Bellamira and our musicians have been playing ceilidhs for weddings and parties for decades. A great ceilidh never happens by chance, and we wanted to share some nuggets from our experience that will help make your ceilidh an event your family and friends remember with fondness for years.

Find a great venue

The venue is of course a major factor. But what to look for?

A raised stage for the band, and enough space for about 1.5 square metres of dance floor per dancer. Not everyone will be dancing at once, so do the maths assuming around half of the folks at your event will be dancing. But it will still be fine if you don’t have that much space, so don’t let that put you off.

It will make a big difference if the room and the stage are nicely lit and decorated. Do avoid making the space too bright, though.

“Good acoustics” are important, though that’s a bit subjective, and a good sound engineer (like our Mina!) will be able to correct for echoey rooms. As a rule of thumb, venues with big smooth surfaces facing each other will be more echoey. Fabric and wooden features in the hall will damp down reflections and add warmth to the sound.

When the dance floor is the centre and focal point of the event, folks will feel more interest and social pressure to dance. If you can, avoid having the dance space off to the side of the main action. Make the ceilidh the main action.

Be cautious of noise limits at venues. While not common, some venues are close to residential homes and have mandatory noise limits. Bellamira usually produce around 100 dB of noise measured at the back of a medium sized hall. We can reduce this down to around 70 db if we use electronic drums. However, very low noise levels will result in a loss of energy. Dancers themselves can generate 50-60 dB, so you don’t want to be in a situation where the band and caller are struggling to be heard above the noise of people in the room.

Let’s keep everybody comfortable and safe

Make sure people have easy access to as much drinking water as they might need. A lovely bar will definitely add to the joy of the event, and most bars at dance events will offer free tap water if asked for, but do check-in with the manager to ensure this.

Do remember that users of wheelchairs can dance at ceilidhs as well as anyone else. In Bellamira, we take care to work with callers who can involve people of all abilities, and who can notice and correct any dancing that’s not as safe as possible.

On the subject of accessibility, it’s good to keep in mind that some people can get overwhelmed by noise and movement—some folks with autism, for example—and providing a quiet space a little away from the ceilidh is important.

Bellamira are an energetic band with a drum kit, so we can be on the loud side by default. But we make sure to check in with people about volume throughout an evening so that nobody’s uncomfortable, and where a client prefers a ceilidh to be relatively quiet, we’re able to use electronic drums and keep the noise down.

Who to invite, and what to tell them

We’re going to assume that the friends and family you’re inviting are lovely people who are up for dancing and having a great time—who isn’t? But you can help this be more true by telling people on the invite that there will be a ceilidh and letting them know what this is.

We’ve noticed that wedding invites more often do this than regular party invites, and so because people come to those weddings expecting to dance, the dance floor can be busier and more exciting than a party where the ceilidh is a surprise.

If it’s appropriate for your event, do invite the kids. A good caller and band will ensure the ceilidh itself is a safe environment for all, of any age. Ceilidh’s are really exciting spaces for children and perfect if you want them to let off steam and sleep well 😊 And there is something especially wonderful about the sense of a whole family coming together and celebrating at a ceilidh—whether that’s the family at a wedding, or the chosen family of a party.

What makes a great caller?

On a basic level, a good caller knows enough to provide a good range of dances for your dancers. You want somebody with charisma and huge energy.

A really important part of the caller’s work is a good sense of the energy on the dance floor and being able adjust the dances as the evening progresses so people are not being worked too hard, but the dances are challenging enough that they’re exciting.

As a band, we favour gender-free calling—not dividing dancers into men and women. Many dances involve couples, but it’s common at ceilidhs for some to form couples of two men or two women—for example, with their friends rather than significant others. So if the caller is calling for men and women, this can cause confusion. Another benefit is that gay or bi couples, and trans and non-binary dancers feel fully accepted when their role in the dance and their gender are not being policed at a ceilidh. Our friend Lisa Heywood who often calls for us has written in more detail about gender-free calling.

What makes a great band?

We designed Bellamira to be the best ceilidh band on the planet.

The key things are experience and energy. Experience, because to be good at playing for ceilidh, it’s really helpful to have yourself done a lot of folk dancing. Ceilidh dancing has a certain feel to it, and when you’ve done a lot of it, and you’ve played for a lot of it, you’re more able to create that feel.

In terms of how we’ve “designed” ourselves to be perfect for ceilidhs, these are some of the things we’ve considered when we put our line-up together and when we write new material.

• A tight line-up (as few musicians as possible) to create great on-stage chemistry. It helps that this makes us better value too!
• Drums dramatically boost the energy, yet are rare in 4-piece ceilidh band like us.
• Dance sets designed to create an emotional journey, building excitement through each dance, and as the whole event progresses.
• Singing! Very few ceilidh bands incorporate singing, and it’s such a shame! Working songs into dance sets adds so much more excitement and variety, and means we can get your favourite pop songs into your ceilidh too.

And don’t forget!

An elephant or some other kind of charismatic megafauna will make any event more memorable. Miniature donkeys are a cute second best.