The following account provides a very brief overview of the history of dance and music in Ireland. The information has been drawn from a number of sources including: 'Aspects of the History of Irish Dancing' and 'Further Aspects of the History of Irish Dancing' by Dr. John Cullinane; 'The Complete Guide to Irish Dance' by Frank Whelan; 'The Story of Irish Dance' by Helen Brennan; 'Irish Dance' by Arthur Flynn and 'Riverdance The Story' by Sam Smyth. Please contact us if you feel there are any inaccuracies or emissions in this account in order that we may rectify these.

BEFORE AD 750

The first music was brought to Ireland by skilled workers, known as Tuatha De Danann, from the River Elbe region of Germany in around 1600 BC. These fair-haired people were cultured and very energetic. Ireland gets one of its names from a De Danann Queen named Erin. The first great feis was held during the reign of King Ollam Fodhla in 1300 BC. It was held at Tara and known as Feis Teamhair (House of Music). The Druids also had an early influence in the development of Irish dancing. They danced in religious ritual to the oak and the sun and modern day ring dances still display traces of the Druid's circular dances.

In around 500 BC the Celts (Keltoi) came to Ireland from central Europe and their language and culture became established in Ireland over the following nine hundred years. The arrival of Christianity and the coming of St. Patrick in AD 431 saw a successful attempt to put a Christian image on the pagan dances and rituals that had developed; however peasants retained the existing flamboyant qualities in their music and dancing.

AD 750 - 1800

AD 795 saw the first Viking raids on Ireland and these continued until the ninth century by which time the Vikings had significantly influence Irish culture. The main Viking settlers came from Norway and were known as the Fingaill (the fair foreigners) whilst a smaller number of Dubhgaill (the dark foreigners) came from Denmark. By the middle of the ninth century these two groups had joined together through settlement; intermarriage and sharing each other's way of life to form a group known as Gall-Gaidil (Norse-Irish). This encouraged cultural and linguistic assimilation and the influence of this group (which lasted for around 400 years) is still felt in Ireland today.

As a result of the Anglo-Norman invasion from 1169-72 the Normans are believed to have introduced round dances and carolling to Ireland in the twelfth century. Both were common in Normandy at this time and it is thought that they were performed in Irish towns that the Normans conquered. Carolling involved a leader singing a song and 6 couples replying as they danced around him using simple steps. This is still performed in parts of County Wexford to the present day.

The first great Irish Festival of Arts was held on the 26th March 1443 at Killeigh and was attended by 2,700 people who participated in music, dance and poetry. From the mid-1500's there were a number of dances performed by the Irish including the Rince Fada, the Hey, jigs, the Trenchmore and sword dances. This was despite attempts by the British to suppress the Irish culture which included banning piping and arresting pipers.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries dancing was a popular pastime particular at weekend and on summer evenings and whenever Royalty arrived in Ireland they would be greeted by young girls performing native dances. The English authorities imposed Penal laws in the late seventeenth century which banned the ordination of Catholic clergy and the education of Catholic children. The result was that Irish music and dance could only be practiced in secret. These measures lasted over 100 years, until the granting of Catholic Emancipation in 1829, leading to a decline in the Irish language as well as Irish customs and music.

The middle of the eighteenth century saw the first appearance of the dancing master who traveled from village to village with a blind fiddler teaching children to dance. According to Arthur Young in A Tour of Ireland, the Dancing Master would receive a fee of sixpence per pupil and the fiddler would receive about half this. The dances they mainly taught were reels and jigs. Each dancing master would cover an area of approximately ten square miles and although a friendly rivalry existed between the dancing masters they respected each other's territory. Dancing masters taught their pupils the importance of control with the body remaining rigid only moving from the hips downwards and the arms flat by the side. Dancing masters fell into one of three groups:

• The most socially respected were well dressed and carried a stick with a silver top. These dance masters had the pick of the work available and spent most of their time working in "big houses" where they would receive the best accommodation, food and clothes and would be treated like royalty.
• The middle group of dance masters usually taught the peasants and were able to teach all types of dance step.
• The lowest group, termed Jig Actors, only taught the basic dance steps.

When a dancing master died his territory would usually either be bequeathed to another dancing master or to their best pupil.

1800 - 1994

Dancing masters remained in existence until the early part of the twentieth century particularly in Counties Kerry and Clare until they were replaced by dancing schools run by both male and female dancing teachers. From the mid-1840's, as a result of famine, disease, death and emigration (mainly caused by the failure of the potato crop), there was a dramatic decline in interest in Irish dancing, music and he Irish culture within Ireland itself. At the same time Irish communities were growing in cities in England and USA as millions of Irish people settled in these countries. Being away from home gave many of these settlers a much deeper appreciation of their heritage. In the early nineteenth century the development of revolutionary movements drew the attention of all artists back to their native traditions leading to the formation of dance schools in Cork, Limerick and Kerry. Unemployment and poverty left many people having to make their own entertainment and as traditional music and dance had no, or little, cost involved with they they gained in popularity.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century there was a renewed interest and pride in all things related to Ireland's culture and heritage. In 1893 the Gaelic League was founded, by Douglas Hyde, to preserve and promote the Irish language as well as organising feiseanna and ceilis. They organised the first official ceili on 30th October 1897 which was not held in Ireland but at Bloomsbury Hall in London and was attended by emigrants as well as by members of the Gaelic League who had traveled from Dublin. In the late 1920s the Gaelic League established An Coimisiun le Rinci Gaelacha whose initial purpose was to examine how Irish dancing was organised at that time and to make recommendations for the future. The body still exists at the present day - click here for more details on the history and the present day work of this oganisation. In addition there is An Comhdháil - The Congress of Irish Dance Teachers - click here for further details on this oganisation.

1994 - PRESENT DAY

REST OF PAGE STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION.