It’s been a month or two since I last went to a ceilidh (I say that as if I go all the time, I’ve been to one other one since moving to London), so I thought I’d organise it again. One small difference is that this one was a singles dance; best get my dancing shoes on!
The fact that this was a singles night wasn’t of too much interest to me (though you never know), but I just fancied going this weekend, so bought my ticket and asked a few folks if they wanted to come along so there was about 6 of us that I directly knew and a few friends of friends type deal, all good.
The ceilidhs are organised by The Ceilidh Club and take place in Cecil Sharp House (the English Folk Dance and Song Society building) with the odd one in Hammersmith.
So I ironed a shirt (important when impressing the ladies, even if it would be wringing with sweat later) and went along for the start after work. We kicked off with the Gay Gordons, moved swiftly to the Dashing White Sergeant and then finished the first hour with Strip the Willow!!!
Then, I started feeling pretty ill.
At first I assumed I was just out of shape and chose to site a few out, but, actually this was the beginning of me coming down with something. So I spent the rest of the night just hanging out by the sidelines feeling a bit sorry for myself.
I did hang around to the end though and got a second lot of Gay Gordons in before the dance finished.
While my first ceilidh down here left me wanting to go again, this one has left me hating it. There was far too many people on the dance floor who had no idea what they were doing, some being far too drunk for this sort of event and with no space to dance it was impossible to not bang into and step on or be stood on by people. Not the sort of thing I enjoy.
I might try once more on a normal night and see what it’s like before writing it off completely.
Photo Credits: I Don’t Know, Maybe