I also chatted with Tony Ryan and Dick O'Connell about dancing. I wanted to know how they got started, what they felt was most essential and what their favorite sets are. This was Tony's second time in White Plains. He flew over for the festival and to teach a few classes in New England. Tony learned to dance at home as a child. Taught by his father, a widower, the family used to dance reels together in the kitchen. His favorite sets are the West Kerry, the Derradda and the Aran. Regarding what is essential Tony said, "We need better openings for new people. We need to be more welcoming, to encourage each other always. There shouldn't be any 'groupies', where some people are included and others are left out. We need to help each other learn. The same people shouldn't dance together all the time. People need to mix with a variety of partners. It's essential to bring in young people, to pass on the traditions". Dick O'Connell is originally from Kerry. The two met some years ago through mutual friends in Westboro, Massachusetts. Dick has taught set dancing at White Plains since the start of the festival. He began set dancing in 1984. In 1986 Dick and other teachers formed the Cine Rinnce movement to get more people dancing by opening up membership and helping each other learn. Cine Rinnce met with great success. Every Thursday night 15-18 sets would be on the dance floor for class. Of course anyone who has danced at Cois na hAbhna in Ennis has been welcomed by Dick who now teaches class on Wednesday nights and hosts a ceili there every two weeks. His favorite sets are the Cashel, Labasheeda and Clare Lancers (which he finds especially appealing from an audience perspective). Dick and Tony both live the philosophy that dance is for everyone and we help each other learn. I was also interested in talking with musicians. So I asked several of them how it is to play music for ceilis contrasted with playing in sessions. George Keith, fiddle player: "It's really much more 'work' playing for dancing. You have to play loud, you have to play faster than usual, and you have to overemphasize the rhythm. Most subtleties (as well as wrong notes) get washed away by the sound of pounding feet. For this reason many Irish musicians would say that playing for a ceili is like trying to play a piano with boxing gloves. "Still, it's nice to have a well-defined goal to focus on in your music. In a ceili, the goal is to keep it lively and danceable. These are good goals to strive towards in general, though Irish music as a whole is really about much more than just that. Overall, I do enjoy playing for dancing, though I never want to do it exclusively." Jimmy Noonan, flute player: "For dances a musician has to stick to the rhythm, but musicians can be more fluid in sessions. I don't like to play polkas and slides all the time, but dancers love them. How many polkas and slides do most musicians know? I love reels. Musicians feel the energy with the dancers. You can tough out a bad session, but a bad ceili is rough when the musicians and dancers don't click. Most younger players only want sessions. They can't be bothered with ceilis. They're not interested in ceilis, but I love them." John Whelan, button accordion player: "Playing for ceilis is a challenge. It's physically very demanding because I play hard. It's good discipline. It helps me keep my chops up. I love it with a passion. It's a small community, so I'm playing for people I know, friends. There are a lot of positives. I'm happy that people involved with dance are becoming more in tune with the music and more supportive of Irish music and people like me from the point of view that [fulltime] musicians need to make a living. Dancers used to buy only dance music, but now they buy more [of all kinds of Irish music], so people like me can play more ceilis. Overall, dancers are becoming more supportive of all Irish culture, not just the dancing".