For many people step dancing is associated mainly with the Irish step-dance stage shows, Riverdance and Lord of the Dance, which assisted both in promoting the dance form and in placing Ireland globally. But, in this book, Catherine Foley illustrates that the practice and contexts of step dancing are much more complicated and fluid. Tracing the trajectory of step dancing in Ireland, she tells its story from roots in eighteenth-century Ireland to its diverse cultural manifestations today. She examines the interrelationships between step dancing and the changing historical and cultural contexts of colonialism, nationalism, postcolonialism and globalization, and shows that step dancing is a powerful tool of embodiment and meaning that can provoke important questions relating to culture and identity through the bodies of those who perform it. Focusing on the rural European region of North Kerry in the south-west of Ireland, Catherine Foley examines three step-dance practices: one, the rural Molyneaux step-dance practice, representing the end of a relatively long-lived system of teaching by itinerant dancing masters in the region; two, Rinceoirí na Ríochta, a dance school representative of the urbanized staged, competition orientated practice, cultivated by the cultural nationalist movement, the Gaelic League, established at the end of the nineteenth century, and practised today both in Ireland and abroad; and three, the stylized, commoditized, folk-theatrical practice of Siamsa Tíre, the National Folk Theatre of Ireland, established in North Kerry in the 1970s. Written from an ethnochoreological perspective, Catherine Foley provides a rich historical and ethnographic account of step dancing, step dancers and cultural institutions in Ireland.

The international success of Riverdance has focused new attention on Irish dance, which is the subject of this first history of what has become an international cultural phenomenon. Tracing the origins of dance back to early medieval accounts, this volume also charts the developments of the 18th century, exploring how dance played a vital role in the formation of a new national culture.

Based on a true tale, two master dancers compete for the chance to teach the people of Ballyconneely, Ireland, how to dance.

What happens when you put an expressive form in a competitive frame? This question motivates Frank Hall's study of competitive Irish stepdancing. He examines this dance tradition--from the organization of competitions to the movement of dancers' bodies--in relation to themes of authority, authenticity, and control. Irish stepdancing, known for many decades primarily in ethnic enclaves, expanded tremendously as Riverdance and other shows took this dance form to new performance contexts on the world stage. In describing and analyzing the history and development of competitive stepdancing in Ireland, the United States, and beyond, Hall reveals the issues, forces, and values that entwine all participants, including competition organizers, judges, dancers, parents, and teachers. Investigating the process of teaching and learning the movement and analyzing its stage performance, he elucidates the syntactic and semantic dimensions of Irish dancing as a body language.

Collection of the most popular set dances in easy-to-use notations.

Do you know the origin of Irish Dance? It quite possibly could have started with a feud between fairies and humans a long time ago in an Irish village named R?¡nce

The international star and creator of "Lord of the Dance" and "Celtic Tiger" Irish step dancing shows pens a no-holds-barred autobiography that reveals the person, the passion, and the drama behind his astounding rise to stardom.