50 Fun Facts About Irish Dance

Riverdance began as a seven-minute interval act during which 1994 television broadcast?

The Eurovision Song Contest put Riverdance in front of about 300 million viewers, and the standing ovation persuaded its producers to build a full stage show within a year.

Which American stage style grew out of Irish jigs and step dancing meeting African-American juba rhythms?

Tap dance grew from a blended style first known as jigging, which minstrel-show performers both black and white carried onto American stages in the 1800s.

Michael Flatley became the first American to win a World Irish Dance title after growing up in which city?

Chicago is where Flatley took up Irish dance at eleven, at the Dennehy School, and he carried off the world title in 1975.

The reel, one of the first dances Irish dance students learn, reached Ireland in the late 1700s from which country?

Scotland has the earliest record of a reel, from a trial of 1590 in which the accused was said to have danced one.

Embroidery on Irish dance school dresses is often copied from which medieval manuscript kept at Trinity College Dublin?

The Book of Kells was sent to Dublin for safekeeping in the 1650s, while Cromwell's cavalry was quartered in the church that held it.

Which 1997 film features a third-class Irish dance party with jigs and reels played by the band Gaelic Storm?

Titanic cast Gaelic Storm, a Santa Monica pub band formed only the year before, as the steerage musicians who play for the below-decks dancing.

The bouncing ringlets worn by most girls at Irish dance competitions are usually which of these?

Synthetic wigs took over because they are easier and more consistent than curling natural hair, and some dancers choose a shade far from their own.

In which sport did the Riverdance star Michael Flatley win an amateur championship during the 1970s?

Boxing brought Flatley a Golden Gloves championship with five knockout wins, and he toyed with turning professional into the early 1980s.

Before a 1935 licensing law moved dances indoors, rural Irish communities gathered to dance at which outdoor spot?

Crossroads offered a large cleared space, and the wooden dancing platforms built at some became flashpoints for rival political factions in the early 1930s.

Which 1996 show did Michael Flatley create after leaving Riverdance, playing a hero who battles Don Dorcha?

Lord of the Dance went from idea to stage in six months, built by Flatley to fill arenas and stadiums instead of traditional theatres.

Which name for the lace-up soft shoes worn by female Irish dancers is shared with Highland dancing footwear?

Ghillies replaced elastic-strapped pumps in the later 20th century, a low-cut design chosen to show judges the position of a dancer's feet.

The tips and heels of modern Irish dance hard shoes are made from which material instead of metal?

Fiberglass came in from the 1980s, and its light weight let dancers jump higher and even balance on the very tips of their toes.

Which graceful soft-shoe dance in 9/8 time is often called the ballet of Irish dance?

Slip jig steps were once danced only by men, then for several decades only by women, who still dominate the dance in competition.

Which Irish word for a social gathering also names group dances such as The Walls of Limerick?

Céilí dances can involve anything from two people to sixteen, and at social evenings a caller may announce each move for newcomers.

Which Irish word, meaning festival, is the everyday name for a local Irish dance competition?

Feis events grew out of wider Gaelic festivals, so strictly speaking one would also hold competitions in music and crafts.

Which goatskin frame drum, struck with a short stick called a tipper, keeps the beat in Irish dance music?

Bodhrán players press one hand against the inside of the skin to change the pitch, and the earliest tippers were carved from knuckle bone.

Which Irish bagpipe, named from the word for elbow, is inflated by a bellows under the arm rather than by mouth?

Uilleann pipes sound sweeter and quieter than warpipes, which is why they are often played indoors and almost always sitting down.

Which Limerick-born composer wrote the Riverdance score and won a Grammy for the cast album in 1997?

Bill Whelan had earlier worked with U2 on their album War, and he chose the title Riverdance as an echo of Timedance, a piece he co-wrote in 1981.

Which Long Island-born dancer created the female lead in Riverdance opposite Michael Flatley in 1994?

Jean Butler quit her first Irish dance class at six because she hated standing with her arms at her sides, then came back to it at nine.

Which hard-shoe Irish dance became an official part of Royal Navy training as exercise for sailors at sea?

Hornpipe steps suited cramped ships: Captain Cook saw the dance as effective exercise for his sailors, and the navy later made it official.

What do Irish dancers call the white ribbed legwear that girls wear on stage instead of black tights?

Poodle socks are sometimes embroidered with gems, while the boys sharing the stage wear plain black ones.

The Irish Dancing World Championships, first held in Dublin in 1970, traditionally run in the week before which holiday?

Easter Day itself usually closes the Worlds, which draw thousands of dancers from more than 30 countries.

Irish set dancing, a social dance for couples, grew out of which French court dance?

Quadrille figures, danced by four couples in a square, were reshaped in rural Ireland into a folk dance of their own, yet language revivalists later discouraged the sets as foreign.

Which improvised Irish dance from Connemara, performed low to the ground with loose arms, has a name meaning old style?

Sean-nós dancers traditionally proved their control by performing on a door lifted off its hinges, a tabletop or the top of a barrel.

Which organisation, founded in 1893 to revive the Irish language, later set up the Irish Dancing Commission?

The Gaelic League favoured dances it judged truly Irish, steering teachers away from styles it thought too English or French.

