Irish dance - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Irish dancing or Irish dance is a group of traditional dance forms originating in Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

which can broadly be divided into social dance

Social dance

Social dance is a major category or classification of danceforms or dance styles, where sociability and socializing are the primary focuses of the dancing...

and performance dances. Irish social dances can be divided further into céilí and set dancing. Irish set dance

Set dance

Set dancing, sometimes called "country sets", are a popular form of folk dancing in Ireland. Set dances are based on quadrilles. The latter were court dances which were transformed by the Irish into a unique folk dance of the Irish rural communities...

s are quadrilles, danced by 4 couples arranged in a square, while céilí dances

Ceili dance

Ceili dances, or true ceili dances are a popular form of folk dancing in Ireland. For the events at which Ceili dances are performed, see Céilidh....

are danced by varied formations

Formation dance

Formation dance is a style of ballroom dancing. It is pattern or shadow team dancing by couples in a formation team. The choreography may be based on a particular dance or a medley of dances...

(ceili) of 2 to 16 people. In addition to their formation, there are significant stylistic differences between these two forms of social dance. Irish social dance is a living tradition, and variations in particular dances are found across the Irish dancing community; in some places, dances are deliberately modified and new dances are choreographed.

Irish dancing, popularised in 1994 by the world-famous show "Riverdance

Riverdance

Riverdance is a theatrical show consisting of traditional Irish stepdancing, notable for its rapid leg movements while body and arms are kept largely stationary. It originated as an interval performance during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, a moment that is still considered a significant...

", is notable for its rapid leg and foot movements, body and arms being kept largely stationary.

Most competitive dances are solo dances, though many stepdancers also perform and compete using céilí dances. The solo stepdance is generally characterised by a controlled but not rigid upper body, straight arms, and quick, precise movements of the feet. The solo dances can either be in "soft shoe" or "hard shoe".

The dancing traditions of Ireland probably grew in close association with traditional Irish music

Folk music of Ireland

The folk music of Ireland is the generic term for music that has been created in various genres in Ireland.-History:...

. Although its origins are unclear, Irish dancing was later influenced by dance forms from the Continent, especially the Quadrille

Quadrille

Quadrille is a historic dance performed by four couples in a square formation, a precursor to traditional square dancing. It is also a style of music...

. Travelling dancing masters taught all over Ireland, as late as the early 1900s.

Irish Céilí dances

Irish social, or céilí

Céilidh

In modern usage, a céilidh or ceilidh is a traditional Gaelic social gathering, which usually involves playing Gaelic folk music and dancing. It originated in Ireland, but is now common throughout the Irish and Scottish diasporas...

(icon) dances vary widely throughout Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

and the rest of the world. A céilí dance may be performed with as few as two people and as many as sixteen. Céilí dances may also be danced with an unlimited number of couples in a long line or proceeding around in a circle (such as in "The Walls of Limerick", "The Waves of Tory", "The High Cauled Cap","Cross Reel" or "Bonfire Dance"). Céilí dances are often fast and complex. In a social setting, a céilí dance may be "called" -- that is, the upcoming steps are announced during the dance for the benefit of newcomers. The ceili dance

Ceili dance

Ceili dances, or true ceili dances are a popular form of folk dancing in Ireland. For the events at which Ceili dances are performed, see Céilidh....

s are typically danced to Irish instruments such as the Irish hand drum or harp.
The term céilí dance
Ceili dance
Ceili dances, or true ceili dances are a popular form of folk dancing in Ireland. For the events at which Ceili dances are performed, see Céilidh....

was invented in the late 19th century by the Gaelic League Céilí as a noun differs from the adjective céilí. A céilí is a social gathering featuring Irish music and dance. Céilí dancing is a specific type of Irish dance. Some céilithe (plural of céilí) will only have céilí dancing, some will only have set dancing, and some will have a mixture.

Irish Set Dancing

Irish set dancing (also referred to as "country set dancing") are dances based on French quadrilles that were adapted by the Irish by integrating their sean-nós steps and Irish music. The distinguishing characteristics of Irish set dancing is that it is danced in square sets of four couples (eight people), and consist of several "figures," each of which has a number of parts. The other distinguishing feature is that feet are flat on the floor dancing with a sliding /gliding style. Each part of the set dance (figure) is danced to a music tempo, mostly reels, jigs, polkas, hornpipes and slides. The sets come from various parts of Ireland and are often named for their place of origin; examples are the Corofin Plain Set, the South Galway Set

South Galway Set

The South Galway Set hails from the Gort area of Galway, Republic of Ireland. This Set dance can be viewed on Volume 2 of the video series The Magic of Irish Set Dancing with instruction by the late Connie Ryan. Other published instructions include Terry Moylan's Irish Dances, Pat Murphy's Toss the...

and the Clare Lancers Set.

The organisation Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann

Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann

Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann is the primary Irish organisation dedicated to the promotion of the music, song, dance and the language of Ireland. The name of the organisation is often abbreviated to Comhaltas or CCÉ...

promotes and hosts many set dance events.

