Irish dancing (click)
I chose this topic, because I have been dancing for two
years. I love Irish music and Irish dancing. One of the most famous Irish dancers is
Michael Flatley – he is also the founder of the world famous dancing ensembles “Lord
of the dance” and “Feet of flame”, and he also founded "Riverdance"
together with Jane Butler. Irish dancing
was popularized worldwide by Riverdance in 1994, and the specific thing about
it is that legs and arms are static while the legs and the feet move very fast.
Irish dance can be broadly divided in two categories; social dance and performance dances. Social dances are performed in meetings and
celebrations and are divided into céilí and set dancing. Irish set dances are danced
by four couples arranged in a square, and céilí dances are danced by varied
formations (céilí) of two to sixteen people. There are also some important
stylistic differences between these two forms of social dance.
Most competitive dances are solo dances. The solo step dance
is generally characterized by a controlled but not moving upper body, straight
arms, and quick, precise movements of the feet. The solo dances can either be
in "soft shoe" or "hard shoe".
The origins of Irish dancing are unclear. Travelling dancing
masters started to train dancers all over Ireland, as late as the 18th and
early 19th centuries. During this time, places for competitions and fairs were
always small, so there was little room for the Dance Masters to perform. They
would dance on tabletops, sometimes even the top of a barrel. Because of this,
the dancing styles were very contained, with hands rigid at the sides, and a
lack of arm movement and travelling across the stage. As time went on, larger
places for dance competitions and performances were found, so styles grew to
include more movement, more dancing across the stage as seen, for example, in
Riverdance.
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