As we all well know by now, the Irish dance world was rocked last month by a highly publicised cheating scandal, as screenshots appeared to implicate teachers and judges in results fixing.
After the news of the allegations became public knowledge, dancers, parents, and teachers took to the online Voy discussion board to anonymously share their feelings on the subject — ranging from shock, to disappointment, to anger.
It is, without a doubt, the largest ever public scandal known within the Irish dance community. Not to mention, many major media outlets across the world covered the news including Irish Central, BBC, and the Huffington Post.
There has rightly been abundance of concern surrounding the honesty of results, wellbeing of children, and the integrity of An Coimisiún as a whole.
For many dancers and teachers, this is a highly emotional time. The Irish Dance Globe asked dancers to share their thoughts and feelings with us about the scandal.
One senior dancer from the USA said: “I feel like no one is surprised and we all know there are many out there not named. I think especially for those of us who have been in this sport for two plus decades, the cheating was unsurprising as it was always suspected.”
Many dancers who have been on the competition circuit for a long time are feeling discouraged and disheartened, and a distrust in the judging system that has caused them to question past results.
However, it’s not just senior dancers who are struggling to remain confident in the current system. The Irish Dance Globe received replies from many younger dancers as well.
“The fact that teachers are telling judges to place their dancers higher clearly shows that the teachers don’t have enough confidence in their dancers. The entire scandal was a violation of people’s trust, especially the dancers’,” commented a 14-year-old dancer from the Southern Region USA. “A dancer shouldn’t have to go to a feis or a major wondering if they are going to be judged fairly, it just isn’t fair to the dancers putting in the work to place better.”
A 32-year-old dancer from Australia added: “I wasn’t surprised it’s happened. [I’m] glad it’s finally come to light but that I didn’t have faith that CLRG would do much about it. Irish dancing is a subjective sport. The adjudicators will always have a ‘style’ of dancing that they like and you can’t do much about that.”
For many, the idea of ‘results fixing’ did not come as a surprise, as it appears to have been taking place for longer than anyone would like to believe. Now, with apparent evidence dating all the way back to 2016, dancers, teachers, and parents are concerned with what the solution to this ongoing problem will be.
A few of the dancers who spoke to The Irish Dance Globe mentioned an interesting point regarding social media and its role in the Irish dance world.
“I think everyone knew it was happening. Especially with social media, posting pictures with trophies and sashes has become the main goal. I would love for us to take a step back as a community to reflect on what conditions got us to this point” stated a 25-year-old dancer from Chicago, USA.
A few years back, CLRG issued social media guidelines for registered members of the organization. You can find and read the full agreement here, which, despite the guidance, still leaves room for grey areas and interpretation.
The document states: “There should be no images of individual dancers, especially in costume, posted to social media in the lead up to competitive events. Any identifiers (such as names of individual dancers, competitor numbers, section information etc.) also must not be used in posts of any kind in the lead up to competitive events.”
We’ve all seen these posts circulating Instagram and Facebook over and over again, so why have very few complied with these guidelines, and why have direct violations of them been let go without any repercussions?
The dancers that spoke with The Irish Dance Globe may be right to be concerned about the contribution that social media has made to the occurrence of cheating in the Irish dance world.
One senior dancer from the USA shared with us: “The focus shouldn’t be on placements, the focus should be on the individual dancer improving. The mindset of the sport needs to change in order for this to stop occurring. The award ceremony is fun but is it part of the problem.”
Without a doubt, most of the Irish dancing community is hurting at the moment, especially going into the upcoming Oireachtas season over the next couple of months. This has been an emotional time for dancers, and it is needless to say that everyone would like to see the issue resolved sooner than later.
Addressing the original allegations, CLRG released a statement in which it said that the services of an independent former judge of the Court of Appeal have been engaged to “oversee and supervise the immediate investigation into these matters”. The statement added: “The process will no doubt be difficult and arduous, but this grossly unethical behaviour must be eliminated from our competitions, dance schools and governing organisations.”
Visit the CLRG News page to keep up to date with official statements regarding updates. Please note: The Irish Dance Globe supports the CLRG in their investigation.
