
Coyle explained that the real history of Irish
dancing is unknown. Its origins are believed
to go back to the early Christian times in Ire
land when dancing was a major part of cel
ebration. Recorded history of the dancing be
" Cameron” a smash
Continued from page 1
learned a lot about working from scratch,"
admits lan Colegrove McLaughin. "In De
cember of last year there was a mesh of
words.
Jesse and Churchill took that mesh of words
and formed them. Then fourteen people came
around that mesh of words and molded it into
a performance that last night was exhilarat
ing, something that we weren't even expect
ing."
Actors, Theron R. Holmes and Doug Grove
found their leading roles challenging.
Holmes, who plays Cameron, says he has
always flourished in supporting roles. "This
is the first time I have had a role like this
with such a large line load." But you
wouldn't have known he struggled from his
strong performance on stage. "I watched a
lot of the Batman shows that had the charac
ter Joker in them. I needed to create a char
acter with a playful sadistic side." Holmes
also shaved his head and used body paint to
enhance the evilness in Cameron.
xLlxl A xLJa. x r\.JLiN iVlitiiN JL
gan in the 16th century.
Master teachers traveled through Ireland
and taught in the houses of the students so it
could be kept a secret. The phrase “we’ll take
the door down for you” originated from this
time. The students would literally take the
door off the hinges and put it down on the
floor so the instructor would have a wooden
base to dance on. This was the only way for
them to get the right sound.
On Tuesday, the three adult women pre
sented a demonstration of the traditional Irish
jig. The jig comes from the Italian word for
Jiga, an Italian instrument.
Coyle admitted that she gets a lot of calls
to learn steps from Riverdance and Lord of
the Dance. She stressed that it is important
that students must learn the basics before
learning the intricate footwork.
“At first, it is a little hard to coordinate your
Grove also felt the weight of the line lode
playing the character Gilbert. He compen
sated by taking his script to work with him
and practicing his lines with coworkers.
Grove discovered that he and Gilbert shared
some similarities, which helped him create a
strong character. "Parts of me are like him
when I was in junior high, I was sort of a
social outcast like Gilbert. I tried to remem
ber back to those days to see what it felt like."
Everyone from the actors to the house man
ager have been working long hours. "I have
lived here for the last seven weeks," says
stage manager Suzanne Rossi. "We have
been here every night, seven days a week,
and we have usually worked past midnight."
Was all the hard work was worth it? Ab
solutely! Cameron brought life, laughter,
energy, and a sense of community to a cam
pus that becomes eerily still after the sun sets.
Hopefully, Cameron is an outstanding begin
ning to a long line of successful productions
performed here at Penn
State Harrisburg.
“Besides learning catchy moves, you need
to train your body in some basics, like point
ing your toes.”
Coyle explained that the Kelly shield is blue
and yellow so the dancers use blue in their
costumes. At competitions or festivals, you
can tell what school the dancers attend by
the colors of their costumes. The dresses can
get very expensive, upwards of $1,000.00.
Coyle said that England had a great influ
ence on Irish dancing. The Reel dance came
to Ireland by way of Scotland. To reel means
to twirl or spin about. Reel music is much
livelier and more fast paced than the jig.
Coyle is the only certified instructor in
Central Pennsylvania. To become certified,
one needs to take examination in Ireland.
Coyle took exam six years ago and has been
a certified instructor ever since.
The test itself involved knowing 32 Ceili
dances. It requires that complete details be
written out for every part of each dance. The
certification also requires teaching in front
of the panel of experts from Ireland, perform
ing individual dances in front of the panel,
and taking a music test.
Liosta Oifigiuil is a book containing all of
the certified dance teachers in the world.
“You’d be surprised where some of the teach
ers are from,” said Coyle. “New Zealand,
Australia. It’s a wonderful organization to be
involved with and a world within itself.”
Many Irish dancers, including the Roy and
Thomas, perform with their children on many
occasions. Roy and her daughter Liana per
formed a lively reel for the crowd.
“Myfavorite part is when I finally know a
dance and can just move to the music,” ad
mitted Roy. “That is a lovely feeling. The
music always makes me feel happy and like
dancing. I think the kids would say the same.
I love being able to dance with them.”
“The most common question I am asked,”
said Coyle, "is the ages of my students.”
Coyle’s daughter Kiera is one of youngest at
two, while her oldest student is 67.
Coyle also noted that most students retire
around the age of 21 or 22.
Wednesday, April 21,1999
The Slip Jig is primarily a dance for the
females, which is a very ladylike and grace
ful dance. Roy, Thomas, and Knoche all per
formed for the audience very gracefully.
Coyle explained what is normal in respect
to Irish dancing competitions. The judges
look for the basic elements of dancing dur
ing the competitions. The dancer needs to be
up on their toes and balls of their feet, their
arms need to be relaxed at sides with hands
in fists, and their toes need to be pointed in
an arc. Timing is also especially critical in
the competition.
The dancers tiy to get an authentic Irish
look by curling their hair for the competi
tion. Some of the girls put close to 200 curl
ers in their hair to get the desired look. Liana
Roy, looking like an Irish Shirley Temple,
demonstrated this point beautifully.
The National championships this year will
be held in Chicago.
It normally takes one year before students
are permitted to learn the hard shoe dancing.
Hard shoe dancing shoes have a fiberglass
heel and toe to make the desired sound on
the floor. “When I was younger, we pur
chased our shoes in Ireland and they just had
a wooden base,” Coyle explained. “We had
to take them to the local Italian cobbler and
he hammered about 200 nails in the bottom
of ohr shoes to get the sound.”
The group of dancers also performed the
Horn Pipe dance that came to Ireland by way
of England through English sailors and pi
rates. Coyle explained that this kind of dance
could be seen in Popeye cartoons.
After Coyle had finished the Irish step danc
ing lecture, answered all questions, and the
dancers finished had their final performance,
she asked for volunteers from audience to
learn one of the group dances.
Coyle took six brave volunteers from the
audience while the others looked on. They
learned six of the basic steps of the Ceili
dance. After about 20 minutes of practice, the
newcomers joined the seasoned performers
in a Ceili dance that concluded the program.
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