dancing

dancing. References to dancing in travellers' accounts of rural life in Ireland date from the 16th century, but the development of step dancing as a formal art does not appear to have taken place before the last quarter of the 18th century. Given that the preponderance of instrumental melody which survives in the ethnic repertory is dance music (jigs, reels, hornpipes), it is scarcely surprising to discover that corresponding dance steps rapidly attained a conventional degree of virtuosity. Single, double, and hop (or slip) jigs, reels, and hornpipes were danced as solos, or in group formation. In the mid‐19th century, dancing masters adapted continental dances (including the quadrille) to the style of native Irish steps, and ‘sets’ or ‘half‐sets’ (i.e. the movement of four couples and two couples respectively) thus incorporated European influences which remained in vogue for almost a century.

The formation of the Gaelic League in 1893 brought fresh impetus to the revival of set dancing, although particular emphasis was given to the solo steps introduced in the late 18th century. The league also cultivated the céilidh, a social gathering in which group formations of boys and girls used the traditional steps, accompanied not by solo instruments but by ensembles. This change attested to the urban setting in which many early céilidh took place. Although the céilidh remained popular after the Second World War, its gradual decline, especially from the mid‐1950s onwards, was unmistakable. Two reasons can be advanced as explanation for this: the supervention of American musical culture in Irish life decisively occluded the appeal of ethnic forms (which nevertheless enjoyed a curious afterlife in radio and television programmes); secondly, the revival of Irish music in the 1960s did not address Irish dancing, and the céilidh itself was superseded by the new ensemble of instruments initiated by Sean Ó Riada. Nevertheless, Irish dancing continues to enjoy a vigorous existence in amateur festivals throughout the country. In the mid‐1990s its projection as a spectacular and brilliantly executed form of professional entertainment (Riverdance, 1994– ) offered new vistas of development.

Bibliography

Breathnach, Breandán , Folk Music and Dances of Ireland (1989)

Harry White