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Introduction to Irish Dance

Irish tap dance is enthusiastic, with beautiful melody and extremely bright and varied rhythm. It integrates the essence of Irish traditional music, songs and dances, and reflects the spirit of modern Ireland.

Known as the “Messenger of Irish Culture”, the large-scale dance drama “River Dance” combines Irish dance, tap dance, Russian folk dance and Spanish flamenco and other dance forms. It has been widely acclaimed all over the world and is known as “the world’s first tap dance”, which is an excellent representative of Irish culture.

Since Riverdance premiered in Dublin in 1995, Riverdance has performed more than 12,000 times worldwide. In 32 countries and regions around the world, more than 2,000 theaters performed; more than 25 million audiences watched the performance of River Dance, and there were 2.7 billion TV audiences worldwide. The tour has traveled more than 563,000 miles, equivalent to the round-trip distance from the Earth to the moon; won the Grammy Award for “Best Musical” and sold 10 million DVDs of Riverdance worldwide. A total of 1,200 dancers have joined the troupe, used 12,000 pairs of dancing shoes, wore 9,000 costumes, and drank 150,000 gallons of mineral water.

Among Irish folk dances, jig, lear and horn dance are the most representative. Jig dance is a brisk, lively trot dance.

The horn dance is a dance performed by sailors, also known as the sailor dance. These two types of dances are characterized by wearing clogs and stepping out of complex rhythms with the soles, also known as clog dances. When the dancer strikes with the foot, the upper body and arms are not moving vertically, the face is expressionless, the speed is very fast, the calf is flexible and changeable, and the movements and rhythm under the feet are constantly improvised. Single, double, and collective forms are available.

Bards, musicians, dancers and other entertainers compete during the old-fashioned Fez Festival, with winners awarded.

The Irish brought the clog dance to the United States in the 19th century, and African-Americans combined it with Spanish zapateado and the dance steps and syncopated rhythms of black dance, and added body and arm movements to create a kind of dance. American-style tap dancing. Lear dance is a collective dance, dancing in circular, square or double-column formations, and pairs of dancers use sliding or dragging to change formations and patterns from time to time.

English folk dance has a clear influence on dance in Europe and America. Country dance has evolved into many variants in Europe and America, such as the French duet dance Cadrier, Cotillon and the American square dance.

Ireland’s most famous traditional folk dance is the “Tap Dance”, which is recognized by dance historians as the source of American tap dance along with the traditional “Jig”, “Lear Dance” and “Clog Dance”.

In 1994, when the Eurovision Song Awards was held in Dublin, the Irish-American tap dancer M. Flatley was specially invited to star in “Dance of the River”, which he created based on the material of “Tap Dance”, which attracted the world’s attention. According to incomplete statistics, since the end of the 20th century, in Ireland, a country that had no professional folk dance troupes in the past, nearly 200 dance variety shows mainly based on tap dance have been held, spreading Irish national culture to all parts of the world.

The characteristics of the Irish traditional “step dance” are mainly reflected in that the dancers always lower their arms on both sides of the body, and focus all their energy on the bending and extension of the legs and feet, kicking, shaking and stomping. There are obvious breakthroughs in “River Dance”, which attracts contemporary young audiences who pursue “short, frequent and fast” rhythm and “new, strange and special” aesthetics.

During the dance, dancers rely on the “kicks”, “steps” and vibrations of their legs and feet to quickly hit the ground, creating a shocking audio-visual effect, while the formation of the group dance pays great attention to uniformity, which brings pleasing aesthetics to the audience. enjoy. Other representative Irish folk dances include banquet dances such as “Cake Dance”, songs and dances performed at funerals such as “Kenay” and “Cronach”, “Jig”, “Double Jig”, “Jig” “Single Jig”, “Greenfield Jig”, “Sacrificing Jig” and other “Jig Dance” variant dances, as well as “Lear Dance” variant dances, etc.