How to Do Irish Step Dancing

Transcript How to do back clicks and turning clicks in Irish dance. In the click, the objective is to strike the heels together in order to produce an audible clicking sound. In the back click, this is accomplished by first stepping on the right foot. Lifting the left foot, tucking it up behind one’s self …

Transcript Hi. My name is Darrah Carr. I’m the Music Director of Dara Carr Dance, a professional Irish Dance company based in New York City. For the last 15 years I’ve developed a style of dance that I’ve coined ModERIN. ModERIN is a compound word referencing modern, as in dance, and Erin, an Irish-American reference …

Transcript How to do the Drum in Irish Step Dance. The Drum in Irish Step Dance is created by three sounds. In the first sound, the dancer lifts the back foot and places it down on the ground behind herself. Step. The second sound is created by a toe or a tip of the front …

Transcript How to do the Double Trebles in Irish step dance. I like to call the Double Treble, one, two, one, two, three, four, five. Because, seven sounds in total are produced. This is primarily used in jig timing. To initiate the rhythm, the dancer brushes the foot out, away from the body for one. …

Transcript How to do front clicks and double clicks in Irish Step Dance? In the front click or the double click the objective is to strike the heels together in midair, therefore producing a clicking sound. We’ll look at front click first. In the front click the dancer keeps both legs straight. Stepping first on …

Transcript How to combine Irish Step Dancing moves into a beginner routine. Once you have mastered a certain number of Irish Dance movements, you’ll have acquired a vocabulary. Now it is time to take that vocabulary and put it into a sequence. You can think of this, your vocabulary, as being letters and your sequence …

Transcript How to do running trebles in Irish dance. Running treble designates a series of trebles alternating right foot and left foot. These can be done going forward or going backward. In order to progress forward with the running treble, the foot lifts up from behind and is placed then in front. We’ll start with …

Transcript How to do tips going forward in Irish step dancing. Tips are also called tip steps, flaps, or one-twos. This is because the dancer makes two sounds with the foot. The first sound is created by brushing the foot out away from the body. The second sound is created by a transfer of the …

Transcript How to do the treble, or shuffle, in Irish dance. The treble, or shuffle, is also known as a rally, batter, or one-two-three. I like to call it a one-two-three because the dancer makes three sounds with the foot. The first sound is created by brushing out. The second sound by brushing in. The …

Transcript How to add arm movements to Irish Step Dancing. Irish Step Dancing is notable and unusual in that, for the most part, the arms are not used in Irish Dance. Rather, they are held down by the side while the dancer’s feet move very very quickly, as seen here. Particularly in competitive Irish Dance, …

Transcript How to do the Ceilidh position in Irish dance. Typically in solo Irish dance styles, the arms are held down by the side as you see us doing here. Our arms are straight, pinned closed to our side, and our hands are closed into fists. They are relaxed, though, not tense. Relaxed fists. However, …

Transcript How to do Fast Trebles in Irish Dancing. The Fast Treble is a variant of the one two hop back step. We’ll show the step in its original version first. The dance is creating four sounds. The first sound by brushing the foot out away from the body. The second sound by pulling the …

Transcript How to do an advanced routine in Irish dance. There are an endless variety of advanced routines one can choreograph for Irish dance, as long as one remains within the confines of eight bars for the right side and repeats it with a symmetrical or identical eight bars for the left side. Here we …

Transcript How to do the hop shuffle, hop back move in Irish dance. The hop shuffle, hop back move consists of five sounds that the dancer creates. The first sound is created by landing a hop. The shuffle is two sounds – a brushing out, a brushing in. This is followed by another hop and …

Transcript How to do the scissors move, an Irish dance. True to its name, in the scissors move, the dancers are imitating a pair of scissors sharp, straight, and pointed openings and closings. First I’m going to illustrate the proper position of the scissors move. The foot is extended to the side, pointed, the knee …

Transcript How To Do The Entrechat move in Irish Step Dance. As the name suggests the Entrechat is the move that Irish dance has borrowed from Classical Ballet. In the Entrechat the dancers legs are changing position mid-air, back to front. We’ll demonstrate this slow for you now. To begin the dancers feet are going …

Transcript How to do the rock move in Irish step dance. The rock move is an unusual move for Irish dancers, whereby they’re testing, really, the strength and flexibility of lateral motion in their ankle. It is recommended, particularly when trying this step for the first time, that you hold onto another person, a bar, …

Transcript How to do the twist in Irish Step Dance. A twist is a movement that’s done on the balls of the feet , but first we’ll demonstrate the sequence of the steps for you on flat feet before showing it on the balls of the feet. To initiate the twist, the dancer turns the …

Transcript How to dance the lead around in Irish step dancing. The lead around is the first step of a dance. It can be done in either jig or real time. The lead around is meant to circumscribe the space, to delineate the space, by creating a circle with the dancer’s steps. In this example …

