Discovering the pleasure of dancing

WHILE many people like to relax on a Sunday night, a group of up to 180 people step it out in fine style in the West County Hotel, Ennis, for the sheer love of dancing and socialising.

Underway for 25 years, Dancing for Pleasure has gone from strength to strength, providing people of all ages with a regular opportunity to dance the way they used to in the ballrooms of the 1950s and ’60s.
One of the organisers of Dancing for Pleasure in Ennis is Sheelagh Abrahams from the Kildysart Road, Ennis. Sheelagh and her husband, Gerry, met in the Edel Quinn Ballroom, Kanturk, County Cork in the late 1950s and have been dancing together ever since.
“The idea started slowly and within the first year, we thought we’d have to stop it because there didn’t seem to be enough demand for it. But then we asked each person there one night to bring one other person with them the next night and it took off from there. We never looked back. Many people who came dancing with us 25 years ago still come dancing every Sunday night,” Sheelagh commented.
There is membership to Dancing for Pleasure but people can also just arrive on the night. Mainly they dance to the music of the ’50s and ’60s.
“It’s not ballroom dancing; we call it social dancing. We dance waltzes, tangos, quick steps, foxtrots, slow waltzes and the slosh. Dancing is great exercise and helps to keep all of us fit and active.
“We dance every dance on a night. There is also a lot of jiving and fast dances. Mainly people come to dances for the sheer enjoyment of it because it’s simply great fun,” she added.
Mainly couples come to the dances but some people come on their own too.
“There’s no problem with someone coming on their own because there is never any shortage of people who want to dance all night. There is great camaraderie within the group. We do guards of honours at funerals when members of the group pass away, we visit each other in hospital, send cards and generally look out for each other. That’s a big part of the attraction, the friendships it generates.
“We have people in their 30s up to people in their 90s who come to dance. Our oldest dancer, Colin Smyth from Patrickswell, County Limerick, celebrated his 90th birthday with us in April. On the night, he got a message from the Queen as he had worked in Buckingham Palace for some time in his younger years.”
Sheelagh, like many of her generation, grew up dancing.
“In Scariff where I grew up, we went to dance classes, as such, every Wednesday after school. Our dances every week in many ways are a link back to the ballrooms, where so many people danced in the ’50s and ’60s and where many a romance began and blossomed.
“I remember back over 20 years ago, some of us used to teach students how to dance after school and we included dance etiquette and general etiquette in that too. That’s something young people in general don’t have anymore now and I think it’s a shame.
“I’d love to teach teenagers how to dance properly now too. I think people who don’t dance, don’t know what they’re missing,” Sheelagh remarked.
She said that most of the people who go dancing every week can dance and enjoy dance but some also go who don’t know how to dance or people who can dance but don’t actually know the dances.
“So we show them the various steps and dances. It’s great fun. People aren’t long picking it up if they come regularly because there’s such great fun to it that it’s easy to learn.”
For Sheelagh and her husband, dancing has always been a part of their lives.
“I don’t think there was ever a stage when I wasn’t dancing, even when I was pregnant. We used to go set dancing too but that isn’t my thing as much as social dancing. I particularly like the fast dances. I get a great kick out of dancing and Sunday nights’ dances either start or finish a week beautifully for me.
“I couldn’t do without my dancing now. Dancing keeps me young. Many of us often find that it’s a great way to keep the weight down and to keep fit,” she said.
Most Sunday nights there are between 150 and 180 people at the hotel for the dancing.
“Our regulars come every Sunday night right throughout the year and people didn’t even miss the dances last winter during the terrible flooding, ice and snow,” she commented.
“Some of the West County group travel around to other dances a lot and go to dancing breaks in hotels throughout the country. Many go to dancing break holidays too, where there is dancing almost all day and all night.
“One was held in the West County Hotel last week and there were two professional teachers to help participants. There was also a Bootleggers Ball as part of the dancing break, which was a lot of fun.”
At the end of each year, if the group has money left over, they donate it to local charities.
“We also have special Christmas parties, Hallowe’en events and Easter bonnet dances. We have great bands playing for us who do the dancing circuit throughout the country, including The Evergreens, The Old Frames, Bros Walsh, Checkers, Frank Chambers from the Ballroom of Romance, Mick B from Ennis, Knockout, Catherine and The Images, Frank McCaffrey and Midnight Melody.
“Many of the bands have been coming to our dances for years and there are some newer bands, like Showtime from Ennis. The bands really help to make the night. Sure we couldn’t dance at all if we didn’t have decent bands,” Sheelagh said.
During the winter, Dancing for Pleasure at the West County Hotel runs from 8.30pm to 11pm and in the summer from 9pm to 11.30pm.
For more information, contact Sheelagh at 065 6820962.