Which Irish word names both a major Irish dancing championship and the legislature containing the Dáil and Seanad?

Oireachtas means assembly, and dancers who place well at their regional one qualify for the World Championships.

Michael Flatley won two All-Ireland titles in the 1970s on which instrument, later a solo spot in his stage shows?

Flute playing ran alongside his dancing for decades, and in 2011 he released On a Different Note, an album of 25 tracks.

Michael Flatley's 1998 spectacular Feet of Flames was staged for 25,000 people at which outdoor London venue?

Hyde Park hosted the one-off show on a four-tier hydraulic stage, with more than 100 dancers filling every level for the finale.

Which Irish hard-shoe move, striking one heel against the other, did the now-banned bubble heel make far louder?

Click moves grew so loud with the bubble heel, a hollow plastic heel with an inward bulge, that An Coimisiún outlawed it in competition.

Before trousers became standard, which garment did boys in Irish dance competitions traditionally wear instead?

Kilts have given way to black trousers worn with a waistcoat or jacket, often embroidered and studded with crystals.

The 2011 documentary Jig follows eight dancers to the 2010 Irish Dancing World Championships, held in which city?

Glasgow had also been the first city outside the island of Ireland to stage the Worlds, back in 2002.

Several generations ago, before embroidered costumes took over, what did Irish dance competitors usually wear on stage?

Their Sunday best, meaning the clothes they wore to church, was the rule, and ornate embroidered dresses only became popular in the 1970s and 1980s.

Which actor voices both the grandfather and Patrick the deer in the 2021 film Riverdance: The Animated Adventure?

Pierce Brosnan plays a lighthouse keeper whose stories warn of the Huntsman, a villain voiced in the film by Brendan Gleeson.

At which New York venue did Riverdance sell out eight shows on a first visit to the United States in 1996?

Radio City Music Hall staged those eight performances in just five days, and the roughly $2 million trip from Ireland broke even.

With which Irish traditional band did Michael Flatley tour in the 1980s, years before Riverdance made him famous?

The Chieftains took him on the road but turned him down when he asked to become a full-time member of the band.

The title of Michael Flatley's 2005 dance show Celtic Tiger was already a nickname for what in 1990s Ireland?

An economic boom fuelled by foreign investment earned Ireland the name, and Flatley's show followed Irish history through to emigration to America.

Which Irish tradition of singing nonsense syllables in place of words was a popular accompaniment at house dances?

Lilting is also known as diddling or mouth music, and it has a recital competition of its own at the Fleadh Cheoil music festival.

The top five finishers at the Irish Dancing World Championships receive a perpetual trophy known by which nickname?

The globe trophies were donated in 2007 by Michael Flatley, and each first-place one carries the names of every past winner around its base.

Which Birmingham-born dancer, a nine-time world champion, took over the male lead in Riverdance in October 1995?

Colin Dunne had resigned from an accountancy firm on the very day he qualified as a chartered accountant, leaving to dance on a tour of Canada.

Which producer commissioned Riverdance in 1994 and built the Irish dance show with her husband John McColgan?

Moya Doherty went on to chair the board of RTÉ, Ireland's public service broadcaster, from 2014 until 2022.

In 2009 the Irish Dancing World Championships were held in North America for the first time, in which US city?

Philadelphia's year was marked with a replica trophy, cast with the name of every host city on its base and held by each host in turn.

At a major Irish dance championship, which word describes being selected to dance the third and final round?

A recall goes to the top-ranked dancers after two rounds, who then each perform a set dance alone in hard shoes.

What name do male Irish dancers give their soft-soled footwear, which keeps a hard heel for audible beats?

Reel shoes arrived in the 1970s after An Coimisiún limited lace-up pumps to boys under 11; until then men had often danced in pumps too.

The 2001 Irish Dancing World Championships were the first ever cancelled, after an outbreak of which livestock disease?

Foot-and-mouth had broken out in Great Britain, home to about a third of that year's entrants, so qualifiers kept their places for 2002.

Male winners at the Irish Dancing World Championships are often presented with which trophy, a custom dating from 1895?

A belt was first given out at a dance competition run in 1895 by the Gaelic Athletic Association, a body better known for hurling.

The Aisling Award, for World Championship dancers from newer Irish dance nations, uses the Irish word for what?

Dream is the meaning, and the award goes to the highest-placed dancer in each solo category from outside Ireland, the UK, the US and Canada.

On which American TV competition did Michael Flatley sit in as a guest judge in 2008 for Len Goodman?

Dancing with the Stars had already booked Flatley and a troupe of male dancers as performers in November 2007.

Riverdance performed in Dublin in 2003 at the opening ceremony of which international sporting event?

Special Olympics athletes saw the troupe in the same year that Riverdance toured China for the first time.

At which Dublin venue did the full-length Riverdance stage show open in February 1995, selling out a five-week run?

Point Theatre tickets for the five-week run sold out within three days of going on sale, after the producers had invested over $1 million.

Which Irish choral ensemble sang the opening of the original 1994 Riverdance performance with soloist Katie McMahon?

Anúna began life as An Uaithne and took its present name only in 1991, three years before that performance made the group known abroad.