Irish dancing amidst a pandemic has been a completely different world. Transitioning to Zoom classes has been one thing, but the always question remained “How are we going to have competitions?” After months of shut down, states in the US have started allowing groups of people to gather under strict regulations. Social distancing at a competition seems near impossible due to the norm of ballrooms packed with spectators, families camping in the hallways, and the inevitability of sharing a stage. But new regulations have been put into place to manage the safety of the participants, creating an entirely new competition culture. This COVID feis experience reflects that of the regulations put in place by a US Southern region feis.
The Ballrooms
Ballrooms that are usually found over-saturated with spectators and empty seats claimed by dance bags and jackets were now skeleton versions of themselves. This feis required the entire ballroom to be cleared before allowing the next group of competitors to enter the room. They also limited one spectator to each dancer, strictly monitored at the ballroom entrance. The seating was organized with a 10×10 foot area around two chairs placed next to each other to enforce the one spectator per dancer guideline but to also allow dancers to change their shoes with plenty of space. This also kept noise levels down, allowing the judges and dancers to give their competition their undivided attention.
The Stage
Solving the problem of social distancing on a stage did create a schedule that doubled its normal run time. Dancers were not required to wear masks onstage but left them in a bag side stage as they lined up. The competition started with the heavy rounds, two dancers each had one half of the stage to use. Next was the set round, and last was soft-shoe where the dancers danced one at a time and had full use of the stage. To try to make up for the added time of soft-shoe rounds going one by one, dancers were not allowed to bow but instead instructed to immediately walk off the stage, return to side stage, and grab their mask allowing an open stage for the next dancer. For the champion levels, the 8-bar intro between competitors was removed, and dancers started immediately upon their competitors’ completion of the round as they do with grades. This ran smoothly for dancers and judges, but it was a challenge for the musicians as they were playing what was sometimes 15 consecutive dance rounds.
Awards
Awards went smoothly and were not much different than before. The podiums were spread out to allow social distancing, masks were required, and dancers were instructed to take their own awards, with the winners putting their sashes on themselves. These went swiftly and the rooms were cleared immediately after.
Competitors
The lack of feiseanna across the states meant that dancers attended from every region. A usually small Southern Region feis had dancers from all over the country desperate to get on a stage before their Oireachtas. This made for stiff competition across the board.
What was most impressive however, was the standard of dancing. Despite Zoom classes and a lack of studio space, dancers were on top of their game. Many dancers chose to not wear dresses and went for the black-out costume in line with the new regulation that requires over 14s to wear tights. This bore the question if the simple costumes will become a trend that will last or expire with the COVID era.
Which then asks a bigger question “What will post-COVID Irish dancing look like?”
