What type of dancing is riverdance

Dancers then move between the dancers of the opposite line and then back to their original position. This is often referred to as a "competition" line dance.

Modern Irish Step dancing has female dancers performing ballet up dance movements like leg swings, hopping and jumping or sashaying to the music. The female dancers perform in soft ghillies while the male dancers are heard tapping in Oxford tap shoes to the music Modern Irish Step Dancing.

The female dancers perform in soft ghillies while the male dancers are heard tapping in Oxford tap shoes to the music. Irish Set Dancing, as its name implies consists of dances performed in "sets.

The set usually requires dancing in couples in four sets. The Set Dance begins with all four couples dancing to the same choreography. This is followed by each couple performing the same sets as individual couples. Irish Ceili pronounced "kay-lee Dancing is a very traditional dance form. It originated in the 's and is always performed to traditional Irish music.

The Ceili Dances consist of quadrilles, reels, jigs and long or round dances. These were the most native Irish traditional folk dances. Irish Sean Nos Dancing is one of the oldest of the traditional Irish dance styles. It is the only one performed as a solo. It differs from other Irish dances in that it allows free movement of the arms and it is flat down with the heavy weight on the accented beat of the music. Sean Nos Dancing is the only Irish dance that also allows the solo dancer to improvise the choreography simultaneously as the dance is performed.

The taps consist of shuffles and brushes as the dancer moves across the floor. This style of Irish Dance was a predominant part of Irish socializing. It is performed much like Irish Set Dancing with the exception that is it danced to polkas, Irish hornpipes, waltzes and jigs.

Like the Irish Set Dancing, it is performed by couples with specific choreographic dance patterns, although in Irish Two Hand Dancing the patterns are repeated. In Irish Two Hand Dancing couples dance in a relaxed style while they tap their feet in shuffling, hopping and spinning motion. By all appearances, when Irish Two Hand Dancing is performed on a large dance floor, the couples seem to be gliding along as they dance. Ballet Up styles of Irish dance rely on several uniformly performed steps.

The first comes from the ballet step, "chasse," which means to "chase. This is often called the " Another step borrowed from Ballet is the "cabriole" which is to leap into the air while the left calf beats under the right calf that is extended forward in the air. There are several other steps that require the dancer to perform full or half turns. In Flat Down Irish dance steps, the dancer's foot strikes the floor in a twisting shuffle of the right foot while hopping into the air with the left foot.

There are also combinations of Irish dance steps that include the "", shuffle, stamping the whole foot and tapping one toe behind the other foot that holds body weight.

Although traditional Irish dance limits movement of the arms, today's modern Irish dancers are seen starting a dance routine with their hands on their hips and using certain movements of the arms that coordinate with music for interpretation of choreography. Irish Dancers are as young as pre-school age to adult.

There are numerous Irish Dance schools that teach traditional and modern Irish dance styles in the U. Cast out and momentarily orphaned, we learned to belong to the world.

From the midth century, hunger and famine and ambition drove the Irish out of their home island, across the Atlantic to a New World.

Lover parted from lover, families and communities were torn apart. While those souls who were forced to emigrate were faced with the heartbreak of separation, their human spirit was often lifted by a defiant hope at the prospect of a new life.

The wealth of the poor is in song, dance and story. Under the street lamps in the new cities, the dancers perform with pride in their heritage, curious to see what other traditions bring, struggling to bridge the gap between old dreams and new realities.

Meeting the new, what we learn first is that there is something familiar in what is strange, something strange in what we had thought familiar. A tune from another place, another lifetime, can turn and haunt the heart and inspire the dances from a distant homeland. In the cauldron of the big city, the pulsing energy of the streets is reflected in the fiery Latin dance rhythms. The river flows full circle from sea to sky to mountain and back home.

Collecting, gathering, arriving enriched, fulfilled, ready to start its journey once more. Original Choreography: John Carey.

Always the child of the emigrant feels the tug of the home place; always that child feels the urge to return. What she or he brings there is a sustaining knowledge: we are who we once were, we are who we have become.

With newfound confidence and pride, the child of the emigrant carries treasured memories home to their birthplace. A long journey ends under a native sky, a new and richer journey has taken its place. We are one kind. We are one people now, our voices blended, our music a great world in which we can feel everywhere at home. This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

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This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again. This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages. The hard shoe jig shoe or heavy shoe is made with fiberglass tips, instead of metal. Hard Irish stepdance shoes. Soft shoes ghillies are similar to ballet slippers and are made of black leather with lace from toe to ankle.

Like ballet slippers, soft shoes do not make noise when dancing and are worn by female dancers and in group dances with two or more people. Male dancers wear "reel shoes," which may remind you of a Oxford or jazz shoe. These shoes also have black leather, but they have fiberglass heels allowing dancers to click them together.

Now that you know a little bit more about the shoes behind the famous Irish stepdance, step on into Ovens Auditorium from Jan.