History of Dancing

Brief History & Overview of Irish Step Dancing
condensed version reprinted with permission of Don Haurin & Ann Richens -Richens-
Timm Academy of Irish Dance

Step dancing is distinctively Irish, combining artistry, grace, and physical ability. It has followed the Irish and Irish missionaries wherever they traveled including North America, Australia, New Zealand, Brittany France, Singapore, and Africa.

Ancient History late 7th to the early 8th century
Although little is known about the dancing in this period, the artwork survived and has influenced Irish dance costumes. The most impressive Celtic Christian art was produced from the late 7th to the early 8th century, both in Ireland and in Irish missions in Europe. Manuscripts of books of the Bible were embellished, or illuminated, with decorative borders and lettering of astonishing intricacy and inventiveness. Complex, twining geometric designs predominated.

The masterpiece of this period is the Book of Kells (mid-8th Century), which is unsurpassed for its illumination. Other art of the period includes large stone crosses and carved ceremonial religious objects such as the Armagh Chalice (early 8th Century). The Viking raids of Ireland ended in 1014 after the victory of the Irish king Brian Boru at Clontarf. Feisianna date from this period. They were a combination trade fair, political gathering, and cultural event with music, sporting events, storytelling, and crafts. Over time, the cultural aspect came to dominate feisianna. These events continued through time to the present. While the politics are gone, they continue to have music, dance, crafts, and trade (the vendors!).

The Celtic tradition in Ireland declined rapidly during the 12th century. Increasing foreign influences weakened traditional arts, and the Anglo-Norman conquest of Ireland occurred in 1170. However, over the next two hundred years, the conquerors became closely associated with traditional Irish culture. To counteract this assimilation, the Anglo-Irish Parliament passed, in 1366, the Statute of Kilkenny, decreeing excommunication and heavy penalties against all those who followed the custom of, or allied with, the native Irish. It took another 128 years before they enforced the statute.

History records a variety of dances done by the Irish in the mid-1500s. These include Rinnce Fada or Fading where two lines with partners faced each other, Irish Hey (possibly a round or figure dance), jigs (likely in a group), Trenchmores (described as a big free form country dance), and sword dances. It is not clear whose dances influenced whom among the Irish, English, and French, but it was characteristic that Irish dances had a faster tempo and included side steps.

English suppression of Irish culture continued, exemplified by the banning of piping and the arrest of pipers. However, Queen Elizabeth I was exceedingly pleased with Irish tunes and country dances. Power struggles between the Irish and English continued during the 1600s. The Penal Laws enacted in the late 1600s crushed Irish commerce and industries. The laws also banned the education of Catholic children leading to hidden (hedge) schools. Traditional Irish culture was practiced with some degree of secrecy.

This period of severe repression lasted for more than a hundred years, explaining some of the initial secrecy of teaching Irish step dancing. Country dancing continued, one description being that on Sundays in every field a fiddle and the lasses footing it till they are all of a foam; another being the young folk dance till the cows come home. Dancing continued during the 1700s, often during holidays, weddings, christenings, and wakes. However, the Church sometimes condemned dancing, In the dance are seen frenzy and woe.

A major influence on Irish dance and Irish culture was the advent of the Dance Masters around 1750, beginning a tradition that you could argue continues today. A dance master typically traveled within a county, stopping for about six weeks in a village, staying with a hospitable family (who were honored by their selection as host). They taught Irish dancing (male teachers) in kitchens, farm outbuildings, crossroads, or hedge schools. Students would first learn the jig and reel. Sometimes, the teacher had to tie a rope around a student's leg to distinguish right foot from left. Besides dancing, they also appear to have given instruction in fencing and deportment.

Some teachers had other skilled trades that were used on occasion by the villagers, helping to explain dance masters habit of traveling from town to town. Having an eminent dance master associated with your village was a cause for pride and boasting by the community. Each dance master had a repertoire of dance steps and he created new steps over time. (Eight measures or bars of music are called a step, hence the term step dancing.)

Sometimes the masters danced competitively at feisianna, the winner being the one who knew the most steps, not the one with the best execution. The loser of a competition might have to concede a town in his territory to the winner. These men were the creators of the set and ceili dances and they carefully guarded their art of step creation. Dance masters created the first schools of dancing, the best known being from Counties Kerry, Cork, and Limerick. Villagers paid dance masters at the end of the third week of teaching at a benefit night. They paid the accompanying musician a week later. Sometimes, the dance master was both musician and dancer simultaneously! Apparently the level of pay for the dance masters was relatively high for Ireland and it included room and board.

The suppression of Catholics continued during this time, but ways were found to avoid control. One story is that Catholics posted a child as a lookout for meetings or Masses that they held in the cellars of pubs. The child danced a particular beat to warn those below of approaching soldiers. During the 1800s, a popular event was a cake dance. A cake would be placed on a stand in the center of a field, it being the prize for the best dancer. The winner would, of course, take the cake. Attempts by the parish priests to suppress dancing were frequent, but appear to have been mostly ineffective.

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Modern History
This period begins in 1893 when the Gaelic League was founded (Conradh na Gaeilge). This group encouraged the revival of Irish culture, a culture that the English had suppressed for centuries. In 1929, the Irish Dancing Commission was founded (An Coimisiun le Rinci' Gaelacha) to establish rules regarding teaching, judging, and competitions. It continues in that role. Prior to 1929, many local variations in dances, music, costumes and the rules of feisianna existed. Part of the impact of the Commission was standardization of competitions.

During the 20th Century, Irish dance has evolved in terms of locations, costumes, and dance technique. For example, during the period of the dance masters, stages were much smaller including table tops, half doors, and sometimes the stage was simply a crossroad. Tests of dancing ability involved dancing on the top of a barrel or on a soaped table!

As stages became larger, the dance changed in at least two ways. The movement of dancers across a stage increased greatly (a judge would now subtract points if a dancer did not use the stage), and dance steps that require substantial space became possible (e.g., flying jumps). The location of competitions also changed over time from barns or outdoors where flat bed trucks were (and still are) used as stages, to predominately indoors in hotels, schools, or fairgrounds. (Note that fairgrounds are particularly appropriate in a historical context of where ancient feisianna were located.)

Irish dance has evolved in other ways during the 20th Century. Instruction is beginning at a younger age. Who is instructed has also changed from mostly males to mostly females (the turning point was before 1930). Girls dancing solos in competition were rare before the 1920s.

Dance styles have also changed; for example, arms and hands were not always held rigid during solo dances. Previously they were sometimes more relaxed and were even placed on hips. It seems that the influence of parish priests led to the lack of arm movement; some argue that stiff arms were less provocative, others argue that the Church was trying to increase dancers' self control. Hand movements still occur in figure (group) dances.

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