Helpful Hints

Here are some hints that are EXTREMELY helpful while studying your figures. Most of them are from the TCRG Exam Forum and links on the forum- thank you to those awesome people who posted them to begin with!!!!

• The only dance with the Sink and Grind is the Harvest Time Jig- it also has the Rise and Grind!
• The longest dance is High Cauled Cap (568 bars! Whew!)
• There are 3 dances that originate in Armagh- The Sweets of May, Trip to the Cottage, The Three Tunes
• Dances that have no sidestep: Rince Fada, Haymakers Jig, Lannigans Ball, Waves of Tory, Rakes of Mallow. So this means that every dance in Book 1 has the sidestep, and every dance in Book 2, except for Rince Fada, also have the sidestep!
• Dances performed to a tune with the same name: Haste to the Wedding, Humours of Bandon, St. patrick's day, Trip to the Cottage, Lannigans ball, Rakes of Mallow, Sweets of May.
• Dances with an Opening movement OTHER than Advance and Retire, Ring, or Lead Around: Rince Fada, Bridge of Athlone, Haymakers Jig, Duke Reel, and Bonfire Dance.
• Dances with Step and Clap: Three Tunes, High Cauled Cap.
• Dances that begin with a Ring or Circle formation: Siege of Carrick, The Three Tunes, An Rince Mor, Duke Reel, Sweets of May, Lannigans Ball, Bonfire dance.
• Dances with Rise and Grind or Sink and Grind: Bridge of Athlone, St. patrick's day, Harvest Time Jig, Humours of bandon, Eight Hand Jig, Siege of Ennis, Rince Fada, Haste to the Wedding, Haymakers Jig, Lannigans Ball.

There are a lot more, and I'll be posting them as well, but these are good to write on index cards and quiz yourself on. The Exam given this past May in Dublin had many questions based on tips like these, so they are great to know!

Also, here is a study sheet that I made up for myself that may be helpful to you- it is for you to fill out when you are studying your ceilis. I found that I would fill it out once directly from the book, then try doing it again with minimal help from the book, and then doing it again and again until I had it perfectly memorized- hope it helps. Oh, and I really am only good to go with the Ceilis in the first book, so I still am using this system all the time!!!

TCRG Practice Sheet

Date:
Name of Ceili:


History of the Dance/ Where did dance originate:


Music it is danced to: Jig/Reel/Single Jig


Name of Tunes:


Number of Dancers:


Number of Bars:


List the movements of the dance in order and the amount of bars in each section:



















Please Describe, in detail, each section of the ceili:




































Please Sketch the Beginning Formation using X’s and O’s:






Please Sketch the Movements of the Dance Using A, B,C, etc.: