Why I Chose Irish Dance
I chose Irish dance for two reasons. One, I used to be an Irish dancer. Two, I want people to see that Irish Dancing is not just like Riverdance, there are differences.
When I was younger I danced for five years. During that time I learned the dances, I competed in Feises, I performed for the elderly, and got to miss school on St. Patrick's Day to spend the whole day performing at festivals and celebrations. However, during that time I never made the effort to really learn about Irish dancing. I never knew the origins or Irish dancing, or how some traditions were started. When we briefly covered Irish dance in class I remembered how much I loved dancing (and making as much noise as possible with my hard-shoes) and I realized how little I knew about the dance past my bubble of Feises and St. Patty's Day. So I decided to expand my knowledge of a dance I had experienced before, but did not entirely know.
Early in my dancing years my mom and I rented the VHS of Riverdance and Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance, and I, like almost everyone else, was enthralled with the amazing performances. Even as a beginner dancer with almost no knowledge of other dances I knew that Riverdance was not completely traditional Irish dance. Other elements of other styles of dance were included into Riverdance to make it more entertaining and showy. There are sections of the show with Flamenco dancing, and Tap dance. Riverdance is performed to impress the audience and be very dramatic and showy, and make a lot of noise. When people think of Irish dance, they think Riverdance, when really they should think of the more traditional style. Below are two videos, one is from Riverdance and it shows the Irish Dancing part of the show, the other video is from the World Irish Dancing Championships 2010 and shows the more traditional style of dance. (This is a beautiful example of some more solo costumes) It also allows you to see the difference between Riverdance hard-shoe dancing, and the soft-shoe dances.
When I was younger I danced for five years. During that time I learned the dances, I competed in Feises, I performed for the elderly, and got to miss school on St. Patrick's Day to spend the whole day performing at festivals and celebrations. However, during that time I never made the effort to really learn about Irish dancing. I never knew the origins or Irish dancing, or how some traditions were started. When we briefly covered Irish dance in class I remembered how much I loved dancing (and making as much noise as possible with my hard-shoes) and I realized how little I knew about the dance past my bubble of Feises and St. Patty's Day. So I decided to expand my knowledge of a dance I had experienced before, but did not entirely know.
Early in my dancing years my mom and I rented the VHS of Riverdance and Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance, and I, like almost everyone else, was enthralled with the amazing performances. Even as a beginner dancer with almost no knowledge of other dances I knew that Riverdance was not completely traditional Irish dance. Other elements of other styles of dance were included into Riverdance to make it more entertaining and showy. There are sections of the show with Flamenco dancing, and Tap dance. Riverdance is performed to impress the audience and be very dramatic and showy, and make a lot of noise. When people think of Irish dance, they think Riverdance, when really they should think of the more traditional style. Below are two videos, one is from Riverdance and it shows the Irish Dancing part of the show, the other video is from the World Irish Dancing Championships 2010 and shows the more traditional style of dance. (This is a beautiful example of some more solo costumes) It also allows you to see the difference between Riverdance hard-shoe dancing, and the soft-shoe dances.
