Competitive Irish Dance: Art, Sport, Duty

by Frank Hall

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.

160 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 2008