Tom re your query the pre 1947 term is Ceilidhe. - an informal social gathering at which there is folk music and singing and folk dancing and story telling.The actual formation of the Irish Ceilidhe was again in London, the 1st being promoted at the Bloomsbury halls in 1898(October I think).This was decided on as the London Scottish Society used to have regular gatherings with many dances/ sets(mainly military and from quadrilles) but the Irish did not.So very quickly some dances where made up and they took off.The Gaelic League and revival being very in vogue took over and promoted the Irish dance scene in London and then it went to Ireland.The Dance Hall Act was a notorious piece of legislation but was not responsible for the ceilidhe.I think it unfair to keep quoting Comhaltas as some sort o virginal society promoting Irish catholic chastity or whitever.The demeanor or formality as described is simply because they are normally seen in competition events and certain rules apply to the competition to ensure fairness and enable judging.It is not the x factor.
The ceilidhe was very much an all in event and not primarily just for dance...ceilidhe dancing is different in many ways to set dances and step dances

History: Ceilidhe dances represent an informal tradition of dance that is common to much of humanity since prehistory. Many are structured as sword dances, round dances, line dances, and progressive line dances. The Normans have been credited for introducing the round dance into Ireland around the 12th century. The "rince fada" [long dance] is actually a family of dances, one of which was described in the end of the 17th century as performed by "three persons moving abreast, each of which held the end of a white handkerchief, followed by the rest of the dancers in pairs". The Gaelic Revival in Ireland in the late 19th century destroyed the practice of dancing these dances(because of the military and British link) so effectively ,that when the Gaelic League decided to resurrect them , they had generally been lost and new dances had to be codified to write the "Ár Rinncidhe Fóirne". Many of the modern ceilidhe dances have known authors. For example, the "Fairy Reel" was composed by An t-Athair Ó Flannagáin around 1930, to a tune written by Neil Gow for the Fife Hunt Ball in Scotland in 1802.

Structure: The modern Ceilidhe dance form was codified early in this century by the Gaelic League who were simultaneously establishing the form to be used for step-dancing competitions. As well as the often noted "hands at the sides" aspect, ceilidhe dance today emphasizes the height, turn-out, dancing on the toes [not the same as the ballet stance], extension of leg and foot, long reach and quick movements seen in the step dances as well, but tends to de-emphasize the use of battering and foot percussion.
Uilliam

Interesting, Uilliam, thanks. I freely admit to being no expert on the detail of the matter, beyond giving Tom a working explanation of why they're not beating snare drums and pianos at a typical session.

Your long version is not really incompatible with my short version. Traditions have many fathers, and while I'm sure neither the Gaelic League nor the Dance Hall Act invented Irish dancing, both left their marks. On the music side, it's hard to view as coincidental ceili bands morphing to a more standardized form during the very same period when the music and dance was coming under intense conservative pressure for control from both Church and state in the post-Treaty Fianna Fáil years. I'd bet that the configuration of musicians at those first London ceilis was different. (Actually, if you know more about this, I'd be interested.)

I'm not sure who characterized Comhaltas as the moral police. Not me. However conservative CCÉ may be, they're just preserving and, yes, formalizing something that pre-dates the Fleadh. If ceili bands had always marched around in cirles wearing spangled leotards, they'd be doing that at the competitions. (Note to self: Try not to think of Uilliam marching around in a spangled leotard.)

Would you agree, though, that the dancing and the venue generally distinguish a ceili from a session (which is the original question)?

As for the name, my guess is that the shortening of the spelling from ceilidhe to ceili has mostly to do with the Irish Spelling Reform finally made official in 1957, and not any change in the dancing itself at the time.

Ceili bands became what they are because a parish hall is lot bigger than a farmhouse kitchen or a crossroads, so the music had to get louder to fill the room. In a house party, a single instrument often sufficed. If more musicians were present, they'd be as likely to spell each other off playing alone as they were to play together. That wouldn't work in a dancehall, so bands were formed to make the music louder, and piano and snare drum were incorporated to add some much needed punch to the rhythm.

Correction the date was Saturday 30th October 1897.The band was Fitzgerald's Band and they played some Irish Airs. The venue was The Bloomsbury Halls near The British Museum London.
Later the 1st classes were given by "Professor"Patrick D Reidy an emigrant Dancing Master from Castleisland Co Kerry then living in Hackney.His 1st classes to the Gaelic League Members was at the Bijou Theatre off The Strand in London,sometime in the New year of 1898.
In 1901 a team of dancers from London attended the Oireachtas in the Mansion House Dublin and demonstrated the newly formed four-hand and eight-hand reels the effect on the audience was immediate and contagious.
MT ye may be quite right in thinking that the configuration of the band was different at 1st I don't know but it is only a short time before the heyday of the Ceilidhe bands 30 or 40 years later ,so it developed quickly enough.
Uilliam
ps A ceilidhe and a session are quite different and not just because of the dance.
Even the sessions are now quite different to the ones I heard as a teen in London when they started.None o this auld guitar nonesense nor bazukis or goatbeating or jazz chords back then.Still Bord Failte were glad that it caught on ,did wonders so it did for the tourist trade with a taste of auld Ireland... my aerse. Back to the isignificance that is peace.

" some sort o virginal society promoting Irish catholic chastity"

Oor Wullie , what is the problem here ? or am i mistaken ? you say that , like it's a bad thing .

for all my transgressive ways , in my youth , and i'm sure i must be of an age with you , iv'e never dissed , privately or publicly , the notion of chastity , virginity . or any organisiation that promoted this notion . a notion that Comhaltas as a body has nothing to do with , just the upstanding members , perhaps .

( well , i might have sneered once or twice , at Comhaltas and Larry the Sadly Lacking ..)

as for The Butterfly and Tommy , we'll find out when we meet him again , what he had to do with this tune , ( @ Mr. Hall ) i remember he always interjected in his conversation " thank God for the music "

Chastity , Catholicism and the Butterfly , theyr'e all taking a whacking at this time , theyr'e on their knees now , that might be a right time to stop kicking .

jim troy

You know, we're an unruly bunch. I suspect that organisers have to add some extra starch to prevent the whole event from descending into a shambles.

Well, when the rival ceili bands are led by estranged brothers, and your beautiful fiddle player runs off with the other band's fluter ... you've got to do something to keep things under control.

Only just got to this. I've downloaded the thing, but they're .mp4a files. How do I play 'em?

Pick one of these, convert it, and then play it with whatever you're using for mp3s.

Thanks S1m0n. I picked the second one, and I'm sorted, at least on that one, for now. I'd heard the Butterfly played by the man himself before, but it's always a shock to hear what he does with it. Fascinating stuff.

Sorry if I have missed something in the middle of this discussion, but, irrespective of what he did with the tune was it Tommy Potts who first used the name Butterfly ? Watching a cabbage white last summer made me think that the way it fluttered was more appropriate for his way of playing it than for the flouncy way most of us have with it. The thing was flapping steadily enough but kept going in unexpected directions.