“Well, that was embarrassing!” Not a great start for a blog post but that is about the size of it. The results are in from the global poll and I received a grand total of 91 voters, the lowest response by far of the three polls I have conducted.
This is despite the fact that almost 3 times that many people read the blog post, two-thirds of you readers did not vote.
However, my thanks to those who did vote, and the High Cauled Cap was in front all the way.
| RANK | Céilí Dance Name |
Votes | Percent |
| 1 | High Cauled Cap | 34 | 13% |
| 2 | Trip To The Cottage | 18 | 7% |
| 3 | Walls of Limerick | 16 | 6% |
| 4 | Siege of Ennis | 16 | 6% |
| 5 | Haymaker’s Jig | 15 | 6% |
| 6 | Fairy Reel | 14 | 5% |
| 7 | Sweets Of May | 13 | 5% |
| 8 | Three Tunes | 12 | 5% |
| 9 | Gates of Derry | 11 | 4% |
| 10 | Cross Reel | 11 | 4% |
| 11 | Four Hand Reel | 10 | 4% |
| 12 | Sixteen-Hand Reel | 9 | 3% |
| 13 | St. Patrick’s Day | 9 | 3% |
| 14 | Rakes of Mallow | 7 | 3% |
| 15 | Lannigans Ball | 7 | 3% |
| 16 | Eight-Hand Jig | 6 | 2% |
| 17 | Bonfire dance | 6 | 2% |
| 18 | Waves of Tory | 5 | 2% |
| 19 | Hurry The Jug | 5 | 2% |
| 20 | Morris Reel | 5 | 2% |
| 21 | Antrim Reel | 4 | 2% |
| 22 | Humours of Bandon | 4 | 2% |
| 23 | Duke Reel | 3 | 1% |
| 24 | Other Option | 3 | 1% |
| 25 | Polka Set (Berkeley Set) | 2 | 1% |
| 26 | Saint Brigid’s Cross | 2 | 1% |
| 27 | Siege of Carrick | 2 | 1% |
| 28 | Two-Hand Reels | 2 | 1% |
| 29 | Dashing White Sergeant | 2 | 1% |
| 30 | Harvest Time Jig | 1 | 0% |
| 31 | Glencar Reel | 1 | 0% |
| 32 | Sweet Carol’s Fancy | 1 | 0% |
| 33 | Petronella | 1 | 0% |
| 34 | Eight-Hand Reel | 1 | 0% |
| 35 | An Rince Mór | 1 | 0% |
| 36 | Galway Reel (3-Hand Reel) | 1 | 0% |
| 37 | Bridge of Athlone | 1 | 0% |
| 38 | Dennis Murphy’s Reel | 1 | 0% |
| 39 | Galway Reel (6 in Line) | 1 | 0% |
ABOUT THE HIGH CAULED CAP
- The High Cauled Cap can be danced both in ballet style (up on toes: hands high) or low to the floor (flat feet: hands low)- I have written about this before
- It is also the name of a music tune played for this dance,
- The dance is 576 bars long – phew!
- A high caul cap was a style of close-fitting head covering worn by women to shield their hair, most popular during the Renaissance period. It could be made of cloth or leather, sometimes featured a turnback around the face (as we might nowadays think of for baby bonnets), and occasionally sported a short tail or peak at the crown. Men’s versions were worn to protect the head when wearing a metal cap or helm. In modern usage a caul refers to the part of the hat that is not the brim. READ MORE
ABOUT THIS POLL – At the end of this, I am left wondering why this poll attracted so little interest, despite being posted far and wide online and particularly on many Irish step dancing forums/fora. I estimate the global population of current Irish step dancers would have to be many multiples of 10,000 although I am unable to locate any population data. Some questions include:
- Do dancers actually care for these céilí dances?
- Where are the dancers? Online or offline?
I would be very pleased to hear from you about what you think!
Thanks again and happy dancing!
N.B. I will be running the annual Top 5 Irish Set Dances poll again early in 2016 – watch out for that.
Nora Stewart
Irish Bliss
