ABOUT IRISH STEP DANCING

THIS PAGE IS NOT "OFFICIAL" AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE RULES OR REGULATIONS OF ANY IRISH DANCE COMMISSION. IT IS INFORMATIONAL ONLY ABOUT THE NEW ENGLAND REGION. (For rules, see North American Feis Commission Rules.)

Authored by Jenny, a mom, and Katie, a dancer.

This page was created to provide information to a new Irish dancer and his/her family, or to any of our friends who want to know about the activity we spend all of our time and money on! Unfortunately, the girls don't dance anymore, but we left the site up in memory of many happy years!

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ABOUT US
LEVELS OF COMPETITION
STARTING AS A NEW DANCER
THE FIRST FEIS
THE MIDDLE LEVELS
MOVING INTO CHAMPIONSHIP
THE "BIG" COMPETITIONS
LOOKING BACK

Our girls Katie and Kerri began Irish step dancing since 1992. We had tried ballet, tap, tumbling, gymnastics, soccer, swimming... But nothing seemed to hold our kid's attention for more than a few years. Then one day my (Polish) mother-in-law suggested we check out Irish step dancing. Cousins on Vin's father's (Irish) side had a granddaughter who danced, and she thought my girls might like it also. And the rest, as they say, is history!

After three years in a local school, we joined the Lenihan School of Irish Dance, based in New Haven/Fairfield, Connecticut. We danced with Patty for only 2 years, however, when Vin's employment took us to Massachusetts.

These days, however, neither of my daughters compete anymore. Kerri retired her ghillies completely to concentrate on school and her health issues. Katie also stopped lessons and competing due to an ongoing injury. However, Katie is still assistant-teaching and attends local feiseanna to support her dancemates. Her goal is to dance in college and get back to the Worlds!

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• Pre-Beginner (not always available)
• Beginner
• Advanced Beginner
• Novice
• Prizewinner (also called Open Solo)
• Preliminary Championship
• Open Championship

Pre-Beginner is for dancers under the age of 5 in their first year of dance, and move up to beginner at the age of 5. A dancer moves from beginner to advanced beginner in the second year of competing. After that, a dancer moves up the levels by winning, or by "placing," at a feis (pronounced fesh), which is an Irish dance competition. A first, second or third place is required to move from both beginner to advanced beginner and from advanced beginner to novice. A first is required to advance from novice to prizewinner. Depending on which set of rules you find, either a first, second or third place in every dance is required to move from prizewinner to preliminary, or a first in one of the soft shoes and one of the hard shoes. To move into the highest level, open championships, a dancer must win two firsts in preliminary competition. A competition does not "count" unless there are at least five dancers.

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When a new dancer starts out, she is considered a beginner as far as competitions are concerned. And there really is no Irish dancing without feiseanna (plural for feis)! That is, after all, what it is all about. Oh, Irish heritage and all that too. :)

Generally, the first year is spent learning the basic Irish step dancing movements, called 3's and 7's. Other important techniques that are focused on are learning to dance on your toes, pointing your toes, kicking your bum, keeping your arms down straight and stiff by your sides, looking up, and crossing your feet. Usually, only the reel and soft jig are taught in the first year.

Hard shoes are often introduced to the dancer in the second year, depending on the pace the child is learning at and how fast the teacher moves. The heavy jig is most often the first hard shoe step learned, followed by the hornpipe. A dancer can compete in both hard and soft jigs if they are offered as separate categories at a competition, otherwise she has to pick one. It is not uncommon for dancers at the advanced beginner level (see below) to dance a soft jig, and move into the hard jig category sometime while they are at the novice level. By prizewinner, a dancer should be competing in the hard jig.

Here are ten basics that your new dancer should be mastering:

1. Being high on her toes and never "flat-footing" it, especially when coming down from jumps.
2. Pointing her toes and keeping her feet arched.
3. Getting her legs up as high as possible. Stretching gently every day will help.
4. "Kicking her bum" when she brings her legs back.
5. Crossing her feet quite a bit both in front and in back.
6. Feet should also be turned out.
7. The arms and upper body should be stiff; she shouldn't bend at the waist when she jumps and her arms should never fly away from her sides or bend at the elbows.
8. Using the stage when she dances, which means move move move! This can even be done at the beginner level, and makes a world of difference.
9. TIMING TIMING TIMING; a dancer's timing should be right on!
10. A dancer's appearance should be confident, neat, chin and eyes up, etc. Basically, a dancer should look like she could move up into the next level any day with no problem.

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The first feis is a journey into the unknown! While every feis is run differently, here are some generalizations about what you can expect.

STARTING TIMES First, feiseanna run on "Irish time." That means they are often late and forever falling behind schedule. Not that a parent should plan on arriving late, but be prepared to have the competitions run late. It is not uncommon to spend an entire day at a feis.

INDOOR FEIS If your first feis is an indoor feis, you will most likely receive a scheduled time for the competition or the times will be listed in the syllabus (this is where the running late part comes in). Most indoor feiseanna are held at schools, with the lower level competitions being held in the gym or cafeteria. The auditorium is usually reserved for the championships, but once in while the other levels find their way into the auditorium.

OUTDOOR FEIS Outdoor feiseanna do not always schedule the times for the dances, just a starting time for the entire feis. Occasionally, a general start time for the entire level is provided, i.e., champions start at 12:00 noon. Usually, team dances are first, followed by beginners, or maybe starting concurrently, with the younger groups going first.

FINDING THE STAGES The separate dances are not always held on the same stage, nor always in the order listed in the syllabus (i.e., reel, slip jig, jig, hornpipe). However, most feis committees try to make it easiest on the beginners, so this may not occur until a dancer is at higher levels. If the feis does not provide or sell a program (or even if they do), one of the first things to do, after finding a place to park the gear, is to walk around and figure out what stages the dances are being held on, and where in the rotation they are.

GETTING READY Even for young beginners, your school may require that the girl dancers have their hair curled for their first feis. The typical first year dancer wears a skirt of the school's color with matching bloomers underneath, and a white shirt. Poodle socks and ghillies are not absolutely necessary for the first feis, and if you haven't purchased them by this time, a feis is a great place to buy supplies. Older dancers should curl their hair for their first feis, and wear makeup. It is recommended that the curlers be removed last, in case the dancer's hair loses the curl quickly. It is also a good idea for the dancer to stretch for 5-10 minutes and run through their steps prior to the actual competition.

LINING UP Beginners always have a stage mom, dad, or older champion dancer to line them up, check off the numbers, and tell the dancers when they should start. If the worst happens, that is, if the dancer forgets her steps and stops, she will most likely get the opportunity to move the end of the line and try again (this is true even at the novice level).

PLACING The judges are very kind to the beginners, and it is not uncommon for the youngest beginners to get a medal for at least one of their dances at their first feis. At some feiseanna, beginners' places are announced after the dances, and at others, the places are posted on big poster boards in hallways, separate from the stages, as they are for the higher solo levels.

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Once a dancer is nicely settled into the novice level, a school dress is usually worn instead of the skirt and white shirt. Some dancers opt for solo dresses, but most teachers discourage this until a dancer is in at least prizewinner.

NOVICE Novice often seems like a bottleneck, and it can be very difficult to get out of. It might be years before a dancer moves out of novice, but if that is the case, she will enter prizewinner a very strong dancer. A lot happens during the novice years!

Usually, while a dancer is at the novice level, she is taught several hard shoe dances, such as the hard jig and a Traditional Set dance. A traditional set dance is a hard-shoe dance that has the same music and choreography from school to school. This is because the dance is "traditional," that is, passed down from generation to generation without being changed. The most common dance is St. Patrick's Day, but there is also Blackbird, Garden of Daisies, and Job of Journeywork. This can be danced at a competition in addition to the solo dances, and is most often not offered to champion dancers. Also sometime in novice, most dancers learn their school's Treble Reel steps, a reel dance performed in hard shoes. This dance is offered at some competitions, and performed at almost every dancing job, which novices often start attending as well.

