Dance for Dance Sake
More than meets the eye!
Enjoy & Improve
Most people have heard of Irish dancing. But there is a lot more to it than you might think. Here you can learn a bit more about Irish dancing – it’s a fascinating topic to be sure.
How can you improve your Irish dancing skills?
It should be remembered that you will naturally get better over time when learning Irish dancing of any kind. Thus you shouldn’t worry too much if you seem to have two left feet when you begin!
Practice is undoubtedly the best way to improve your skills at Irish dancing. Some people will take part in regular classes but do little outside of that to improve their skills. The best way to improve is to attend regular classes and also to make time to practice during your own time.
You can also learn the proper moves and ways of moving certain parts of your body to gain the best results. This helps you to get the best form and even the tiniest of improvements in each area can vastly improve your overall ability to dance.
What are Ceili dances?
A Ceili dance is a folk dance that is well known in Ireland. While there are competitions that exist for people who are experienced at performing Ceili dances, many people take part in them just for fun. Mind you, they can be good for exercising and getting fit too, since some of them can go on for quite a while.
Typical examples of Ceili dances include the Fairy Reel, the Haymakers Jig, the Bridge of Athlone and the Sweets of May. The Fairy Reel is otherwise known as Cor na Siog and is designed to be danced by six people. The Haymakers Jig is also called Baint An Fheir and is usually danced by ten people, but always has an even number of people taking part. If you have never tried Ceili dances before, take the opportunity to have a try whenever you can.
When you are ready, get set to enter a feis
Many young dancers reach the stage where they can enter a feis and dance in a more competitive arena. Some feis are better than others but they all tend to be very lively, challenging, tiring and eye opening to all those who attend.
There are several levels of competition and you will always start as a beginner or novice. If you dance well and achieve a placing in the top three you will be able to progress to the next level.
If you are at the stage where you are going to enter your first feis, make sure you find out as much as you can about it prior to entering. Assuming you are attending an Irish dance class, you can ask the dance teacher for advice and insight on what happens at the feis. Even then you will find your first attendance somewhat of an eye opener!
In short, there is a lot more to dancing than you might think – but you should enjoy every moment of it.