Irish Dance:: Irish Culture :: A Guide to Irish Culture on the Web

A Guide to Irish Culture
on the web

Dance

A Brief History of Irish Dance by Donncha O Muineachain. General Introduction. Dress of Dancers. Type of Dances

A Brief History of Irish Stepdancing Historical information taken from the book A handbook of Irish dances : with an essay on their origin and history by J.C. O’Keeffe and Art O’Brien. Dublin : O’Donochue, 1902.

A Short History of Irish Céilí Dancing by Kathleen Moffatt at Cairde Rince Céilí na hÉireann (Comóradh an Chéid)

Ceol Rince MIDI Tunes from the Ancient Music of Ireland site

Ceol Rince na hÉireann Part of Nigel Gatherer’s Traditional Music Pages.
As a collection of Irish traditional dance music Ceol Rince na hÉireann is one of the most important of its kind. The original notes and musicians’ details were in the Irish language, and here is presented for the first time a translation of these notes by Paul de Grae.
also on Nigel Gatherer’s site
Music From Ireland During the 1970s Dave Bulmer and Neil Sharpley published a series of four books of Irish traditional music called Music From Ireland. Most of the tunes were collected from sessions and contemporary players, so the settings are pretty close to what is played today. These pages list the tunes found in Music From Ireland along with alternative titles, background histories of the tunes and some different settings in ABC notation format.
also on Nigel Gatherer’s site
Ryan’s Mammoth Collection Ryan’s Mammoth Collection was published in Boston in 1883, containing 1050 reels, jigs, hornpipes, strathspeys, etc. In 1940 it was repackaged and marketed as Cole’s 1000 Fiddle Tunes (also known as The Fiddler’s Bible). Finally, in 1995 it was once again published, this time reverting to the Ryan’s Mammoth title. Whichever form it has taken, this collection has been an invaluable store of tunes for countless fiddlers and other musicians, and it is a remarkable snapshot of the repertoire of 19th century America.
also on Nigel Gatherer’s site
Hidden Fermanagh Hidden Fermanagh, a book about the music and musicians of Fermanagh, was first published in 2003. It is currently in print, and there are two CDs to go with it. This list is a collection of annotations about the tunes in Hidden Fermanagh (HF) and has been started by Nigel Gatherer, with the hope that it will be enhanced by comments from others.

Riverdance Browse through a decade of Riverdance history and learn more about the key people behind the show.

Irish Dance - Miscellaneous notes Compiled by Seán Donnelly - part of setdance.com/Brooks Academy. intriguing notes on Irish dance from the thirteenth century to the late 19th century. NB the internal links on this page aren't working at the moment but scroll down and the material is there.
- also part of setdance.com
The Public Dancehalls Act 1935 The Public Dance Halls Act was enacted by the Irish Government in 1935.It is believed to have been a significant factor in the decline of traditional music in rural Ireland, particularly the decline of house dances and crossroads dances.

A Guide to Irish Culture on the web

A Guide to Irish Culture
on the web