By Kirk Whitmer

As part of their southern tour Yutaka Usui and Doriane Rencker were hosted by the New Basin Canal Branch of CCE for two set dancing workshops here in New Orleans on the 8 th and 9 th of January 2002.   We were the only city on the tour, beginning in Asheville North Carolina and ending in Atlanta Georgia, to host them for two workshops and it was well worth it.   Yutaka and Doriane arrived at Mick's Pub in New Orleans fresh from a workshop in Birmingham, Alabama the night before.   We were able to put two full sets on the floor, which is a good turnout for our relatively young set dancing scene in New Orleans.   The theme for the workshops would be sets of counties Cork and Kerry.   Yutaka's knowledge of these sets has been built from numerous trips to the sites of these sets and working closely with people like Timmy McCarthy and Donncha Lynch.   We began the night with the Borlin Jenny Reel set.   This set was very appropriate for our New Orleans crowd as the first set many of us learned was the Ballyvourney Reel set.   According to Yutaka's research it was a direct descendent of the Borlin Jenny.   This lineage was easily apparent as all six figures are mirrored in both sets.   Attention to the differences, rather than the similarities, gave these two sets increased interest.   Foremost of these was the skip step used in the Borlin Jenny's square the house.   Attention was also given to the regional differences in music.   To demonstrate this Yutaka has collected music local to the areas from which these dances originate.   He made this music available as a cd featuring five sets from Cork and Kerry performed by the Donncha Lynch Band.   I found this to be an especially nice feature.   It is much easier to continue learning a set when a great set of tunes is readily available.   The cd also contained a handbook written by Yutaka and Doriane explaining in detail each of the featured sets, including some regional variations.   The first night concluded with an introduction to the basic Clare reel "battering" step.   We practiced as Yutaka accompanied us on the button accordion.

Irish dancing has had a home in New Orleans for quite a number of years now, but until recently the focus was primarily on ceili dancing.   Most dancers perfected their "7's and 3's" and were fluent in the Fairy Reel and Siege of Ennis long before they had even heard the term Irish country set dancing.   To be sure, frequent airings of Riverdance on PBS brought many people in the door to the Irish dance classes offered in town.   But just as many, if not more, were infected by the spectacle of dancing at our local pub, O'Flaherty's.   In the early 80's O'Flaherty's began offering ceili music for dancing every Saturday night.   That tradition continues to this day.   Every Saturday anywhere from two to twenty dancers are there having a great time, and putting on a bit of entertainment for the French Quarter tourists and locals alike.   Of course a Haymaker's Jig or Siege of Ennis is always thrown in for folks who want to have a go at dancing.   It was just such a night over seven years ago that got me started.   Irish dancing has been a fixture in my life ever since.   In the last few years a small core of us got taken with country set dancing.   We began incorporating a few country sets, like the Plane , Lancers , or North Kerry , into the traditionally ceili dance dominated classes.   Then just under a year ago a few of us decided to offer a class in association with the local Comhaltas chapter dedicated to only country sets.   The class has proven to be quite successful.   And visits from talented set dance instructors only strengthen our growing community.

The second night's workshop saw us back at Mick's pub and another two sets of dancers on the floor.   This night's set would be the Sliabh Luachra.   Yutaka not only taught the basic six figures, but also introduced many regional variations.   Dancing this lively set soon had everyone laughing, especially as we tried to incorporate different battering combinations into the slide and change moves.   We closed the evening by returning to the Clare reel step and learned a number of variations.   The result of the two workshops was not just two new sets, but a renewed energy on the part of many dancers.   More than a few dancers told me that they looked forward to Yutaka and Doriane's next trip south, which hopefully won't be in the too distant future.

I personally was looking forward to not just the workshops but to getting reacquainted with Yutaka.   I had first met him a little over six years ago when I was living in the DC metro area and got my first serious taste of Irish country set dancing.   The last time I had seen him was the Comhaltas Convention held in Washington DC in 2000 and that had been a brief encounter.   Hosting Yutaka and Doriane in my French Quarter apartment was a great chance to both catch up and also learn much of his travels and research in the pursuit of Irish country set dancing.   Set dancing and its related music and history is definitely the passion of Yutaka's life. I was able to learn so much from him in those three evenings.   The location also gave Yutaka and Doriane a great opportunity to explore the French Quarter during the day while I was at work.   After their three days in New Orleans they were off to Jackson, Mississippi for their next workshop.   But their plans included a side trip for a swamp tour just north of the city.   Hopefully their quest to see an alligator or two was successful.