Dancing

[ghoti_mhic_uait]

Am I right in thinking that in practical terms in England, there's no difference between a 'ceilidh' and a 'barn dance'?

I'm not entirely sure, because at least spliceruk has indicated that ceilidh dancing, even in England, is often simpler than barn dancing.

On the other hand, the one and only 'ceilidh' I've been to was an awful lot like the 'barn dances' I've been to (except that we didn't dance the Gay Gordons. I *like* the Gay Gordons.)

Comments

[pipsytip.livejournal.com]

Not as far as I'm aware, I always like to strip the willow myself ;)

[aiwendel.livejournal.com]

I tend to associate ceilidh's with scottish country dancing, and barn dancing with english country dancing...

which is silly cos all the ceilidh's I've been to have been a mix of english scots irish etc dances...

Funnily i'd say ceilidh's were more complex than barndances (which i think of as having a guy on a mircophone calling instructions continuously)... but really I don't know.

They're pretty synonymous.

I like the tune of the gay gordons, can't remember the dance though!

:)
xxxxxxxxxxxx

[spliceruk.livejournal.com]

I would say a proper scottish ceilidh's is more complex than a Barn Dance.... Well the sorts of dances I would do at a scottish ceilidh tend to be more complicated than the ones the ones at a barn dance.

In England ceilidh's are often just just another name for Barn Dance unless you go to one that actually tries to do it the scottish way. There is at least one in london that does. They are often used interchangably.

[sparrowsion]

Barn-dancing is a fuddy-duddy old fashioned thing associated with finger-in-the-ear-style folk which wasn't even "in" when it was popular fifteen to twenty years ago. A ceilidh is cool and ethno-celtically trendy, or at least maintinaining its 90s zeitgeist credibility into the new millennium. What actually happens at them, as far as I've been able to determine, is absolutely identical.

[pling.livejournal.com]

That was what I was going to say, but you said it better :)

[naath.livejournal.com]

afaik all Cam ceildhs are English dancing for the most part. I associate 'barn dance' with American dancing.

[badriya.livejournal.com]

I thought barn dances were American, like in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. And Ceilidh is Celtic. We have country dancing here.

[clarisinda.livejournal.com]

You do different dances at each - you do traditional Scottish country dances at a ceillidh, and English dances at a barn dance. Obviously at some events they borrow from each other and mix and match, and the phrase "barn dance" is probably a bit more user friendly when trying to persuade people to try it.

[atreic.livejournal.com]

There is such a thing as an English ceilidh, and a big english ceilidh circuit

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

Is that a bit like a barn dance?

Ach, I['m going to one on the 5th of February, I'll see...

[bfo.livejournal.com]

If you come to the ceilidh in London you get to do dances like Strip the Willow, The Gay Gordons, Military Two step, The Lady Godiva (must be seen :) ) they also do things like basket weaving, it's much fun and all the dances I learnt at school as well as lots of others.