Don’t try this at home
But they did:
Whoever planned and edited that did a fabulous job.
I have to say, though, that this is not a form of dance that has ever especially appealed to me. I deeply admire the skill of those who can do it, of course. They’re phenomenal. But the dance genre doesn’t speak to me at all. The combination of the near-rigidity of the upper body and the frenetic legwork doesn’t reach me emotionally or seem beautiful or interesting to me in terms of line. I appreciate the extraordinary achievement and the effort, but not the aesthetic.
I know I’m not necessarily typical in that respect.
I’ve heard recently that an ancient manuscript has been found in a sixth-century Irish monastery.
The translation has devastated Irish dance.
“You may use the arms.”
It has always seemed unnatural to me–not the sort of thing that would really evolve organically in a society.
Irish dancing is pretty cool , but it’s tough to beat Astaire and Rogers.
Check out the Nicolas Brothers for incredible tap/dance routines; see here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBQOfyR75vY
How they did what they did without breaking all their bones is a miracle.
Lastly, Baryshnikov was/is a huge fan of Astaire and Rogers.
And here, is a really good tap routine from the Broadway show, “Anything Goes,” with the incomparable Sutton Foster.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo6lPifGnGA
I was lucky enough to see the show on Broadway with her.
In case you were not aware, regardless of how many Tony Awards given to Broadway Stars, they really are forced to go into either TV or movies if they hope to make a steady income or not wind up destitute when they retire.
The Broadway career simply does not provide a steady income irrespective of whether or not you are a Broadway “star.”
According to Irish folk songs, Jesus Christ was Lord of the Dance. How arrogant.
Here is a link that supports the Irish theories from an Irish community I have roots in;
https://www.antoniopacelli.com/community/article/why-do-irish-dancers-have-straight-arms
All about the English oppression?
That was great! Thank you for posting that. I especially liked the bits where the woman was dancing outside with her dog along and the dog was looking at her with an expression of great puzzlement. Dog obviously thinking “What in the world are you doing now? Even for a human this is weird.”
Well bless your sweet heart. You have skills in a very different type of dance and are knowledgeable about that style. Ok. Well, NASCAR fans and Formula One fans aren’t exactly appreciative of the other genre.
I now live in southern Texas. I figure it isn’t that folks drive the way they do because they are NASCAR fans. Rather, they are NASCAR fans because that’s how they drive.
I too am not generally interested in dance. I get it and I appreciate the skill but….
Riverdance is the ONLY musical/dance video I own (or have ever owned). I am of Irish heritage – my parents were immigrants from Ireland – but we kids were never exposed to ‘Irish’ things because my parents sought to raise American kids. And I do like some Celtic music.
Milwaukee:
Actually, although my training is in ballet, I like many many other styles of dance in which I’m not trained. But for whatever reason, this isn’t one of them. On the other hand, I did post it, and that’s because I thought this particular video was entertaining and clever.
The mother of my children, my first wife was a ballet major at the University of Oklahoma in the old days until her toes gave out and she became an accountant. She was an incredible dancer with an Irish Catholic background and she loved to to the funny Irish dancing. With the right music and a few drinks she could clear a dance floor while folks watched her perform.
This stuff really makes me smile.
OldTexan, that’s neat!
It’s a cute video.
I really like Tap dancing, as well as Bojangles soft shoe. When I left the USNA with a few pair of good quality black leather shoes, I had taps attached to them and became one of the 3 guys taking a tap dance class with about 10 women – all with long, lovely legs. At least, those I remember looking at.
Perhaps having boxing as a sport, where leg work is so very important, tho seldom focused on by the spectators, helped whet my appetite for great footwork. Plus it’s fun to do and can look pretty cool with just a few steps learned.
Thanks for another fine dance post!
Because it’s not really dance. It’s more of a percussion performance. It’s much more similar to other percussion performances like Stomp than to any dance:
https://youtu.be/i65sZ023asQ?t=227
Thanks, Neo! Great video.
Yes, not that exiting visually, but I love the rhythms, especially since the only instruments are shoes and floor/ground.
I’ll admit to barbarism.
I don’t really appreciate ANY sort of dance.
I don’t really appreciate classical Opera.
I don’t really appreciate Rap or Hip-Hop.
And I REALLY don’t appreciate over-hopped beer.
This line and dancing style always put me in my mind of Elizabethan male costume – the tights, pantaloons, and sleek doublets. Not sure if that’s historically accurate. But it certainly shows off the moves.
Could it be that the arms were immobilized by dancing in a line?
Yes, this is very talented and also very clever. Especially little things like the dart board move around 1.21. love it!
30 seconds in my big arthritic feet began to ache. After another 30 I had to stop watching.
