Originally the word Ceilidh (kay-lee) descended from the Gaelic word for ‘gathering’ or ‘party’… However, these days when people think of a Ceilidh, they think of a fun filled night of wild dancing, good music and great company! We often describe it as “organised dancing” or a bit like a barndance!

You should have the ceilidh experience because it’s so inclusive, everyone can take part whether young, old or those with two left feet! It’s very unique, memorable and it will keep all of the action across the evening on the dance floor, giving your ceilidh guests the same shared experience to talk about for years to come. It’s also the perfect icebreaker to get your friends and family mingling and mixing at your special event!

You can have a ceilidh event with a small amount of dancers but the more the merrier! We need a minimum of 8-10 people to make one ‘set’ (dancing group), but it can be more fun to have a few of these on the floor and we need a few more for the famous Orcadian Strip the Willow, about 20 – 30 people is ideal for that dance! It’s also good if you have more guests than we need so not everyone has to do all of the dances if they don’t want to and they can have a breather while other people get up and join in.

It’s both and English too! The types of ceilidh are slightly different for each tradition. We specialise in Scottish ceilidh dancing as that’s what we get the most call for. These dances are simpler to teach to beginners on the night and tend to be the ones that anyone with ceilidh experience or who learnt a little bit at school will have heard of and remember!

Ideally a bit of tartan but it’s completely up to you! The main thing is to be cool and comfortable and to have sensible shoes. It’s best to avoid heels for ceilidh dancing. When having a ceilidh at your event you might consider preparing a 2nd shorter dress throughout the night, although most people do dance in a dress and we’ve seen some really ingenious bustle and hitching up techniques!