I Jig and I Reel

For the good are always the merry,
Save by an evil chance,
And the merry love the fiddle,
And the merry love to dance
W.B Yeats

I know most of you have seen Riverdance...or Lord of the Dance. I'd like to show you some...more or should I say less, dramatic dancing. Dancing done by people like you and I. Okay, well, they've practised a bit. Just a little bit. ;0]

There is a LOT to Irish dancing. Jigs, reels, softshoe or ghillies, hardshoe, slip jig, hornpipe, sets, costumes, hair. The latter two have more to do with Irish stepdancing, which is more competition oriented. This first video is what most likely was common enough at a céilí, or a local gathering of neighbors for a party, or possible a feis, if you will.



This next one is a competetion style step dancing. I don't think the fella in the middle is a judge, but then again..I'm not sure what he's doing there. This might be an exhibition as opposed to a comptetition.



This third video is a professionally edited video about a dance troop and school. Watch for the difference between soft shoe (ghillies) and hard shoe dancing.




Hard shoes are not tap shoes. They are flexible and lightweight. Did you see them?


Lastly, this video is of someone's wedding and I am pretty sure they dance in competition. My reasoning for this is that the bride is wearing ghillies and socks and the guests are pretty good as well. But it's nice to see people enjoying step dancing outside of official performances.



There are many styles of stepdancing. The oldest is sean-nós. This means..."old school". There are world championships, held in Ireland of course. The first one to be held outside of Ireland will be in 2009 and be in Pittsburgh or Phili...can't remember which. You can see how different styles of dancing permeate different cultures. The french quadrille and the American square dancing look similar to Irish set dancing. I'm sure there is a shared history.

The costume for Irish dancing has an interesting history. If you would like to read more...go here: http://www.diochra.com/library/history_costumes.php.

Because, sure and you know it's far too lengthy to summarize.

The official site for Irish Dancing, well, to be sure, there are many, but this is the site of the Commission. http://www.clrg.ie/english/home.php

Here are some pics of things I'd like to point out to you in detail:

These young gals from Australia are wearing the common brightly colored, sequined outfits with headbands and wigs. Yes, in order to counterbalance the stiff and bold dresses...they needed 'big hair' as truly, this hairstyle became popular in competetion in the '80's. This is competetion dress, to be sure.

Less brightly colored but common competetion dress. And a much better shot of their ghillies.

Below is a group of folks in St Brigid's Hall with the Glenside Ceili Band, Tubbercurry, Co Sligo in 1996.

Don't ya think we should all get out and dance more often!!! Although I'm pretty sure the percent of the Irish population that participates in weekly or routine dancing is far less than 100%, I do think it's far more than the same age group of Americans. There is no place for us to dance unless we join a square dance club. So...I was tinkin' to meself....maybe I should start an Irish American club and get some folks out there dancing. Well, we'll see how that goes.

I've taken Irish step dancing classes. Unfortunately, shortly after starting these classes, I developed Bronchitis, which eventually went away, as well as Asthma...which has not. And if you have ever tried Irish step dancing...it's a lot of hopping about, out of breath. So my poor ghillies sit on a shelf, dusty, sad and lonely. But I think I could do set dancing, like in the 1960's video above. I danced quite a bit on this past New Years eve...wished I had brought my inhaler in with me instead of leaving it in the car, but I managed.

♥Pam