November 18, 2004
Enjoy A Celtic Christmas At Ramapo College
(Mahwah) – Long
before Riverdance, ordinary Irish men and women knocked the
sparks off the flagstone floors of their
cottages with jigs, reels and hornpipes,
and the rafters rang with the fiery music of the fiddle, bodhran,
tin whistle and uillean pipes. A Celtic Christmas,
to be presented at the Sharp Theater on the campus of Ramapo College
on Friday, December 17 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, December 18 at 2 p.m.,
brings to life just such a gathering, with some of the most gifted
performers of the Celtic arts.
Tomáseen
Foley's A Celtic Christmas recreates
the joy and innocence of a night in a remote
farmhouse when the old traditions of song, dance, music and storytelling
glowed like embers in the fireplace. What the people gave to each other at that time
was always something of themselves: a riveting traditional
dance, a lovely old song, wild music and
above all else, stories.
On stage, the spirit of Christmas dances to life and glows brightly
when the neighbors gather to grace the long wintry nights with the
laughter of their stories, their ancient music, and dances that they
always said they were much too old for.
Tomáseen Foley, a native Irish storyteller, is the second
youngest of a family of seven children, born and reared on a small
farm in the remote parish of Teampall an Ghleantáin. The
stories he tells have their source in the
vitality and warmth of the ordinary people
of his hometown.
Tickets for A Celtic Christmas at
Ramapo College are $24 for adults, $21
for senior citizens and $15 for youth. The
Sharp Theater is located at the Angelica
and Russ Berrie
Center for Performing and Visual Arts on the Ramapo College campus. For
more information call 201.684.7844.
This program is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey
State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of
the National Endowment for the Arts.