JohnTyler, earlier today I typed a somewhat lengthy disagreement with your statement:
but it has disappeared. I’ll try again…
From the May 3, 2020 edition of Playbill:
I’ve seen a few other articles that report that minimum is currently $1,900 or $2,100/week. Annualized that’s over six figures. I realize that’s not raking it in in New York City, but that’s triple the U.S. median income. Obviously, the stars like Broderick or Roberts earn enough in one season to bank more than most Americans do by retirement age. I know TV and movies have similar unions and similar negotiated minimums. I believe all union performers get some insurance and a pension if they are active a certain number of years.
So, I think you are incorrect. I think the problem for all performers is finding steady work. A cast member on Broadway, or on a sitcom, or an actor in a movie is lining up for auditions the day after the show closes, last episode is filmed or shooting ends. (This is the theme of “A Chorus Line” and quite a few plays and movies.) And so are thousands of other performers. Even at the minimum wage set by the Union, a Broadway performer would have a nice income working steady for a 30+ year career. But working steady is hard! And I doubt it’s any easier in TV or movies.
I often think of the harmonica player for Jimmy Buffet and his Coral Reefers. 50 years ago no sane person would tell a budding performer, “Learn to play harmonica.” Yet, that one guy has made a long career of it, and likely has a decent amount of savings. But he’s the only guy!
My guess is the numbers for performers (actors, musicians, stand up comedians, dancers, singers…) goes something like this. Of the pool of people who do it at the amateur level (including school plays, recitals…) maybe 1% ever get paid a dime for performing. Of that 1%, maybe 10% are able to earn enough to pay for rent and food for a few years. Of that group, maybe 10% get enough work to make it a career through retirement. I doubt it matters if you start out on Broadway in Hollywood, at open mic night at your local bar or in your parents’ garage; it’s a long, hard road.
I continue to be impressed with how much genuine talent there is in the world. The people in this video are exceptional. It happens rather often that I run into someone exceptional. I meet people in all walks of life who are virtuoso level musicians. Many have never earned a dime with their instrument. Often I’ll hear someone singing when they believe they are alone; a security guard, someone stocking shelves at a store… and they have phenomenal talent. Or I’ll be in a restaurant or bar and someone’s performing in the background for $100 for 3 hours work and they are incredible!
Same is true for visual art; painting, photography, sculpting… I know this sounds like an oxymoron. One one hand I’m saying these people are extraordinary and exceptional, on the other I’m saying they are everywhere. They are still rare. It’s just that there are so many more of them than the market demands, so a lot of talented people find other ways to pay the rent. And, some simply choose for their talent to be a hobby and never have any desire to turn it into a “job.”
Riverdance and Celtic Woman TV shows were unwatchable to me because of the constant camera changes.
I prefer to watch Scots-Irish clogging. It’s less rigid and more amenable to couples and figure-dancing.
Rufus T. Firefly:
I agree about how many people are talented as well as skilled and yet never make a living from it. They just do it for love. I have noticed this in particular with community theater – sometimes it’s far better than what’s on Broadway.
I forwarded this video to several people. One of them, a neighbor of mine, replied: “Fantastic! But…thank God they don’t live upstairs.”
There are many similarities between the Irish Dance style and Renaissance Dances.
Library of Congress has a video collection of reconstructed ones.
https://www.loc.gov/film-and-videos/?q=dance+renaissance&st=list
This is one of the short clips (:30) for a galliard; you can see how much it resembles the Irish steps. It downloads as mpeg, and I had to download an MP2 extension to play it; some years ago, when I first encountered this collection online, they would just run immediately on whatever video player my computer had.
Everything keeps getting improved. /sarc
https://www.loc.gov/item/musdivid.030/
Renaissance Dance: Autres cinq pas (galliard variations)
Here is one where a couple is holding hands, clearly part of an invisible circle of dancers, but still doing the “Irish” steps. I suspect they were part of the general European dance repertoire of the time, and the distinctively Irish connection was made later, when they became obsolete elsewhere.
https://www.loc.gov/item/musdivid.042/
Renaissance Dance: Branle Charlotte
The dances are reconstructed from one of the manuals in this collection.
https://www.loc.gov/collections/dance-instruction-manuals-from-1490-to-1920/about-this-collection/
https://www.claddaghdesign.com/history/everything-need-know-irish-dancing/
“There are three main types of Irish dancing routines; set dancing routines, social or céilí routines and sean nós or step routines. In all cases, the style is relatively formal and regimented, with little upper body movement, precise and quick foot movement and a strict number of steps to be completed. This was mostly because of the limited space performers would have had in the 18th and 19th centuries; small rural pubs or barn dances crowded with locals didn’t afford much room for arm movement or for dancing around the floor.”
Ed Sullivan had The Stony Mountain Cloggers on his TV show in 1970, when the genre went through a spurt of new popularity in America in the sixties.
(I don’t think this clip is from Ed’s show, but the playbill only gave me their name, not the video of the act.)
