Irish Dancing Research Paper

Irish Step Dancing is a foundation of Irish culture not only in Ireland, but abroad of Ireland, where it has an abundant 2,000-year history and still flourishes today, creating a positive impact on Mahoning County. As for the early history of Irish dancing, there are only few indistinct references regarding it, but, however, it is known that the first people to practice Irish Dancing were the Druids. The druids danced in religious rituals, which were known for honoring the oak tree and the sun. It has been detected that their circular dances still endure today. The Celts arrived from central Europe thousands of years ago. When they arrived, along with them, they carried their own unique dances. Naturally, music was co-existing with the dancing

An example of an extensive Norman dance was the “Carol”. This dance was performed in vanquished Irish towns and was the first anciently recorded dance in Ireland. The Carol dance included the following: one singer who was placed in the center of a circle of dancers, who then followed the singer and danced accordingly to the song. For the next few centuries, dancing inherently progressed. Three main Irish dances are mentioned in sixteenth century writing which are known to be the Irish Hey, the Rinnce Fada, which is more commonly known as the long dance, and the Trenchmore. It wasn’t until later, around the 18th century, that Irish Step Dancing evolved into the tradition we’re familiar with today. ("The History Of Irish Dance") This was all down to the arrival of the Dancing Master. The Dancing Master is a teacher who voyaged between villages and towns and while doing so, held lessons for peasants. This is how group dances came to be; it was a simple way to have all people in a dancing class, all involved into one dance. The best dancers from each group were given a specific section of the song for their very own solo. Those dancers were given the title of ‘soloists’. Modern dance competition became from the firm rivalry between different Dancing

In 1893, The League created a configuration of modern Irish step dancing that would be a native and systemized form of dance, which is cleary Irish Dance. In 1929, the Irish Dancing Commission (An Coimisiún le Rincí Gaelacha) had called re-created versions of the popular dances ‘céilí dances’. They were created especially to complement modern step dancing, and were danced in social settings with gusto. There are three main types of Irish dancing routines; set dancing routines, social or céilí routines and sean nós or step routines. The style is formal in all cases and the key is little upper body movement and precise, quick foot movement. A strict number of steps is also focal due to the limited space performers would have had in the early centuries of Irish Dance (Claddagh). One of the key features of Irish dancing is the way dancers maintain a rigid upper body and keep their arms by their side while dancing. As many of the contemporary and show dance styles of Irish dance have a more relaxed upper body and make use of the arms ("Why Do Irish Dancers Have Straight Arms? - Antonio Pacelli"). There is very little amounts of information as to why this is. However, speculation suggests that the English occupation of Ireland and the subsequent suppression of Irish culture played an important and significant role. (Gavigan). One