Portland Set Dancing
Set dancing is a unique form of traditional social dace in Ireland similar to American square dancing. Each ‘set’ consist of four couples arranged into a square. Both the eight dancers in the group and the dance itself are called a ‘set.’ The dance consists of a sequence of dance figures, which usually have a common theme or structure. The ‘figures,’ which are the distinct parts of each set, usually begin and end with repeated parts that everyone dances called the ‘body.’ During the figure each couple will take turns dancing separately, with everyone joining in on the body. The repertoire of sets is diverse and many from particular regions in Ireland usually have similar elements. Distinct sets emerged in the course of the 19th century and evolved as popular house dances separate from the more formal Irish step-dancing and céilí dancing traditions. Some of the most popular are the Plain Set, the Clare Lancers, and the Connemara.
“The new people we have trying set dancing in Portland give me great hope for the future of Irish culture here. All are welcome!”
Linda Burch
“I am so excited about set dancing in Portland. We were starting to get it rolling before the pandemic and it feels so good to have it back again!”
Maldon Meehan
“The dances are just challenging enough to be interesting, the people are fun, and the music is terrific!”
Betty Woerner
Upcoming set dancing events.
Get in touch with us!
We’d love to add you to the Portland Set Dancing email list so you can stay up-to-date with what is going on within our community. We’ll contact you concerning upcoming classes, organized dance events, resources, and other opportunities to dance out in the Portland area. We’re always excited to welcome in new dancers!
Tunes for Sets
Each set dance is danced to a specific number of bars of music. In order to accommodate this we’ve amassing a play list to for the most common sets we dance in Portland. This should help with practicing or refreshing your steps on your own!
Videos for Sets
We endeavor to practice and learn sets as often as we can. Sometimes though we need to watch someone else dance them in order to learn or remind ourselves how they go! Videos are a great way to do this. We’ve amassed a list of videos here for your use between gathers to keep you primed for dances in the future!