Philadelphia’s Museum of the American Revolution held a winter ball on January 21. Visitors were encouraged to fall into step and join in a traditional Irish céilí – a social gathering with dancing and storytelling.
Timoney Irish Dancers performed a blend of traditional and contemporary Irish dances set to festive folk tunes, and guests wearing their finest ballroom attire joined in eighteenth-century country dances set to Irish tunes in the museum’s elegant Liberty Hall.
Niel De Marino of the New Jersey-based dance company In Good Company was on hand to teach the dances so that everyone could participate.
Spiked eggnog and hot chocolate were on the menu, which included an Irish-inspired sandwich featuring corned beef, swiss cheese, and braised cabbage. Those who were 21 and over could enjoy free samples of Hochstadter’s Slow & Low Old Fashioned Cocktail.
At the museum’s special exhibition Cost of Revolution: The Life and Death of an Irish Soldier, visitors heard a poetry reading of works by eighteenth-century poet Anna Seward. The presentation explored the untold story of Richard St. George, an Irish soldier and artist in the British army, through more than 100 artifacts, manuscripts, and works of art from Australia, Ireland, England, and the United States, many of which are on display in America for the first time. The exhibition ran from September 2019 through March 17, 2020.
For more information on the museum and information on upcoming exhibitions, see: https://www.amrevmuseum.org/exhibits/special-exhibitions. ♦
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