The Dancemasters of North Kerry

The National Folk Theatre is famous for its unique style of traditional Irish step dance.  This style known as North Kerry, or Munnix, is found nowhere else in Ireland.  We owe this rich tradition to Jeremiah Molyneaux, a travelling dance master who travelled around North Kerry, teaching young and old, in schools and private houses.


Jeremiah Molneaux dancing with Sheila Bowler (nee Lyons)

Jeremiah Molyneaux, known locally as Gerry Munnix was born in 1883 at Gunsboro in North Kerry. He was the youngest of a family of seven, four boys and three girls.  His mother was Ellen Scanlon, a dressmaker and his father was William Molyneaux, a blacksmith.





Ned Batt Walsh and his wife.

Munnix learned his dancing from Ned Batt Walsh.  Throughout his younger years he perfected his dancing and won the Munster dancing championship at 18 years of age.  He began teaching when he was 20 and held his first ever class in the kitchen of his own house.  From this time on Munnix travelled around North Kerry and West Limerick perfecting and teaching his unique style of dance until he was 70.  He taught many fine dancers in his time, people like Liam Tarrant, Jerry Nolan, John McCarthy, Jack Lyons, to name but a few.

Jack Lyons,  pictured in Teach Siamsa Finuge shortly after the building was completed.

Liam Tarrant dancing at the turning of the sod for Teach Siamsa in Carraig in 1974. Minutes after this photo was taken he suffered a heart attack and sadly passed away.

Jack Lyons and Liam Tarrant on tour with Siamsa in Dublin.

Jerry Nolan, Sean Ahern and John McCarthy outside the Palace Theatre in 1976.

Gerry Munnix died in Listowel when he was 83 years old.  He was buried in Gale cemetery and, as he had asked, his best pair of dancing shoes were buried with him.
In Siamsa Tíre we are very lucky to have access to recordings of many pupils of Munnix.  For the past thirty years we have been studying, perfecting and developing this unique style.  Some of the steps you see today on the stage in Siamsa Tíre date back to the beginning of the last century.



The Churn from Fadó Fadó show!

Many of these pupils formed part of Siamsa Tíre, back when the company was forming.  One of these, Liam Tarrant worked closely with Founding Director Fr. Pat Ahern to create the first ever piece performed in 1965.  Liam found an old butter churn in Galway and brought it to Kerry with him, Fr Pat then put a song and dance to the rhythm of the beating churn, and so was born the first ever scene, Amhrán na Cuiginne, a scene that still forms part of one of our summer shows, Fadó Fadó.



Growing up in Siamsa... Meet our artistic director Jonathan Kelliher

Jonathan Kelliher

I grew up in Banemore, near Listowel in North Kerry.  The Teach Siamsa Training centre in Finuge was only three miles from my home.  I had an older sister and brother already attending the training, so it was natural that I would audition and try my luck also.

I remember I actually missed the night of the audition - I was at the Listowel races and forgot all about the them!  Luckily for me, I got a second chance and Fr Pat auditioned me on the night that classes were starting.  I passed the audition and he told me to go and join the rest of the class.  That was in 1980.  After completing my three years there I was accepted into the advanced classes in Tralee.  My first performance on the main stage in Tralee was during the summer of 1984.  The show was the original Siamsa show, Fadó Fadó.  30 years on, even though I don’t perform as regularly as I used to, I still get that buzz when I step on the stage. 

In costume for Ding Dong Dedero in 1991

 In 1989 I was offered a job with the full time company.  I remember my interview for that job very clearly.  I was in the Bog, turning turf with Martin Whelan one morning very early.  Martin turned to me and said, “You know there’s a job going in the Core Group in October, would you fancy it?”, and that was it, I got the job and thanks to Martin I’m still here.  In the early years, I performed every summer in Tralee, but also toured all over the world.  I have had the pleasure of meeting and performing for presidents, kings, queens and many famous people.  One of the most memorable would have to be Neil Armstrong who visited our theatre in 1997.

In 2000 I was made Dance Master, and then in 2006 appointed Artistic Director.

I think this is one of the great things about the Siamsa system - anyone can work their way from the training system right through the ranks and eventually become Artistic Director.  This is why the training is so important,  the idea that some young child attending the auditions this year could eventually be as lucky as I and have a career in something they really love and enjoy.  There is a very strong possibility that a future Artistic Director is performing or training with us at the moment.

The setting up of the training in 1974 was one of the most important events in the history of the company.  This training is the life blood that feeds everything we do here, and 40 years on, it is still as successful and important as it was back in 1974.

Siamsa has never been a job to me, it has always been a passion.  Yes, you get days when you would love to run away, but it has that special something that cannot be put into words, something that keeps drawing you back in. The day you lose that something is the day you walk away.

 40 years ago next October, Liam Tarrant, one of the Siamsa family, died on the stage during a ceremony marking the turning of the sod for the second Teach Siamsa training centre in Carraig, West Kerry.  Even though I never met Liam, I feel I know him.  So many people speak fondly of him.  Liam had a saying that still survives in Siamsa to this day, a saying that in a way sums up what the company is and how everyone involved since its beginnings to present day feel about it.

“Tis a great auld Siamsa”.