Another perk of being a novice dancer is the introduction to team dancing. Three-hands, a dance that has three dancers, are choreographed by teachers, and are danced at competitions in school dresses. Four-hands are traditional in the sense that they are from "the book," that is, NOT choreographed by teachers, although a teacher can definitely impart a style to a dance. The two four-hand dances are the Four-Hand Reel, which is the most commonly performed, and Humors of Bandon. There are also eight-hand dances, such as High Caul Cap, Suites of May and Morris Reel. These are most commonly used in competition by novice level dancers.

The New England Regionals have competitions for four- and eight-hands, and, added within the last few years, a traditional set competition for non-champion solo dancers.

PRIZEWINNER The prizewinner category is probably the most unpredictably-sized at a feis. All solo categories are separated by years, that is, a dancer competes against other dancers born in the same calendar year. However, some of the feiseanna separate the age categories by year up to age 15 or higher, but some separate the dancers only up to age 12. This can be frustrating (a 12 year old competing against 17 year olds). Also, because dancers can move out fast (compared to novice), some competitions might barely have five competitors, and others over thirty, depending on how the ages are grouped!

Eight-hand team dances that prizewinners often compete with include High Caul Cap and The Three Tunes.

It seems that most of the time a dancer spends in prizewinner is spent preparing for championships. A solo dress is often purchased at this level, wigs are purchased, make-up is donned, and slow hornpipes and contemporary set pieces are learned. Contemporary set pieces are hard shoe dances that are choreographed by a teacher for his/her students. A different dance may be taught to different students, depending on the abilities/level of the dancers. The music is selected from a list of "approved" Irish dances. Some feis committees offer a special competition for contemporary set pieces to prizewinners and preliminary competitors.

A dance teacher is really the person who determines when, or if, a dancer advances to championships, based not only on how the dancer has placed, but whether the dancer is ready to move up. If a dancer moves up too fast, it can be heartbreaking to suddenly start placing last at every feis, or, worse, looking like she doesn't belong in that category! While there are always exceptions, most dancers remain at the prizewinner level for 1-2 years before moving up. A dancer never has to move beyond prizewinner if she does not want to, an option my daughter Kerri had taken.

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The biggest change is the move up from solo dancing (beginner, novice and prizewinner) to the preliminary champion level. At the solo levels, a dancer competes in four dances (the boys only three): reel, jig, slip jig (not boys) and hornpipe. In the "olden" days, preliminary dancers danced a light shoe and their set. Nowadays, due to the sheer numbers of competitors in preliminary, most feis committees permit only open championship dancers to dance their sets. Preliminary dancers dance their light shoe and hard shoe 2 or 3 at a time. Open champions dance their light shoe (also 2 or 3 at a time) and their set dance. The dancers in both preliminary and open are usually grouped two years together.

A big psychological transformation also takes place when a dancer moves from the solo levels to champion. While the prizewinners wear the wigs and solo dresses, they still have to go to the halls to see how they did at most feiseanna, like the lower level dancers. Champion dancers wait for "results," at which time the trophy winners are announced and introduced to the audience members. Championship scoring is very complicated. There are three judges, as opposed to one judge for the solo levels, and the dancers are ordered from first place to last by each judge. "Irish points" are then assigned and the dancers are again ordered based on the total of their Irish points. If there are more than five dancers, anywhere from one-third to one-half of the dancers will receive a trophy.

The preliminary championship level can also become a bottleneck, as there might be anywhere from thirty to one hundred competitors, but still only one first place. Very occasionally, a feis committee will split the competition so only one age group (not two) is in a line. Some feis committees offer a special competition for contemporary set pieces to preliminary competitors, sometimes including prizewinners as well.

