Wedding Receptions, Corporate Events, House Concerts, Tualatin / Portland & the NW USA and beyond!

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Week of 7/28 Irish Events in the Greater Portland Area
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Claddagh Two Hand Jig

We do not stop playing because we grow old -
We grow old because we stop playing!
 
Old Irish saying

Irish Weddings, Irish Family Reunion, Irish Wedding Reception, Celtic Wedding, Irish Ceili, Irish Dancing, Irish Links, Irish Dance Teacher?
 
You will find information for all of the above throughout my site!
 
 

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After donating the hair. Vashon, June 2007 by Mari Hoiland

We need your HELP to finish Portland's Irish Famine Memorial

Wednesday night drop-in Irish dance class has switched from Wednesday nights to Thursday nights at the Historic Winona Grange #271 statring July 3, 2008

Two ceili's this summer hosted by the Tir Eoghain class celebrating 30 years in Portland! Friday July 11 and August 8

Seisiún Mór sa Páirc!

Sunday, August 31, 2008, Art in the Pearl from 11:30am-1:00pm.

You are invited to the Session in the Park.  Mikey Beglan and Nancy Conescu will lead musicians and singers of what we hope will be the largest Portland community session ever!

 I will be calling dances for the audience to participate.

 

 The Art in the Pearl is located in the Northwest Park blocks, between W Burnside and NW Glisan at NW 8th Ave in Portland, Oregon. http://www.artinthepearl.com/

Please talk to Mikey or Nancy or email me at sam.keator@verizon.net for any questions you might have. Please arrive about 11 so that we can get on track with the sound tech.

House concerts in the Wee Ceili Room in Tualatin resume this fall in October! Enjoy the summer at local and regional Irish Festivals!

I want to thank each and everyone of you that have commissioned me to arrange, teach and call your receptions, ceilis and family events these past years!
 
29 event's in 2007
 
27 event's already booked for 2008
 
From Yachats, Twin Rocks, Tierra Del Mar, Salem, McMinnville, Newberg, Tualatin, Beaverton, Sauvie Island, Portland, Ridgefield, Battle Ground, Bellevue, Port Orchard, to Vashon Island!
 
Thank you for sharing with me to keep this great cultural event ALIVE!
Sam

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Courtesy of Mari Hoiland,

BIOS of Sam Keator, T.M.R.F.

 

 

Instructor: Samuel Carothers Keator, TMRF, (Teastas Múinteoireachta Rince Foirne) Certified by, “An Coimisiún le Rincí Gaelacha”, Dublin, Ireland

 

In the winter of 1997, a friend of mine sent me a motivational card, “101 ways to reduce stress”.  Somewhere in the middle of the card, “dance a jig” jumped out at me. I took it to heart and sought out the Irish dance in Portland.

 

I first danced with the weekly Tír Eóghain Céilí dance class, and since 2001 I have been teaching the class.

 

After learning my “7’s & 3’s” at the Tir Eoghain Ceili class, I went on to competition. Successfully placing never below second in figures, and competing in the novice category in solos of both hard and soft shoes.

 

With the guidance of Maureen McTeggart-Hall and Sinead Yeates and knowing that I liked to teach and was a good dancer, I applied for, was accepted and took my teachers examination in January 2005. I had to take a “closed book” test on knowledge of all 30 Irish Céilí dances from the Rince Foirne, and teach two dances of the examiners choice. It was brutal! First written test in over 30 years! I passed with flying colors. I am now a registered teacher with An Coimisíun le Rincí Gaelacha and the US Western Region.

 

I teach or have taught formal classes including the weekly Tír Eóghain class, weekly Tigard class, Stafford Primary Enrichment class, Sherwood Dance Academy, Chehalem Parks and Recreation of Newberg, West Linn and Wilsonville, Portland Community College, started the Ceili of the Valley Society's Irish dance class and have done workshops at the AC Gilbert House in Salem and the Yachats Celtic Festival.

 

I arrange, teach and call ceili's throughout the year in Oregon & Washington. I employ and work for some of the best Irish musicians in the Pacific Northwest – including but not limited to: Johnny "Box" Connolly, Dale Russ, Hanz Araki, Peter Yeates, Mikey Beglan, Nancy Conescu, Teresa Baker, Suzanne Taylor, Kellam Throgmorton, Tom Creegan, Mick Mulcrone,  Cary Novotny, Finn MacGinty, Danny O’Hanlon, Django Amerson, Bob Soper, Eddie Parente, Séamus Egan, Brendan Fitzgerald, Elizabeth Nicholson, Franz Sanger, Susan Frances, Jeff Holland, Joe Trump, Matty Sears, Dave Cory, Martin Nyberg, Rick May, Steve Austin, Marilyn Kleyn, Gordon Hall, Sean Boyle, Sally Mehler, Bill Nippoldt- for your organized céilís, Irish family reunions, private events, birthdays and wedding receptions.

 

I invite you and your family to learn and enjoy this great Irish Cultural fun! Plus it will reduce stress. See you at a Ceili or a class.

 

Sam

Move, smile and have fun are the three rules to Irish dancing! Always keep the spirit of this great cultural experience.
 
Sam

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Want to get in touch? You can call me at 503.691.2078
or send me an e-mail at:

sam.keator@verizon.net

 

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Before donating my hair to Locks of Love 2006