SEAN Nós is the oldest form of Irish dance and it’s now being taught in Ennis by Limerick woman Suzanne Leahy.

A native of Herbertstown, she has been living in Clarecastle for the past year and a half and says the sean nós style has seen something of a rebirth. “In the last number of years it has revived and taken off. I did Irish dancing for most of my life and I really liked the sean nós after I started it. It’s about keeping in with the music and the tunes. I first learned it at Willie Clancy from Mick Mulkerrin and Maireád Casey.”
Sean nós is far less structured than other types of Irish dance, according to Suzanne. “It goes back before traditional step dancing. In different times, people would have been having a few tunes in the kitchen and at some point someone would take off the half door and tap out the tune.”
People taking part in sean nós dancing don’t need to learn steps in the same way as those taking part in other forms of Irish dance. “You don’t have to learn a lot of steps but you’d have to have good rhythm. Basically, it involves your own improvisation and dancing out a tune. Dancers tap out each note and there is no high kicking, it’s done low to the floor, in a small space.”
She says there have been excellent sean nós dancers in Clare. “Willie Keane was a great dancer from Doonbeg who often stepped out the tune and in recent times Tommy Brown from Cree often rises the session with his style of Clare battering.”
People who learn sean nós take a lot out of it, she feels. “It’s relaxed and you don’t need a partner for it, like you would for set dancing. Generally, if someone is at a session or a party they enjoy knowing a few beats so they can take part and it lifts the spirit of a session.”
Suzanne performed step dancing with the Anthony Costello school of dancing in Limerick City and she was also a member of the Éire Óg set-dancing club in Grange, Limerick, where she taught children’s classes for a number of years.
Last year, she gave classes at several venues around Clare. “I was doing them in Clarecastle with the Comhaltas branch there. I also did them at festivals all over the county,” she says.
Her next course of classes are being held in Brogan’s Bar in Ennis on Thursday nights at 8pm. The first is being held this Thursday (February 4) and dancers of all levels are welcome to attend.