07 février 2013
A herbal and Herbier de Bretagne
Poetry at the Cercle last night. A reading from Seamus Heaney's A Herbal along with Eugene de Guillevic's Herbier de Bretagne.
09 janvier 2013
Fête des rois à Dark Horse
Anthea and Seamus, crowned queen and king at the Cercle Français de Belfast's annual fête des rois.
The evening, which had attracted a full house was animated very professionally by Vanessa Franchetti and her accomplished team of dancers and musicians.
Her team also provided the home-baked galettes shared among participants and helped down with either a glass of wine or cider.
The event included dance demonstrations including an impromptu Can Can from the recently crowned Anthea and Seamus. Here is a short video of a set piece performed by four dancers. The video was taken by Michael and gives some of the atmosphere of the evening.
Thanks Michael, and everyone else who came along.
The evening, which had attracted a full house was animated very professionally by Vanessa Franchetti and her accomplished team of dancers and musicians.
Her team also provided the home-baked galettes shared among participants and helped down with either a glass of wine or cider.
The event included dance demonstrations including an impromptu Can Can from the recently crowned Anthea and Seamus. Here is a short video of a set piece performed by four dancers. The video was taken by Michael and gives some of the atmosphere of the evening.
Thanks Michael, and everyone else who came along.
01 janvier 2013
Chers
Amis,
Meilleurs vœux pour 2013.
Oui,
c’est une nouvelle année and what better way to start the New Year than with the Cercle Français de Belfast’s
celebration of La Fête des Rois on
….
Mercredi 9
janvier 2013 à 19h30
in The Dark
Horse Coffee House
30-34, Hill
Street Belfast
BT1 2LB
Yes and this year again thanks to
Vanessa Franchetti and her troupe for animating this popular event to celebrate
La Fête des Rois. There
will be galettes and wine and as with all good parties you are very welcome to
give us your ‘party piece’- perhaps a poem or a song in either French or
English. So don’t miss ….
La Fête des Rois et Bal
Musette
While this event is free to members we do ask
for a small contribution of £5 from non-members. In order to help us judge numbers could you
perhaps email to me the total number you expect in your party?
Les Mis
On 11th January the film of the
musical ‘Les Misérables’ will open in a cinema near you. Okay, it’s not a patch
on Hugo’s masterpiece nevertheless it does capture much of the spirit of his
novel. The French connection is truly
there as the music is by Claude-Michel
Schönberg and the original French lyrics were written by Alain
Boublil.
Fest Diez
A new series of monthly session of Breton Dancing begin …
on Saturday 12th January 2013
in Madden’s Bar, 74 Berry
Street , Belfast
from 5pm to 8pm
As always the music will be provided by French and Irish
musicians and Amélie will be there to guide you through the steps.
For more information on Breton cultural events inIreland see the BreizhEire website
For more information on Breton cultural events in
Looking
forward to seeing you on 9th January. Bonne Année, Philip
05 décembre 2012
De Nouveau à Art Déco
Off to the Dark Horse Coffee Shop this evening to hear Sean Nolan give his much anticipated talk on Art Déco to the Cercle Français. This talk along with next month's Bal Musette, was among the first to be included in this year's programme. That's because it follows up on his theme of last year, Art Nouveau.
Sean has subtitled this evening's talk: A significant art movement. Certainly the designs that featured when it first appeared are still with us.
Have you any designs to be with us tonight? We look forward to seeing you from 7.30pm!
Sean has subtitled this evening's talk: A significant art movement. Certainly the designs that featured when it first appeared are still with us.
Have you any designs to be with us tonight? We look forward to seeing you from 7.30pm!
30 novembre 2012
L'Empire de la Mort: The Paris Catacombs
We numbered 60 people at our last réunion. Early comers were treated to a selection of French songs performed by Ruari Gallagher. Ruari hails from Belfast and has spent the past few years in the south of France. His vocals and guitar accompaniment went down well and we hope to invite him back soon for one of our Extra! events.
The Dark Horse Coffee Shop was soon packed and Philip McGrory got the technology going for his talk on the Paris Catacombs. He began by taking us through the early history of the site as one of Paris's main limestone quarries. He explained that in 1780, the main cemetery of the city, the Cimetière des Saints-Innocents near Les Halles was forced to close due to its dire threat to public health. The decision was taken to remove remains of those buried there to the disused quarry site and to establish an Ossuary. Remains from other cemeteries were added with the result that skulls and longbones of around 6,000,000 people are preserved there.
Using pictures and web sources, Philip escorted us on a virtual tour. We visited the Workshop and saw how quarrymen cut through the stone to leave pillars of rock standing to support the ceiling. We stopped at the Quarrymen's footbath, a spring where workers drew water for mixing cement; We moved into the Ossuary, marked by a sign over the doorway instructing, " Arrête c'est ici l'empire de la mort". We stopped at the Sepulchral Lamp one of the oldest structures in the catacombs. Quarrymen lit fires in the lamp to create draughts and currents of air. He brought us to Gilbert's Tomb, a piece of reinforcement work designed to look like a stone sarcophagus. And of course we viewed those skulls and longbones. Philip had sourced the biblical origins of the text on the picture above and, thinking about it, we spared thoughts for people now long gone. Finally, we exited to a quiet Parisian street which showed little awareness of what lay beneath.
A show of hands revealed others had also been and all commented on the respectful silence of the place, several metres below the metro and the nearby Place Denfert Rochereau.
Our evening came to a close with several people saying they had not known that the catacombs existed. They mentioned that they would be paying their own visit the next time they were in Paris.
Thanks Philip for a thoroughly researched, fascinating and respectful tour.
13 novembre 2012
The Paris Catacombs
On Wednesday evening, 14 November, Philip McGRORY will be taking us "underground" to explore the history of and escort us "through" the Paris Catacombs. The time: 19h 30 Venue: The Dark Horse
French influences on 18th century Ireland
Fifty people, one of our largest attendances in recent years, listened attentively as Dr Eamon PHOENIX provided an illustrated talk on French Influences on Ireland in the 18th century. Eamon had previously addressed the cercle at our annual dinner a few years ago, so in a way it was like resuming an old conversation.
This time though, his historical anecdotes recalling stories and events that took place in Belfast's Cathedral Quarter over two centuries ago seemed to many of us in the Dark Horse Coffee Shop, perhaps a prison in those days, very close indeed.
Eamon's already extensive talk was supplemented by a range of responses to questions from his audience. He spoke of more recent examples of French influences particularly in relation to Northern Ireland and although members could have listened all night, reluctantly we had to bring the evening to a close.
Were you there? What do you think? Did you ask a question? Please share your views on the blog.
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