Irish Dance Many of Us

Irish Dance

Many of us know about the role dance plays in our society and culture. Dance is not only limited to physical movements but goes way beyond the dictates of the body. It seeps into every society's history and culture. Dance, when understood to be a social variable, can be seen as having a bi-directional relationship with culture because not only does it influence culture but culture is influenced by dance as well.

The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the relationship of Irish dance and Irish culture, putting thrust on the way Irish dance influences the culture of the Irish people. Before building and eventually strengthening this idea, I believe it is fitting to first provide a brief understanding of the Irish dance for us to be able to understand the intersection of dance, culture, and society of the Irish people.

Irish Dance: A Brief History

According to King, we can trace the history of Irish dance to the early centuries of modern history, by which the Celts' entrance in the land brought with them various kinds of folk dances that were then incorporated in the ritual activities of the Druids. Druids' ritualistic activities are known to be occultist in nature (par 1). The Druids dance as part of their ritual ceremonies to honor the oak tree and the sun (Arthur Flynn in "The History of Irish Dance" par 1).

The Norman invasion during the 12th century marked another hallmark in the history of Irish dancing. During this era, the invasion brought along new cultural components to Ireland which also marked the foundation of modern Irish dancing (ibid par 3). This infant modern dance became an avenue by which Irish people where able to express their natural love for fun and entertainment. The "cake dance" for example, is perhaps what was then known as the "Irish Dance Competition" usually performed after Sunday services where men and women compete by demonstrating complex dance steps and maneuvers -- the prize being a freshly -- baked cake (hence the name of the dance) (ibid par 4).

Moving on to the 18-19th century, we can see the proliferation of "Dance Masters" who travel in the different parts of the land, stay in a particular community for about 6-8 weeks to teach the basic forms of modern dance. By the early 20th century, we can see the standardization of Irish dance via pre-set forms and movements (ibid par 5-6).

Irish Dance

Now that we already have an idea of where Irish dance came from and the factors that contributed to how it is today, I will now present what Irish dance actually is. According to Kingsland, Irish dancing is usually divided into three main types: step dancing -- which was a product of 17th century repression of education of Catholic children. The Dance Masters continued on by secretly teaching students "steps" (defined as 8 measures or bards of music). These dance masters have a set of dance steps and sometimes they compete, and those knowledgeable with most steps win. The second type of Irish dance is known as the Ceili dance which bears the origin of informal tradition of dances which changed over time -- i.e. numerous forms of this type have been noted such as round dances, line dances, and progressive dances (pars 1-5). The word 'ceili' is known as a "gathering with music, song, and dancing participation by all those attending" (ibid par 6). The third type, Set Dancing took form from the combination of step and ceili dances. Moreover, "[The set] is social dancing usually in the form of square "sets" comprised four couples one on each side of the square" (ibid par 7).

Irish Dance and Culture

Having discussed the fundamentals of Irish dance, we will now put in more breadth into the discussion by looking into the influence of Irish dance to the Irish culture. Here, I am proposing a discussion of Irish dance with particular elements of culture for a narrower and more focused look at these two variables. These two elements of culture that I have found to be apt in discussion with Irish dance is 1. culture -- people's belief system and; 2. culture- including the artifact which people produces such as art.

Dance and Beliefs

One component of culture is the belief system -- people's ideas and values and its effect on the way people lead their lives (Henslin 5). Let's look into religious values of the Irish society. As an example, we have seen that the Druids were already praising their gods through the form of dance. The way people express their religious values have evolved into a physical expression of reverence to the gods (i.e. By dancing). In this sense, dancing allows for new ways/methods by which a society is able to expresses their faith, i.e. praising and/or revering their gods through dancing.

We can also analyze Irish dance and society's values by what happened during the 17th century. As discussed earlier, during this period a law banning Catholic children from getting education was enacted. However, we can see the Irish society's value for education and art when we learn that Dance Masters continued (albeit secretly) teaching dance to children amidst this law. Indeed, Irish dance allows for the affirmation and identification of the values of Irish society -- in this case, the value for the art of dancing.

Another example of affirmation and identification of Irish values via dance (amidst a reverse relationship where culture influences dance) equally worth noting is the "cake dance." In this we can see the Irish's culture love for fun and entertainment, of competing and showcasing various complex dance moves for the sake of entertainment and enjoyment.