You will note here the close kinship to Western square dancing, but with the “Irish” clogging steps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKkEC7O8_2E
“Ben Smathers, The leader of the Stoney Mountain Cloggers, learned the clog dance as a child by watching an old man do it in the mountains of western North Carolina. He helped spread the popularity of clog dancing during a 32-year career on the Grand Ole Opry. A hallmark of Appalachian culture, clogging is basically keeping the beat of the music by tapping the feet.”
History buffs will recall that the Appalachians were settled mostly by Irish and Scots emigrants, and retained their Old World traditions well into the 20th century. Linguists consider the old Appalachian dialect to be very close to Elizabethan usage.
http://appalachianmagazine.com/2017/11/23/the-history-of-appalachian-english-why-we-talk-differently/
“While our high-browed relatives who moved to the big city and lost their accent may frown upon our words and pronunciations, it is believed that the Appalachian dialect is a remnant of Elizabethan English.
An evidence of this is the use of words such as “afeared”, a Shakespearean word that is largely forgotten by most English speakers outside of the Appalachian region.
Other ancient phrases include the use of “might could” for “might be able to”, the use of “‘un” with pronouns and adjectives (e.g., young’un), the use of “done” as a helping verb (e.g., “we done finished it”), and the use of words such as airish, brickle, swan, and bottom land all of which were common in Southern and Central England in 17th and 18th centuries.”
I can attest to the veracity of this observation, as the description given above consorts very closely with the accent and idioms I grew up with in the Texas Panhandle, although Austin & the rest settled much further south:
“Nearly two centuries ago, the sons of Virginia’s Appalachian region (Stephen F. Austin & Sam Houston), as well as men of Tennessee (Davy Crocket) and Kentucky (James Bowie) made the decision to leave the mountains and head into the land of Tejas — eventually forming a new Republic, built by the blood and sweat of Appalachia’s sons.
Despite being some 1,200 miles apart, Appalachian-English is still alive and well in multiple Texas localities. There, in the Lonestar State, you’ll hear phrases such as “Like’t’a”, proving that you may take the man out of Appalachia, but you won’t be able to take the Appalachia out of the man.’
The Welsh have their own variant, called clogging or step dancing, and it has been a staple of the national culture since the revival of the old art forms in the 19th century. The common elements are still visible, but the performance style is distinct from both the Irish and the American styles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z5yFhCoiuA
Welsh clog dance (traed ar dan) Sam Jones — on his porch, arms definitely optional.
https://www.dawnswyrnantgarw.com/dances.html
“Clog Dancing is a solo dance with it’s roots firmly based in the stable lofts, fairs and inns where dancers would compete against each other in dexterity and tricks.But it calls for more, much more than fast feet.It is essentially an exhibitionists dance where the personality and character of the dancer must be transmitted to the audience, otherwise the dance becomes mechanical and spiritless.
It is the only unbroken element of traditional Welsh dance that we own and there are many people who remember seeing Caradog Puw and Hywel Wood of Bala clogging during the 40s.”
Clogging is not restricted to men, and there are both mixed and women’s groups. It is more likely to be danced by us old folks than is the Irish style, which is very athletic, even when not on the Riverdance stage (or patio).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8x-33MSlCk
“Knickerbocker Glory Appalachian Dance Team perform Welsh Clog Dance at Hog’s Back Brewery, Tilford, Surrey. June 2014. Tune is Enrico.”
And the kids do take up the art. Here’s a young boy at competition; the video is home-made (mom’s Iphone?), but the kid is good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5YkuXYBMfQ
Traditional welsh clog dancing – a very typical routine – music is a medley of Welsh folk dance tunes, also danced “in the round” by non-cloggers.
The clogging footwear is a descendant of the practical wooden clog (like the Dutch ones), but made into an actual shoe, with a leather upper and a wooden sole.
“The origin of wooden footwear is thought to be the Roman bath shoe , the purpose being to protect the wearers feet from the hot tiled floors.A pair of clogs was found in the tomb of an Italian king in the 10th century although it’s quite certain that they didn’t bear any resemblance to what we call clogs in this country.Throughout the ages the clog has been a symbol of the working classes and shunned as a sign of poverty because it has always been a practical shoe and has never kept up with fashion.The Welsh people always had a pair of clogs for working week days and leather, best shoes for Sundays and that was at the beginning of this century.The style of the shoe and the type of wood used was dependant on the work of the wearer.”
May as well throw in an Irish group, mostly young people, in performance, mixing the traditional competition style with elements of a Broadway show production.
This group is a bit more versatile than most – –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kqbf7j9-PE8
Fosbrooks-Great British Clog Dancers (United Kingdom).
Young’uns doing Bluegrass clogging — it really is a very versatile dance genre.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2CWQ7hmqgw
Hot Foot Cloggers at Shindig on the Green
YouTube will carry on indefinitely —