North Sea Ceilidh

with ceilidh caller Majken Enequist

Make your party unforgettable with a vibrant Ceilidh called by Majken.

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What is a Ceilidh?

A Ceilidh (Scottish) or Ceili (Irish) is a wonderful way to have people meet while enjoying music and movement together. To Majken it is synonymous to ‘the most fun organised chaos one can have at a party’.

The Gaelic word ‘Ceilidh’ stands for ‘gathering’. Traditionally this kind of gathering was about sharing stories and folklore of any kind: storytelling, music and dancing. These gatherings would take place any time anything would be celebrated, life, death or anything in between.

These days the word ‘Ceilidh’ mostly refers to dancing ceilidh dances - Scottish and Irish traditional group dances, ideally danced to live music. Some of those dances are very well known, like for example “The Dashing White Sergeants”, “Strip the Willow”, “The Circassian Circle” , “Gay Gordons” and “The Circle Waltz”.

Every Ceilidh is basically like a Schottish (or Irish, depending on the dances) dance workshop. Where you learn the group dances, that focus on figures more so than steps, while it feels like a party instead of a class.

“Happy Caller, happy Ceilidh”

At a Ceilidh it’s the Caller who guides everyone during the dancing. The Caller offers a short set of instructions before every dance, so that even if you’re a beginner, you’ll be able to join in the fun. There are rarely any difficult steps, the focus is on the fun. Walking or skip-hopping should be enough to be able to take part in every ceilidh dance.

After a short set of instructions, the Caller will keep ‘calling out’ the figures during the dancing, so that you don’t even have to memorise everything in one go.

“Happy caller, Happy ceilidh”, means as much as that a caller is not just a dance teacher, but should also function as an entertainer. They are in charge of atmosphere, of the fun, but also everyones safety and will be encouraging everyone while also motivating dancers to help one another out gently.

When do we Ceilidh?

With experience of calling Ceilidhs at over 50 private parties, weddings and company events, Majken can get practically anyone to enjoy a good jig. Ceilidhs are excellent mixers, because of the social component and the low threshold for taking part. They are often a highlight to any type of gathering.

Still wondering for what event you could request a Ceilidh?
Ceilidhs are a great fit for :

• Teambuilding events
• Birthday parties
• Weddings
• Jubilees
• Family events
• Festivals
• Burns night
• New Years parties
• Hogmanay
• Company Christmas parties

Majkens Calling

With 16 years of Ceilidh Calling experience at 14 festivals and over 50 weddings and parties, Majken is a skilled teacher and crowd manager. With great enthusiasm she brings joy through dancing and wit, to large crowds of up to 150 people as well as smaller gatherings. Ceilidh calling is one of Majken’s favourite pastimes, combining teaching, entertaining, dance and music all in one. Co-operating with musicians makes it all the more fun.

Majken trained as a dance teacher in international folkloric dancing, later specialising in Scottish Country and Ceilidh dancing. In 2010 she lived in Edinburgh and was part of the ‘The New Scotland Country Dance Society’ demonstration team.

Returning home to the Netherlands in 2011, Majken partnered with Koosje Schouten (former dancer at Rapalje, and teacher at Keltisch Dansje) and Rosalie Wagenaar (dancer at Rapalje and Celtic Sparks, teacher at Rose Irish Dance School). Together, they provided classes in Irish step dance and Ceili dance for beginners in Groningen and Amsterdam.

Majken's passion for dance began with helping out in her mothers dance school (Dansschool Enequist in Friesland) from the young age of 11 years old. Since then, she has been teaching classes and workshops in different styles of Folkloric Dancing in schools, at festivals and weddings.

With her Swedish and Frisian background, and her experience in international folkloric dance, Majken adds a little Nordic twist to her Ceilidh Calling. She’ll bring you Celtic living folklore like no one else.

Experience calling at Festivals

Keltisch Midzomer Festival 2010
Keltisch Midzomer Festival 2011
Celtic Balfolk Night februari 2016
Midwinter Fair Archeon december 2016
Op Roakeldais festival juni 2017
Moai Fuort Simmerfestival Burgum juni 2017
Midwinter Fair Archeon december 2017
Elfia Arcen september 2017
Elfia Haarzuilens April 2018
Elfia Arcen September 2019
Folk voor het WNF december 2019
Vliers op Texel november 2022
Op Roakeldais juni 2025
Vliers op Texel november 2026

"Your ceilidh was the highlight of our wedding and is the part that people still talk about, months later."

-A happy bride

"I have never known how to dance, yet you have somehow taught me how to waltz within under 10 minutes. I don’t know how you did it , but thank you!"

-A party guest

"You bring so much joy and energy into your ceilidh. It’s contagious. One can really tell you are having a lot of fun!"

-A festival goer

"Majken is our favourite Ceilidh Caller by far and we'll be sure to request her again for our next party!"

-A happy customer

Prerequisites for a great Ceilidh

A Ceilidhs is an excellent way to liven up any kind of party. Granted a few things are well managed and prepared, it should all run as smooth as any organised chaos can be.
Ceilidhs are particularly fun if there is nothing else to worry about, while dancing, which is why it is important to take into account a few basic necessities.

Amount of dancers

Ceilidhs are group dances, therefor the fun and atmosphere of a ceilidh depend on the amount of dancers. The minimum being 16 dancers, the maximum depends on the size of the dance floor or venue.

Size Dance Floor

Per capita one should count on 1,5 square metres of space

The ideal situation for a ceilidh is a wooden dance floor, a roof over our heads and as much open space without any pillars or poles in the way.
Of course this is not always available and we will often just make do with what we find ourselves in.

The floor should be as even as possible, potholes or cracks in the floor may mean twisted ankles, and that’s never fun at a party.
Footwear will also have an effect on that, so if your guests know there will be dancing, that might give them a chance to bring flats alongside the heals they might be wearing.

I have led ceilidhs in gravel and grass and even on wooden pallets, although not ideal, we often make it work anyway.

Type of Dance Floor

Necessities Musicians

• Ample time for a soundcheck (30 mins min.)
• Safe electrical sockets
• Chairs without arm rests
• A dry spot to sit (if outdoors, they will need a tent or tarp)
• A small stage or space to set up at the top (short end) of the dance floor.
• If there is a PA system in place, please let us know what kind you have available for the musicians to use (they can often bring their own, but this differs per musician)
• Drinks or water during the performance.

Dance experience level

None at all!
You don’t need any dancing experience to have fun at a ceilidh. That’s what the Caller is for: she will give you a short instruction before starting every dance and will be calling all the figures and steps while dancing, to guide you along.

If you do have experienced ceilidh dancers among you, they will be able to help out the rest, however it is not a prerequisite for a ton of fun!

Dinner

If we play at your party or wedding around dinner time, it would indeed be lovely if we would be included in the buffet if at all possible.

"Thank you so much for the wonderful Ceilidh! All our friends and family were so excited about you."
"We would like to thank you for the amazing ceilidh you held last night. Not only did everyone enjoy your excellent teaching skills. My family also complimented you on how adaptable you are , and manage groups so well. The evening was wonderful and was so, in part, thanks to you!"
"Thank you so much, Majken! It was super!"

Got a party? Let’s Ceilidh!