Sean-nós dancer Edwina Guckian talks Irish culture, folklore, and community spirit
Mother, dancer, author, producer, artist — Edwina Guckian is a woman of many talents. In the run up to Culture Night, she’s reminding us of the importance of coming together to celebrate life through music, dance, and the arts.
Edwina Guckian is a proud Leitrim lady who comes from a family steeped in the lengthy traditions of song and dance. Having fallen in love with sean-nós dancing early on in life, Edwina began teaching dance at 16 and set up Áirc Damhsa as a culture club for youths to interact with their heritage and culture in a fun, non-competitive environment.
The artistic director of Leitrim Dance Project, and the author of the children’s book Sparks from the Flagstones, Edwina was awarded the Arts Council of Ireland Next Generation Bursary back in 2017 to support her work in redeveloping the connection between music and movement, musician and dancer.
One of this year’s Culture Night ambassadors, we sat down with the community-minded artist to hear about the importance of preserving Irish traditions and passing them on to the next generation and the thrill of community celebrations.
Where did your affinity with music and dance come from?
It was just a part of everyday life in our family, the same as many other families in Ireland. You learned to walk, talk, dance a step, lilt a tune… music and dance were always just there. It was the same for my own parents and grandparents, and probably many more generations before them.
Tell us about Áirc Damhsa Culture Club?
Áirc Damhsa is a culture club for children to enjoy Sean-nós dance and other Irish traditional dances, music, songs, folklore, Gaeilge, and cultural community events in a non-competitive and creative environment that celebrates the arts. We’re now in our 21st year with clubs in nine counties and over 8000 children joining us over that time. It is something I’m incredibly proud of and so grateful for. Many of those children who first attended the club have become some of my closest friends today. They are now the teachers at the club and curate wonderful events and projects alongside me for the next generation of children. A lot of my work would not happen if it weren’t for them.
During your interview with Tommy Tiernan, you spoke about the percussive element of Sean-nós dancing. What is it about this art form that speaks to you?
I think it’s just dance in general that speaks to me. It’s freedom and self-expression, there are no rules or barriers, and there’s a spontaneity and exhilarating joy that it brings you. There’s nothing better than that feeling of being lost in your own world as you dance with a musician. It’s not a performance. You’re not dancing to impress anyone else. It’s very personal. Just you and the music. Letting go of yourself, of any self-consciousness, of caring what others think and just moving whatever way you want to move. The feeling is incredible. It’s a massive dopamine booster.
What drew you to becoming a children’s book author?
I love children’s books! I’ve been a bookworm since my mother first read books to me as a child and the greatest gift you can give me today is a children’s book. So, I’ve always dreamt of someday writing my own.
Where did the idea for Sparks from the Flagstones come from, and how has the reaction been?
I’ve been working with children for over 20 years now, and it was many of those children that sparked the idea for this book. Sparks from the Flagstones is a treasury of Irish folk traditions and calendar customs that I’ve grown up with. Many of the traditions I write about have been passed on to me by my parents and grandparents. When I shared these traditions with the children at Áirc Damhsa over the years they were a huge success, with many of the youth taking them on and bringing them to life in their own communities. Mummers, crossroads dances, bonfire night, house dances, cures, rambling and more.
I wanted to reach all the children across Ireland, beyond those that I worked with weekly, so that they too could learn of these traditions and empower them to keep them alive and pass them on.
The reaction to the book has been incredible. I’m blown away by it, really. I’ve had many special moments from children and grandparents telling me how it has brought them closer together, how they’re sharing and collecting their own family folklore together. Others have told me how they organised their own Bilberry Sunday party or house dance. I had one girl tell me she had to buy a second copy of the book because her granny took it and wouldn’t give it back. Another child told me I was his second favourite author, next to Roald Dahl. I’ll settle for that! I’ve had quite a few children tell me they’ve even tried to catch a lizard to lick it… you’ll have to read the book to figure that one out!
Tell us a little about your relationship with Irish culture, and why it remains so important?
It’s part of my everyday work as an artist. Our Irish culture is rooted in tradition yet is ever-growing and changing. Much of our Irish culture centres around bringing people together to celebrate through music, song, dance and the arts. That’s what our ancestors have done for thousands of years and what we continue to do today. And we do it so well. Just look at Culture Night as an example.
You’re a Culture Night ambassador for 2024. What does this annual event mean to you?
It’s a very exciting night. You can really feel this huge collective energy fizzing across the country as the nation comes together to celebrate the arts. It’s a night for everyone to get out and experience the huge range of our diverse culture in Ireland.
To step inside an arts venue that you might pass by every day. To visit something you’re already interested in or step out of your comfort zone and experience something completely different. Who knows what it might spark in you? The possibilities of this night are very exciting.
I’m usually performing on Culture Night and I’m always looking for new faces in the audience, wondering if this might be the night that they get hooked on dancing and I’ll see their faces a lot more over the coming years at events.
Edwina’s top Culture Night picks
- Journeying Together: Celebrating Irish traveller culture and tradition with Thomas McCarthy and Paddy Keenan in Birr, Offaly
- Irish Traditional Music Archives: A night of live traditional music and song in the splendour of their Georgian Reading Room
- The Storytelling Street in Limerick
- The Artane Band and St. Patrick’s Campus Drumcondra
- Spark A Love Of Stories With Ireland’s Children’s Book Artists in Dubray Books Grafton Street
- Fingal Mummers at the Four Courts Dublin
- Celebrating cultural diversity in Ennis, Clare
- UCC Folklore Ball Night in Cork
- Rakes of Music at Ballinamore Library in Leitrim
- Mind the Step Cafe in Dublin
- RTÉ Radio 1 Arena coming from Mermaid Arts Centre Bray
- RTÉ 1: A special Culture Night show featuring several artists including a performance from David Gray and Colm Mac Con Iomaire on Skellig Michael. Plus, Kurdish musician Mohammad Syfkhan, Ultan O Brien, and 50 dancers at Effrinagh Crossroads in Leitrim.
There’s over 1700 free events happening across Ireland on Friday 20 September. Visit culturenight.ie to see what’s happening near you and get planning your own.
Photography by Philip Doyle.
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