Irish stepdance

Stepdancing as a modern form is descended directly from old-style step dancing. There are several different forms of stepdancing in Ireland (including sean-nós dancing

Sean-nós dance

Sean-nós dance is an older style of traditional solo Irish dance. It is a casual dance form Irish Stepdancing....

and old style stepdancing), but the style most familiar to the public at large is the Munster, or southern, form, which has been formalised by An Coimisiún le Rincí Gaelacha—the Irish Dancing Commission.

Irish stepdancing is primarily done in competitions, public performances or other formal settings.

Sean-nós dancing in the Irish diaspora

As Irish people emigrate all over the world, they take their cultural traditions with them. Many people theorise that Sean-nós dancing

Sean-nós dance

Sean-nós dance is an older style of traditional solo Irish dance. It is a casual dance form Irish Stepdancing....

has influenced various other forms of traditional solo dance, especially those found in areas with strong Irish communities. Historically, it is likely that sean-nós dance

Sean-nós dance

Sean-nós dance is an older style of traditional solo Irish dance. It is a casual dance form Irish Stepdancing....

influenced the development of many American and Canadian traditional percussive dance forms, such as buck dancing, flatfooting, clogging, and tap dancing. Sean-nós dancing in the United States and Canada is most commonly seen at folk festival

Folk festival

A Folk festival celebrates traditional folk crafts and folk music.-Canada:Alberta*Calgary Folk Music Festival*Canmore Folk Music Festival*Edmonton Folk Music Festival*Jasper Folk Festival*Wild Mountain Music FestOntario*Barriefolk...

s, although dance workshops are beginning to introduce the style more widely.

Old-Style step dancing

Old-style step dancing is a tradition related to, yet distinct from, sean-nós dancing

Sean-nós dance

Sean-nós dance is an older style of traditional solo Irish dance. It is a casual dance form Irish Stepdancing....

, though it is sometimes called "Munster-style sean-nós". Old-style step dancing evolved in the late 18th and early 19th century from the dancing of traveling Irish dance masters. The dance masters slowly formalised and transformed both solo and social dances. Modern masters of old-style step dancing style can trace the lineage of their steps directly back to 18th century dancers.

The Irish dance masters refined and codified indigenous Irish dance traditions. Rules emerged about proper upper body, arm, and foot placement. Also, dancers were instructed to dance a step twice—first with the right foot then with the left. Old-style step dancers dance with arms loosely (but not rigidly) at their sides. They dance in a limited space. There is an emphasis on making percussive sound with the toes. The Irish dance masters of this period also choreographed particular steps to particular tunes in traditional music creating the solo set dances such as the Blackbird, St. Patrick's Day, and the Job of Journey Work, which also persist in Modern Irish Step Dancing. In this context, "set dance" signifies a separate tradition from the social dance tradition also called set dance

Set dance

Dances

Irish solo stepdances fall into two broad categories based on the shoes worn: hard shoe (or heavy shoe) and soft shoe (or light shoe) dances.

There are four soft shoe dances: the reel

Reel (dance)

The reel is a folk dance type as well as the accompanying dance tune type. In Scottish country dancing, the reel is one of the four traditional dances, the others being the jig, the strathspey and the waltz, and is also the name of a dance figure ....

, slip jig

Slip jig

Slip jig refers to both a style within Irish music, and the Irish dance to music in slip-jig time. The slip jig is in 9/8 time, traditionally with accents on 5 of the 9 beats — two pairs of crotchet/quaver followed by a dotted crotchet note.The slip jig is one the four most common Irish...

, light jig

Jig

The Jig is a form of lively folk dance, as well as the accompanying dance tune, originating in England in the 16th century and today most associated with Irish dance music and Scottish country dance music...

and single jig . Reels have a 4/4 (or sometimes 2/4 or 2/2) time signature

Time signature

The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....

. Slip jigs are in 9/8 time. Light and single jigs are in 6/8 time, with different emphasis within the measure distinguishing the music.
Hard shoe dances include the hornpipe

Hornpipe

The term hornpipe refers to any of several dance forms played and danced in Britain and elsewhere from the late 17th century until the present day. It is said that hornpipe as a dance began around the 16th century on English sailing vessels...

in syncopated 2/4 or 4/4 time, the heavy jig (also called the treble jig or hard jig) in a slow 6/8, the treble reel

Treble reel

The Treble reel is a dance done in hard shoes to a reel timing.Treble reels are more to be found in the show dancing world rather than in the competition world. Dance schools who organise competitions can decide whether to have a treble reel competition or not. Usually they occur under a Special...

(heavy dance done to reel

Reel

A reel is an object around which lengths of another material are wound for storage. Generally a reel has a cylindrical core and walls on the sides to retain the material wound around the core...

music) and traditional sets, which are a group of dances with set music and steps. Many traditional sets have irregular musical phrasing. There are also more advanced "non-traditional sets" done by advanced dancers. These have set music, but not steps. There are five traditional sets: St. Patrick's Day, Blackbird, Job of Journeywork, Garden of Daisies, and King of the Fairies.

