Irish Dancing has a long history, on which not everybody agrees at all times. That is probably because there was always dancing all over the Emerald Isle, and it developed differently in different regions.
Therefore, a general history of Irish Dancing can only be drawn along big lines - anyone wanting to know more will have to get to know about the cultural and regional history of the country.

The first clear sources about Irish Dancing date back from the 17th century, sources wich speak primarily about group dances. From the 18th century onward, there is also information about solodancing, mainly about the "Dance Masters". The Dance Master was a travelling dancer/teacher/performer - they travelled from village to village, often accompanied by a musician, to teach the dances, and to perform.
Every Dance Master seems to have had "his own territory", more or less; but sometimes they would meet up at village fairs and hold dancing competitions.
In some way, the "travelling dance master" is still very much part of the Irish Dancing world: many teachers still travel around a lot, giving workshops, calling Céilis, etc... These days, the dancers themselves often travel a lot as well, because of the competition-culture in Irish dancing: many a good dancer will travel great distances to compete in feiseanna all over the world.

Céilidancing (and other groups dances, like setdancing) is probably older than solodancing: in the Irish village communities, there would be dances in the street ("dancing at crossroads"), usually on sunday night, much to the dismay of the Catholic Church: young people having fun in the street till late, unchaperoned, ànd on a sunday! - that was sinful to say the least! That is probably why some of the oldest known group dances (like the Rince Fada) are progressive dances, whereby the couple change partners every to often: it was undecent for couples to dance together for more than a short time, except if they were married or, at least, engaged to be married.
In the end the Church banned dancing at the crossroads, and the Céilis moved inside.

Many of the newer dances evolved from the French quadrilles, very much in vogue at that time. They were adapted by the Dance Masters to irish music and tradition, and danced as irish dances.
Eventually, when the Conradh na Gaeilge(Gaelic League) came into existence in 1893, a first attempt was made to note and describe the dances, in the Handbook of Irish Dances (published in 1902). This work was later continued by An Coimisiún le Rincí Gaelacha (the Irish Dancing commision, founded in 1929), and now, you can find the standardized descriptions of thirty traditional Céilidances in their handbook "Ar Rincí Foírne".

Irish Dancing is an artform that has developed enormously in recent times, first of all because of the competitive aspect, and secondly - but none less importantly - due to the large shows that have conquered the world.
All this has brought on many, sometimes heated, discussions: what is traditional, and what isn't? How old should something be to be called "traditional"?
The wonderful thing is that all these different types of irish Dancing can exist next to each other: the old Sean Nos dancing; Irish dancing as it was danced at the beginning of the last century; the more modern, but still traditional, competition style; and the "freestyle" irish dancing, as it is danced in the shows. On top of that, there are the group dances: Céilí, both competition style, and the slightly more relaxed style that is danced at functions or Céilí nights, and setdancing, which is something different alltogether...

Now multiply all this with the number of regional style differences, and you will begin to get an idea of how big and rich the world of Irish Dancing really is.....

On top of all that, there are important differences regarding how Irish dancing is approached in different parts of the world. For example, in Ireland (and other English-speaking countries), solodancing is enjoyed primarily by children and teenagers, and it is regarded as a competitive sport. In Australia and the US, there is an added interest in the show-aspect of the dance (this is also where the wearing of the sometimes over-ornate costumes find its roots - in the US, there is a tradition for children's beauty pageants, that doesn't exist in f.ex. Europe). On the European continent, on the other hand, a large number of people interested in Irish Dancing are adults - from the young to the not so very young - and although there are several organisations making sure that competitions are available for dancers, a majority of potential dancers enjoy Irish Dancing as an artform, or as a aspect of Irish cultural expression, rather than as a sport.

As you can see: Irish Dancing has something to offer for everybody!

So what do we do? Well, we concentrate mainly on the traditional competitive dancing (Munster style), both solodancing (stepdancing) as Céilí - though we do like to splash out on some Freestyle dancing now and then.

Because, whatever your goal is.... Irish dancing is simply fun!

There are many sources on the internet about the history of Irish Dancing - sources that have been written by people much more knowledgable on the subject than ourselves. If you would like to know more about the background and history of this lovely dance, have a look in our links-page, you will find references to all kind of interesting sites and articles.