Taken from Issue 001 of The Irish Dance Globe. Purchase any remaining copies here while stocks last.
“Hi, my name is Irene Dubois, I’m from RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15, and I’m so excited to show off my new Gavin.” Irene flung off her cape to do a flawless four-direction twirl, and I almost fainted. Whatever I expected opening up Instagram that night, it definitely wasn’t that. I was obsessed. This reel didn’t have millions of views, but to me, it perfectly encapsulated a massive shift in public awareness.
Even a year ago, I couldn’t have imagined anyone outside Irish dance recognising an Eire Designs dress reveal video. Now, they haven’t just gone viral, they’ve gone viral enough to be parodied. Where traditionalists have complained for years that today’s Irish dancers dress like drag queens, now, for the first time, Irish dance has become so mainstream that drag queens are starting to dress like us. “I have no idea what’s happening right now,” I texted virtually everyone I knew, “but I’m pretty sure this means we’ve made it.”
“The culture of Irish dance remained a mystery until I actually started competing”
When I started Irish dance 10 years ago, nobody hesitated to remind me what a specific choice I’d made. Riverdance may have brought Irish dance into the public eye in the mid-’90s, but even as a child of that era, I grew up with virtually no idea what Irish dance was, as did most people around me. I had technically heard of Irish dance, but knew nothing about what it looked like or the culture around it.
When I finally found my way to dance in 2012, I spent hours scouring the internet for Irish dance with little success. There was a stunning lack of content, even for someone seeking it out as desperately as me. I treasured the videos I could scrape up from YouTube and Tumblr — few and far between — and the culture of Irish dance remained a mystery until I actually started competing.
At the time, this elusiveness seemed almost inevitable. Irish dance has always been more private than most dance forms, with fiercely protected choreography and a largely oral teaching tradition. Moreover, the more Irish dance is influenced by the outside world, the more pushback we seem to hear from people who are afraid we’ll leave tradition behind us. On some level, I always understood that fear; when traditional cultures enter the public eye, they are often sanitised or adapted to become more palatable in ways that can render them unrecognisable. Irish dance is rooted in such a proud and important history, and that integrity is something nobody wants to sacrifice.
But to me, and so many others, that secrecy was also incredibly frustrating. I loved dance so much and knew other people would too if they only knew what it was. Nobody who had actually seen it questioned my enthusiasm. Further, not only did Irish dance deserve recognition, but I knew wider access would allow so many people to see their place in it, opening it up to a larger community and a much more diverse one, too. We had so much to share with the world, and we also had so much to learn from it.
“Irish dance is rooted in such a proud and important history, and that integrity is something nobody wants to sacrifice”
Thanks largely to social media and a community of dancers intent on sharing their passion with the world, the past couple of years have seen a significant gear change. Where Irish dance once felt extremely niche, these days it feels almost ubiquitous. Irish dancers are becoming famous, and the already famous are showing up in the world of Irish dance. Ed Sheeran featured Irish dancers prominently in his ‘Galway Girl’ music video. Love Island influencer Molly-Mae Hague — a former dancer herself — flew to Belfast just to watch the CLRG Worlds. Jenna Dewan’s weekend Instagram stories are dominated by feis snapshots as she and ex-husband Channing Tatum cheer on their daughter’s dance journey.
Cairde have performed at the White House. The Gardiner Brothers have gone on The Jennifer Hudson Show. Morgan Bullock’s epic ‘Savage’ remix choreography was reposted by Tina Knowles — Queen Bey’s mom herself. Connor Smyth won the UK TV show SAS: Who Dares Wins, even performing Lord Of The Dance choreography in front of the instructors. I’ve seen Irish dance-based memes shared by Barstool Sports and other huge accounts. I’m shocked and delighted every time non-dance friends share Irish dance in their stories.
“Irish dancers are becoming famous, and the already famous are showing up in the world of Irish dance”
The more popular Irish dance becomes, the more that mainstream success builds on itself. Far from undermining the integrity of Irish dance, this mainstream success has only expanded its potential and possibilities. It’s a relief to see that Irish dance in the public eye hasn’t become a watered-down trend, but rather a heartfelt celebration of the art form led by dancers themselves — dancers who have used this platform to innovate, fuelled by their respect and love for the art form.
Whether today’s prominent dancers are showing off competition steps to traditional jigs and reels or choreographing routines to the latest TikTok sounds, they are continuing this proud tradition. This mainstream success is an important reminder of how comfortably innovation can exist alongside integrity. As Irish dance enters the public eye, it offers up an important opportunity for its future — a chance not only to share our tradition with the world, but to accept and uplift what the world has to offer us back.