Open championship level is usually the dream of dancers from about the novice level, when they begin to realize what there is available ahead of them. While most dancers who persevere will qualify for preliminary, getting into opens is another story! Many dancers work very hard, get into opens, and suddenly realize they are competing against dancers who regularly qualify for (and compete at) the worlds. While this can be discouraging, as well as starting at the bottom all over again, most open champion dancers do not look back. After all, they are usually the dancers placing at the BIG competitions now!

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The "BIG" competitions include the Oireachtas, Nationals, and Worlds. In America, the Nationals are the North American Irish Dance Championships; in Ireland, they are the All Irelands; Australia, the All Australians. In 2001, the Great Britains in England was introduced along with the Euro Championships, held in Spain. There is another one in England called the British Nationals as well.

THE OIREACHTAS The Oireachtas, also known as the Regionals or the Qualifiers, is, perhaps, the most important of the "big" competitions. This is because the majority of a school's dancers at novice level and higher can participate, and, more importantly, because it the qualifying competition for the World Championships. Most schools enter their dancers in teams, especially 4-hands and 8-hands. There is also a team choreography competition and a dance drama, although those categories are not as populated as the 4- and 8-hands.

For the dancers who do not to compete in solos in the New England Region, there is a traditional set competition. Generally, it is teacher's discretion whether to permit a dancer to dance solos at the Regionals, but a dancer is technically qualified when she is qualified to dance in preliminary competition.

The solo dances are basically for preliminary and open championship dancers, although a teacher may permit a qualified prizewinner dancer to compete in solos (Kerri danced solos in her last year of competing). The ages range from Under 8 to 21 and over, for both boys and girls. The specific dances depend on what age the competitors are. The dances alternate, so one year, for example, girls will dance reel and hard jig, and the next slip jig and hornpipe. However, girls ages 10 and under, and all boys, dance reel, rotating only the heavy dances. The dancers do their light and heavy dances, and, if they place in the top 50%, they are "recalled" to do their set. About half of the competitors, solos and team, are placed and receive trophies, and about the top 15% (there's a formula) of the solo competitors, up to 10 dancers, qualify for the worlds.

The New England Oireachtas is held the weekend before Thanksgiving. Generally, the oldest solo competitions are held on Friday evening, and the next oldest groups on Saturday. (This is so those dancers can attend the dinner dance Saturday night.) The award ceremonies are always held at the end of the day, which, due to the increasing size of the participants, can be very late!

THE NATIONALS The nationals held for this country and Canada are called the North American Irish Dance Championships. The location rotates; each region has an opportunity to host the competition. We have attended this in Boston, Orlando, Chicago, San Francisco, and Toronto.

The big event of these is, of course, the solo competitions, although the 8-hand team dances can be very intense as well (there are no 4-hand competitions at the nationals). If a solo dancer places in the top percentage of her line after dancing the light and heavy shoe dances, she is recalled to dance her set. The lines are huge these days, with some groups having over 200 competitors in it. When the numbers are that big, the age is split into an A and B group, representative of the older and younger half of the age group, so each line only has about 100 dancers. The qualifications of our Nationals will be changing in the future to try to limit the entries.

The day of the dancing starts off (usually) with light shoes first. Each dancer has a competitor number, but, for fairness, the starting number (rotation) for each dance is drawn randomly so the same competitor doesn't have to start (or end) twice or three times. The heavy dance is usually danced next, and then recalls. The top third to half of the dancers are invited back to dance their set piece.

