This article is from page 26 of the 2007-08-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 26 JPG
FINAL preparations are being made for the 13th annual Dan Furey Week- end which begins in Labasheeda this Friday, August 31. The festival will be officially opened by Cllr Oliver Garry on Friday evening before the dancing starts in earnest with a céili by the Abbey Céili Band.
Participants can look forward to an early start to their Saturday morning with workshops set to begin from 10.30am. Labasheeda Nation School will be the venue for set-dancing classes with Mike Mahony and step- dancing with Celine and Michael Tubridy.
After the break for lunch, the John- ny Reidy Céili Band will provide the
music for the first céili of the day from 3pm.
After an evenings barbecue at St Kieran’s Centre the evening will be rounded off with another céili, this time the Glenside Ceili Band will provide the entertainment.
Following 10am Mass on Sunday, there will be a commemorative visit to the graves of Dan Furey and James Keane on Sunday morning.
The early afternoon will see the Kilmurry Players provide the music for dancing at the Battery Castle be- fore a fancy dress parade takes to the Streets.
The Brian Boru Céili Band will provide the music for the afternoon LUTON Me Lbn (Oe: ham olo) CO) CoM Neo CoIOA DUDES completed with music from the Matt
Cunningham Céili Band on Sunday evening.
Since their passing, both Dan Furey and James Keane have become icons for followers of the dancing tradi- tions of this area. They are credited with being the saviours of the tradi- tional dances of Labasheeda.
Dan was known far and wide for teaching dancing in the schools of west Clare and latterly came to prominence at the Willie Clancy eave
He was single-minded in his teach- ing and dedicated his life to this art form. He was familiar to many in the county not least for his fiddle accom- paniment for the dancers.
James learned his first steps from his grandmother when he was very
young and enjoyed going to dances in his youth. He spent most of his working life farming and doing GNI eM(0)u.@
Following his retirement from farming he returned to the dancing scene where he commanded great re- spect from all who came in contact with him.
Dan and James toured the country and travelled abroad teaching the La- basheeda dances and getting to know people. When the Dan Furey Festival was launched in 1995, James became a major attraction and much of the credit for the success of the weekend Tier ABM LOlUiKore mom sveeer
For more information on the Dan Furey weekend check out www.la- basheeda.net.