Transcript How to do the Bicycle in Irish Dance. The Bicycle is a relatively new move in Irish Dance. It emerged as an innovation within the competitive Irish Dance circuit. To initiate the Bicycle, the dancer pushes off, in this instance, on the left foot. Her right foot is going to tuck up behind her, …

Transcript How to do the birdie in Irish Step Dance. In the birdie, the dancer strikes a pose midair. This pose includes two parts. The first is a straight extended leg 90 degrees from the waist. This is the first pose that is achieved. Secondarily, the back leg tucks up behind the dancer with the …

Transcript How to do over two threes or jump two threes in Irish Step Dancing. Over two three, or jump two three, is also called an Up Down Down. These names all refer to the same jumping step. To begin the dancer points the right foot. The initial jump, or over, part of the step …

Transcript How to do the butterfly in Irish Dance. Here we will demonstrate how to do a butterfly beginning with the right foot in front. To initiate the butterfly, the dancer begins by turning both toes towards each other or inward. The right foot slides behind the left foot and the feet simultaneously turn back …

Transcript How to do a spin in Irish step dance. A spin is also referred to as a turn, but for our purposes we’re calling this a spin because it involves a pivot on one leg. A spin on one leg. We’ll demonstrate the position first from the side angle. Doing a spin on the …

Transcript How to do jump backs in Irish step dancing. To prepare for a jump back, the dancer points the right foot, lifts it, extends the leg, bends the leg, places it behind and lands with both feet together. Then alternating onto the left side, lifting the leg, extend and landing with both feet together. …

Transcript How to do hop backs in Irish step dance. Beginning with the right foot the dancer lifts the leg, extends it, bends it, and places it down behind with a slight hop. We’ll look at that again on the right foot. Lifts the leg, bends it, replaces it behind. Then alternates onto the left …

Transcript How to do the Point Hop Back Step in Irish Dance. The Point Hop Back Step technically is a hop, point, hop, back step. Two hops are involved in this step even though the title is Point Hop Back. To initiate the dancer begins by pointing the right foot. The first hop here is …

Transcript How to do the double hop move in Irish Dance. The double hop move consists of two parts. The first is a hop. The dancer initiates that by stepping and jumping with the right foot. The foot is placed toward the knee. We’ll look at that hop again. To create a double hop, the …

Transcript How to do a turn in Irish Step Dancing. To prepare for the turn the dancer points the right foot. The turn involves four steps. The first is a step to the side followed by a second step to the side, a step to the back which rotates the dancer’s position, back to facing …

Transcript How to do the hop step move in Irish Step Dancing. To prepare for the hop step move, the dancer points the right foot, lifts it behind by bending at the knee, initiates the hop, lands the right foot in front, then repeats that action on the left side, lifting the left leg behind, …

Transcript How to do Sevens in Irish dance. Beginning with the right foot pointed, the dancer rises to the balls of the feet. There’s a hop to begin. Where by the foot is coming to touch just above the knee. Extends that foot out to the side and begins to travel in a sideways fashion. …

Transcript Proper stance is very important in Irish dance. Irish dance is well known for its distinctive feature of keeping the upper body and arms still, while below the feet move very quickly. To prepare for proper stance in Irish dance, the dancers feet are crossed, the right toe is pointed. The arms are held …

Transcript Music for Irish Step Dance generally falls into two categories, jigs and reels. Jigs are danced in six-eight time, which means there are six eighth notes for each bar of the music. That gives the dance a sort of swinging feel. One, two, three, four, five, six. Two, two, three, four, five, six. Three, …

Transcript Skips in Irish dance are also referred to as hop one two threes or forward two threes. To begin, the dancer points the right foot, rises onto the toes, lifts the right leg, tucks it up behind, with a hop, places the right foot down in front, shifts the weight front, back, front, and …

Transcript Irish Step Dancing, as we know it today, evolved in the tradition of the traveling dance master, a figure who emerges in the 1700’s in the Irish countryside. Traveling dance masters would move from village to village for a period of six weeks at a time teaching dance steps and deportment to rural children. …

Transcript When choosing shoes for Irish Dance it’s important to keep in mind that the shoes should be very tight, well-shaped and formed to the foot. It is best to choose shoes that are several sizes smaller than one’s regular street shoes. There are two styles of Irish Dance shoes. Soft shoes also called light …

Transcript Irish dance is very unusual in that the arms are not used in the dance style. Meanwhile the feet move very quickly underneath a still and held torso. I can’t think of another dance form where half of the body is kept in check. There are many urban legends as to why the arms …

Transcript Riverdance is an incredibly successful commercial production that began in Ireland in 1994 as an interval to the Eurovision Song Contest. The piece was originally just seven minutes long and featured well known Irish dancers Jean Butler and Michael Flatley in the lead roles. During the original Eurovision Song Contest, Riverdance was broadcast to …