However, before the actual dancing, there is a lot of preparing. Once a dancer is up, she usually likes to take a shower to get warmed up after a practically sleepless night due to nerves. Then, once she has put on shorts and tank top/t-shirt, there comes the stretching. This can go on for at least half an hour, more if she's trying to eat some breakfast at the same time. Then of course, comes the makeup. Dancers put on tons of makeup, then grab their stuff to go to the dancing hall. Once there, the teacher will take the dancer into the hallway to practice, where she promptly sweats off all her makeup. After the warming up, she runs in to go check in (getting her number) before they start without her. Then she sits there nervously biting her nails off waiting for them to pull the rotation, hoping she's not first and equally not wanting to be last. Once she realizes she's first (or very close), she hurriedly throws on some more makeup (not doing as nice of a job as before) and her shoes and her dress. Then she runs over to get in line, fighting back butterflies that feel like they're going to pop out of her throat and give someone a heart attack, only to realize that they are running on Irish time and won't start for another half an hour. If she realizes she's last, she waits until three competitors before her, and repeats the above process. After she has done the first two dances, she tries to eat something, hoping she won't throw up if she doesn't get a recall and hoping she doesn't throw up if she does. After the dancing is done, there is a waiting period of HOURS while the judges lose marks, find them, and then figure out what the places are, and then losing and finding them again. Once the awards finally get started after an hour of trying to get everything organized while trying to keep the fire hazard at a minimum, there is the waiting until they get to the results of the dancer's competition. Of course, that one is always last, so it doesn't matter. Finally, after they're all done, there is the picture taking. Everyone wants a picture, even if she has no idea who that person is. "Oh, you want my picture? Sure hang on, let me grab my friend!" And then the endless amounts of hugs, kisses, congratulations, etc. After a dancer finally gets back to her room, there is another shower, pajamas, and then three hours of late night television because she's too wired to sleep.

For the moms and dads of the Irish dancer, there is very little preparation they can do, because the dancer HAS IT ALL UNDER CONTROL. Therefore, all the mom has to do is worry, and all the dad has to do is lug the stuff and pay the hotel bills.

THE WORLDS Katie has qualified for the Worlds three times, and finally made it there in March, 2002. For the first time ever, the venue was held outside of Ireland, in Glasgow, Scotland. The competition takes place over 10 days, due to the fact that the actual competitions are huge (usually over a 100 in each girls line), and because there is only one stage. The level of competition there is indescribable.

The girls danced their hard shoe first, then light shoes. Recalls are, surprisingly, announced fairly quickly. Only about 30% of the dancers are recalled. Of those recalled, only about one-half of them will be placed. There are nine judges in all, three for each round. The next day, marks are available for the entire age group. Raw scores are not provided, but each judge’s placement of every dancer is. A dancer has done pretty good by just being at the Worlds, but to get Irish points is even better! It is a tremendous accomplishment to recall at the Worlds; only a small percentage of Americans accomplish that. Only a handful of American dancers actually place, but in the last several years, that number has increased. Now, it is not uncommon for at least one North American dancer to win first place.

There are also team competitions at the Worlds. Team competitions are done slightly differently at the Worlds than at the Nationals. At the Nationals, everyone dances, and then half of the teams are placed. However, at the Worlds, the teams must prepare two dances, called ceilis, and two figures for each dance. The day of the competition, it is announced if they will do figure A or figure B. Everyone performs the first ceili, but only those teams that are recalled perform their second ceili. As with the solo participants, the level of quality of the teams is astounding.

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Through the years that our daughter Katie moved up from beginner to open championship, we watched Irish step dancing evolve from a little-known cultural activity to a world-renowned form of entertainment, thanks to Riverdance and Lord of the Dance. Along the way, the steps became much more complex, and now it is more of a sport than an art. Chronic injuries among long-term dancers, such as Katie, are widespread, and the cost of competing can exceed several thousand dollars a year. However, it is not necessary to compete at this level if a dancer does not want to, nor do all schools require, or even offer, two to three dance classes a week.

Irish dancing provides discipline, self-motivation, team spirit, and a healthy respect for competition. These things can be carried over into school, and eventually a job and/or career. Not to mention it looks great on a college (or any) application. The bottom line, however, is that Irish dancing, like any children's activity, must be enjoyable for the dancer and the family. While it can get intense and stressful at the highest levels, it is well worth it in the long run. For nearly a decade, our years were divided by Irish dance major competitions instead of seasons, and we have been to cities and countries we most certainly would not have visited otherwise, and have met people along the way we would not have been friends with were it not for Irish dance.

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