Bernard's Summer School 2011

25. 08. 2011 | 248 reads

BSS2011 is definitely over for the participants. I hope we are going to find out from their reactions very soon, how was it actually for them. Until then I offer my recollection from
the organiser's point of view.

Saturday 13 August 2011
Although every edition of the summer school begins for us immediately after the end of the previous one, taking over the schools and their preparation for this probably the largest Central European Irish dance and music event is the immediate signal for the start of BSS 2011. On Saturday 13 August a limited family squad arrives at the school and with the support of others - especially the Loužecký couple – we are starting to prepare the premises, participant nametags, marking passages and classrooms, etc. At the same time I twice visit the airport, picking up and accommodating summer school teachers - Michel Sikiotakis with his wife Eileen, Máire Bríd Ní Mhaoilchiaráin, Gerard Butler, Ronan McCormack and my daughter Tereza. Meanwhile Markéta welcomes and accommodates participants at the reception in Zárubova. Before the evening Jirka Janatka arrives with the PA and we set it up together for the evening dance.
It is firstly filled with some Irish dances which I complemented by Scottish and American country dances. After my part, Katka Báňová takes over and teaches the participants two English country dances. Conclusion of the evening belongs to Roman Kozák with Breton dances. The evening was attended by a large majority of those staying in the school and some people living near or far came as well.

 

Sunday 14 August 2011
On Sunday, participants of step dancing lessons amounting to nearly eighty people come together and after the initial presentation of teachers and a few technical notes the first division of participants between Terezas takes place and then it is off to the dancing lessons.
Following the dance lessons, singing lessons, individual musical instruments and of course the Irish and Irish set dancing gradually unfold during the day. Teachers began their music lessons very seriously. They really managed to create three whistle classes, and thus Michel Sikiotakis and Anka are joined by Jan Banis, whom I engaged at the last minute.
Jakub Částka is already very promising in his role of receptionist and Anička Novosadová assists him very aptly.
We begin the film screening in the evening. The intention is to introduce the predecessors of current music and dance examples through archive programmes from RTE television. “Come West Along the Road” archive documentary explains vocal music and dance development in Ireland in 1960 - 1980. Participants of the evening had the opportunity to see the current music icons in an “earlier edition” (Paddy Moloney, Matt Molloy, the original set of Dubliners, Planxty, Bothy Band and especially the interesting dance achievements - such as Celine Hession and Donncha O Muimhneacháin and others. Parallel to the screening, a small session started in another ground floor classroom in the meantime.

Monday 15 August 2011
In the morning I start by preparing the dance environment in a gym in the Písnická school. They are currently rebuilding the toilets and stairs there which is a bit of a problem. It creates an unpleasantly dusty environment unfortunately. Nevertheless, the most advanced dance lessons led by Ronan McCormack begin here.
At noon, a seminar entitled "Perspectives of Irish Dance" opened in the dining room with the aim of presenting closer reality to dancers interested in competing through the CLRG. The entire seminar is interpreted by Katka Báňová and its attractiveness is especially boosted thanks to Ronan McCormack, who has the longest experience with this organization. Ronan confirms my experiences and adds his own experience to the picture. At times the entire seminar gains a tragicomical mood, because the structure of the determining CLRG functionaries managed to create quite a few mockeries during the many years of existence of the organization and thus perhaps I began to understand why their rules are not publicly accessible. On Monday evening we show another part of the archival documentaries from RTE and it seems that for most people it is not the most interesting topic. This programme of course competes with several others, which the participants prepare for themselves and I am not even trying to capture them all. Informal sessions take place on a daily basis.

Tuesday 16 August 2011
This day is a bit quieter - lessons are underway, dancers are settled with teachers so that their dance performances match the others’. A pub session is planned for the evening, organized by Roman Táborský. Yet another parallel session is announced in HZK and most of the teachers with better skilled and musicians go there. I feel a bit sorry for Roman’s activity in this matter. Although I can think something about parasiting on the event that I organize, yet I cannot interfere with instructors’ and musicians’ free time outside the lessons. It is delusive to think that dancers would go to dance in HZK (when there is no room for it) and would be returning from Smíchov back to Modřany at night. Session in the Kamýk pub was still considered quite satisfactory even for the dancers probably lasted even after their return to the school.

Wednesday 17 August 2011
Lessons take place according to a standard schedule. In the morning, the driver who came to us with a supply of bottled water took care of our “entertainment” because he has managed to "bury" the car in the grassy school grounds. With several dancers and the school caretaker we managed to free the car. The second scheduled seminar took place in the afternoon, moved from Tuesday night. Its title was "How not to kill your dance group" and during two hours I presented and discussed and became acquainted with others’ experience with the management of a dance group. There were about 10 people from various groups and I think we had an excellent talk about how the various groups and school functioned. I think that this seminar will certainly take place also during the next summer school.
Perhaps more attention belongs to the ceilí evening in KC Novodvorská today. This year I invited Le hAnam, a music group from Mělník. Beside the vast majority of BSS participants there are also people from the public, altogether nearly sixty people. And thus the room is full of action. We repeat some of the dances from the opening night, and add some new ones – e.g. Johnny (Schottische). Gerard take care of further enrichment, teaching some more interesting dances. Many dancers enjoyed the fifth figure of the Williamstown set which includes "lacing". And that was enough to confuse the dancers. I think the band 'scored' with the participants because they did not even want to let them leave the stage at the end. Singer Klára Procházková did not have much trouble convincing the audience about the qualities of her singing. The group also included this year’s BSS whistle teacher, Anka Šůrová.

Thursday 18 August 2011
The day went according to schedule. Of course at every summer school there is a sort of unofficial parallel life, which has a high social value and is certainly an important incentive for participation in the summer school. Particularly those participants staying in the school form a fairly compact group despite the geographical distance of their homes. And so I think that especially those who attend classes from their homes or are staying somewhere else are losing out on many social ties.

Friday 19 August 2011
Today the lessons are shortened so that the participants could get to the dress rehearsal in Ponec Theatre, where the BSS 2011 final evening will be held. The event is preceded by an unpleasant event: a girl from Liberec fell on the city bus and was badly hit. Her condition after coming to Ponec showed the need for medical intervention. So for the first time in the existence of the summer school I call an ambulance which takes the dancer for medical treatment to hospital before the start of the evening. Fortunately, her injury, although very painful, is only a bruise and not a complication of a fracture type.
In the afternoon I'm going to the airport with Tereza to pick up dancers from the Hession School in Galway, who accepted our invitation to perform during the evening and they spent the rest of the afternoon, albeit in unpleasantly wet weather, being shown around Prague by Tereza.
True to tradition, I put together creating the evening programme in the theatre chair during the dress rehearsal. It is not easy to compose such programme for the public and the participants themselves so that I may not be ashamed to sell tickets to the public. But so far it has always turned out well and so I believe it will be the case now as well. The invitation to attend the evening was accepted by the First Secretary of the Irish Embassy Mr. Brian McElduff with his guest, and if we can believe the words he spoke to the audience at the end of the evening, he was surprised by the high professionalism of the performers and also the broad scope which the summer school covered.
The evening is opened by a sean nós dancing number by Tereza Bernardová and Gerard Butler. And then the summer school classes and participating dance groups alternate: firstly the class led by Tereza Loužecká Bachová. They are followed by a first choreography of the group Čarodějky (Two-Hand Reel) and after them a trio from the Olomouc group Fiach bán. Then the stage is filled by Teresa Bernardová’s class with their choreography. Another step dancing set is subsequently presented by Isabell Stolz and Jennifer Benedikt - very promising German dancers from Rince Cara school. Anther choreography by Čarodějky again convinces the audience of the extraordinary sense of humour, which is projected in this choreography by Tereza Zemanová. It is a continuation of the previously presented "Agricultural" choreography. Equally interesting Fiach bán number features a pair of dancers’ performance very well choreographed to music. Ronan McCormack’s class then presents a unique hard-shoe choreography. Before the break Japanese dancer Asako Tamaki demonstrates her Highland dancing abilities and the first half is closed by Máire Bríd’s singing class, where five dancers sing 2 songs in Irish and I must add they did it very beautifully.
Beginning of the second half traditionally belongs to musicians due to their preparation. All the music classes are present onstage, part of the programme is performed by individual instruments and then all play together. Thanks to the more than ten-member ensemble of fiddlers in Míša Rábová's class the whole body of musicians seems almost like a philharmonic orchestra. They have captured my interest already during their afternoon rehearsal which I accidentally witnessed. After the musicians comes the first guest of the evening - Galway Hession School dancer and world champion Cathal Keaney, who performs without musical accompaniment and it is something have not experienced very often. His hard shoes "run wild" on the dance floor. And more importantly – his strikes are absolutely accurate, nothing is camouflaged.
 

After him comes the multiple world champion Claire Greaney. And the theatre is once again in silent amazement that turns into thunderous applause after her performance. Only a promise that both dancers will still perform again silences the auditorium. A presentation by the Irish set dancing class follows, showing one figure from the Shannon Gael set and one from the Longford Set. Radvan’s Irish class presents a sketch that turns into a musical number, accompanied by his flutists. The song is also presented as a quiz question and the correctly-guessing winner received a bottle of cider. After them Michel and Míša were invited to the stage and played a nice musical number together, followed by the sean nós dancing class led by Gerard Butler. Then Cathal and Claire return and they again capture the attention of the audience with their dancing. Their performance is deservedly rewarded with a long applause. Then the audience's attention shifts to their compatriot Máire Bríd, who sings in traditional sean nós style. The conclusions of the evening belongs to all music and dance instructors, joined by Claire and Cathal.
Personally I was quite satisfied with the evening and I hope that not only the audience but also the summer school participants were leaving with a similar feeling.

Saturday 20 August 2011
I think most of the dancers and especially musicians did not sleep much this night because they attended some sessions which took place in Prague. And so in the morning when I started cleaning the rented school premises and packing things, I met some of the most fervent musicians who were only returning. Participants fortunately take to heart that they should leave the premises cleaned up, so we just take care of packaging waste and taking it to the bins.
Before noon I pick up those teachers who fly back to Ireland and take them to the airport. It is a very nice farewell including a last photo shoot. I'm going back to the school where we handover the premises with Markéta. But even that does not conclude the summer school for me yet.

From the left - Cathal, Claire, Máire Bríd, Tereza, Ronan and Gerard - photo V.Bernard

I hope that this year was inspirational for those involved, (a total of 156 people), that they took away not only new music and dance skills, but also other social ties associated with pleasant experiences at BSS. I will be very glad if you share your thoughts and comments about the completed summer school with your surroundings, because that is the best promotion of a successful event. And if you have any suggestions, comments or criticisms, definitely let me know. I will also be grateful for any photos. We will display them on our website.

Václav Bernard
On behalf of all organisers