Competitive dancers generally dance two or three steps at a time, depending on their dancing level. Each step lasts eight bars of music. They are each danced starting with the right foot, then repeated with the left foot. Set dances, however, have a different format. The dancer usually dances one step, which lasts for eight bars of music and is then repeated, resembling the steps of other dances. Then the dancer usually dances a "set", which lasts for 16 bars of music and is not repeated.

The céilí dances used in competitions are more precise versions of those danced in less formal settings. There is a list of 30 céilí dances which have been standardised and published in An Coimisiún's Ar Rinncidhe Foirne as examples of typical Irish folk dances; these are called the "book" dances by competitive stepdancers. Most Irish dancing competitions only ask for a short piece of any given dance, in the interests of time.

Shoes and costume

There are two types of shoes; soft shoes (also known as ghillies) and hard shoes. The hard shoe is similar to tap

Tap dance

Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sound of one's tap shoes hitting the floor as a percussive instrument. As such, it is also commonly considered to be a form of music. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses more on the...

shoes, except that the tips and heels are made of fiberglass

Fiberglass

Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the invention of finer machine tooling...

, instead of metal, and are significantly bulkier. The hard shoes were originally made of wood in the 19th century and early 20th century. The first hard shoes had wooden or leather taps with metal nails. Later the taps and heels were changed into resin or fiberglass to reduce the weight and to increase the footwork sounds. The soft shoes, which are called ghillies
Ghillies (dance)
Ghillies are specially designed shoes used for several types of dance. They are soft shoes, similar to ballet shoes. They are used by women in Irish dance, by men in Scottish country dance, and by men and women in Highland dance....

, are black lace-up shoes. Ghillies are only worn by girls, while boys wear black leather shoes called "reel shoes", which resemble black jazz shoe

Jazz shoe

Jazz shoes are a kind of dancing shoes. While the name suggests they are intended for jazz dance, they are used in other styles of dancing: acrobatic rock'n'roll, hip hop, aerobics, acro dance, etc....

s with a hard heel. Boy's soft-shoe dancing features audible heel clicks.

Several generations ago, the appropriate dress for a competition

Competition

Competition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. It arises whenever two and only two strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. For...

was simply "Sunday Best" (clothes one would wear to church). Irish Dance schools generally have school dresses, worn by lower-level competitors and in public performances. As dancers advance in competition or are given starring roles in public performances, they may get a solo dress of their own design and colors. In the 1970s and 1980s, ornately embroidered dresses became popular. Today even more ornamentation is used on girls' dresses. Solo dresses can range from 100 to 5000 dollars, and are unique to each dancer. Today most women and girls curl their hair or wear a wig or hairpiece for a competition. Most men wear a shirt, vest

Vest

A vest is a garment covering the upper body. The term has different meanings around the world:Waistcoat :. This is called a waistcoat in the UK and many Commonwealth countries, or a vest in the US and Canada. It is often worn as part of formal attire, or as the third piece of a lounge...

, and tie paired with black trousers.

Competition structure

An organised step dance competition is referred to as a feis . The word feis means "festival" in Irish

Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

, and strictly speaking would also have competitions in music and crafts. Féile (/ˈfeɪlə/) is a more correct term for the dance competition, but the terms may be used interchangeably. Dance competitions are divided by age and level of expertise. The names of the levels and other organising rules vary between countries and regions. Dancers are scored based on technique (placement of the feet, turn out, off of their heels, etc.), style (grace, power, etc.) and other items such as timing, rhythm, and sounds in their hard shoe dances.

An annual regional Championship competition is known as an oireachtas

Oireachtas (Irish dance)

In modern Irish dance, the term Oireachtas refers to an annual championship competition. The word "oireachtas" literally means "gathering" in English....

(/oʊˈrɒktəs/). Each of the major Irish stepdance organisations hosts a World Championship; dancers qualify in various ways, typically by scoring well at an oireachtas.

The World Championships (for An Coimisiún dancers) first took place in Dublin in 1970 at Coláiste Mhuire, a school in Parnell Square. In 2009, for the first time, the World Championships were held in the United States, in Philadelphia. The 2011 championships were held once again in Dublin. The 2012 championships are scheduled for Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

.

An Comdhdail's All Ireland and International championships (the equivalent of An Coimisiun World Championships) takes place each Easter week, with the competition being held in Ennis

Ennis

Ennis is the county town of Clare in Ireland. Situated on the River Fergus, it lies north of Limerick and south of Galway. Its name is a shortening of the original ....

in 2011.

The Largest NAIDF (North American Irish Dance Federation) competition currently is The Nationals held at Lehigh University

Lehigh University

Lehigh University is a private, co-educational university located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the United States. It was established in 1865 by Asa Packer as a four-year technical school, but has grown to include studies in a wide variety of disciplines...

in Bethlehem Pa in 2010, and at The Valley Forge Convention Center in Pa in 2012.

The WIDA (World Irish Dance Association) which is mainly dancers from European countries, also hold their own World and European Championships over the Easter week, with the competition being held in Berlin in 2011, and scheduled for Poland 2012.

Irish Céilí dances

Irish Set Dancing

Irish stepdance

Sean-nós dancing in the Irish diaspora

Old-Style step dancing

Dances

Shoes and costume

Competition structure

See also

General information

Irish Dance Organisations