St. Patrick’s Day Ceili With the Celtic Cats

by Ruby LaBrusciano-Carris

            The Billings Library has never looked as green as it did this past Saturday, decorated from head to toe courtesy of the Irish spirit of UVM’s very own Celtic Cats. The long rectangular room on the right side of the entrance had been transformed into a very thorough St. Patrick’s Day scene, with green tablecloths, green necklaces for everyone, and shamrocks abounding. There was also a bounty of fabulous refreshments, with everything from green colored cookies and gooey homemade macaroni and cheese, to traditional Irish holiday foods like Irish soda bread. Piped through surround sound speakers, jolly traditional Irish music infiltrated the room, immediately rousing the St. Patrick’s Day holiday spirit I never knew I had.

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It was heartwarming to see the number of community families who had arrived, including everyone from toddlers dancing wildly to the Irish music to grandparents trying the soda bread, and students chatting with friends. Before the performance there was mingling, chitchat, catching up with old friends, and munching on the delicious refreshments. The holiday spirit of friendliness and connectedness was thoroughly permeating, and if any of us had felt at all dreary from the wet, cloudy weather outside, our spirits were immediately reversed upon entering such a cheery atmosphere.

By 2:30, everyone had begun to sit down in the chairs which lined a dance floor, and the leader of the Celtic Cats took to the microphone. She explained what a Ceili was, for those of us that had no idea what we’d signed up for, and introduced the ladies of the Celtic Cats—impeccably dressed in their Celtic Cats uniforms with festive green sashes.

The Celtic Cats started off the dancing with a group piece called an eight-hand. The girls spent most of the piece on the balls of their feet and the tips of their toes, keeping an incredibly upright posture as they spun, and bobbed, and grapevined through the dance. Though it looked effortless, it was an incredibly impressive display of the work that this group had put many hours into perfecting.

After the first piece, we tried our first Ceili, which I believe was called a four-hand, and though it included very similar movements to those of the Celtic Cats’ complex eight-hand, it was far simpler, and the moves could easily be “called” from the microphone in the same manner as a contra dance. It was clearly a step out of many of our comfort zones, subjecting ourselves to the awkwardness of dancing with strangers, but by the end of the dance, nobody was feeling awkward at all, thanks to tons of laughter over missed moves, unexpected spinning, and the general good energy of group dancing.

After that, the afternoon continued on with more intermittent performances from the Celtic Cats and different kinds of Ceili, and each time our big group was a little bit more coordinated than the next. The music, and the good food, and the dancing, all contributed to a completely enjoyable afternoon for all. I walked away from Billings that afternoon with a smile on my face and a skip, spin, and do-si-do in my step.