Jig - BBC 2 (on now)

[orienteerer]

Know nothing about Irish dancing but this is quite compelling.

[KurriKurri]

I'm watching too, - incredible level of skill in these children.

[ninjanurse]

My mind just boggles at how they can move their legs like that!! And the commitment and dedication of those kids is incredible as well as the sacrifices the whole family makes. All of the families and teachers just live, breathe and sleep irish dancing.

[WetAugust]

They are amazing dancers.

But... spoilt by the wigs and glitz. I've just watched a Riverdance clip from the mid 1990's. They were so much prettier with natural hair and plainer costumes.

[ChickensHaveNoEyebrows]

My MIL had hair exactly like the winners wig last time we visited. I couldn't look at her.

[orienteerer]

Had no idea Irish Dancers wore wigs, loved the programme, it even made me cry.

[WipsGlitter]

The wigs and sparkly costumes divide people. The wigs are totally ridiculous. When I was at school one girl was a fab dancer and she used to come in with rollers in when she was in a competition. Amazing dancing though, so dedicated and talented.

[ChablisLover]

Love the dancing pity about the hair, fake tan etc etc.
Ruins it all for me and I'm Irish!

[AgentProvocateur]

Loved the programme, and I am in awe of the sacrifices the parents made. I moan about paying £10 for a piano lesson and driving the DC to scouts once a week! Loved the Irish girl whose teacher didn't do private lessons because 90% of the kids couldn't afford them.

[haggisaggis]

Watched it with my 2 last night - they used to do Irish dancing until we moved a few months ago but were not at competition level. The dancing last night was amazing. I hate the wigs - apparently the idea of teh curly hair is to give an illisuion that they are jumping even higher - and the time it used to take to curl a girl's hair before competition meant it was easier to move to wigs. I hate them though. I also hate the fake tan and make up - again teh theory was to malke the individual stand out to the judges - but when they all do it I would think teh effect is lost. We had a talented 7 year old in our class and the mother had to eventually give in and get her spray tanned before competition as everyone else did it.

[MrsJamin]

Watched this earlier, I thought it was fab and very tense right at the end when they were finding out how they were placed. I thought the little girl from Derry was such a lovely girl and took getting second very well, she was very generous to the girl that won. Not sure I would ever be able to move continents just for DS1 or 2 to progress in a particular skill!

[debivamp]

My daughter currently competes in Irish dancing and as a child both my mother and I also competed. I actually wished that they had wigs when I was younger as we all had to have our hair rolled in sponge rollers and go to school on the Friday (day before a competition) with our hair in rollers and have to try to sleep in them as well. Curling young hair is actually really bad for it so the introduction of wigs actually protects the youngster?s hair. I would also like to add that when most girls danced in the 1980?s they all had perms put in their hair.
The make-up and fake tan is purely for stage lights only otherwise the kids look really ?washed out? and ill. I have told my daughter that she cannot have fake tan until she is at least 12 or if she qualifies for a national competition ? maybe younger. I wonder how many of you would make comments about the amount of make-up worn by actors on stage.
The history regarding the hair / dresses relates to dancing on a Sunday. Step dancing was traditionally done on Sunday afternoons following mass and all dancers traditionally wore ?Sunday best? clothes and as most girls had ringlets put in their hair for church, this too became traditional. My mum wore a specially made Irish dancing dress and had ringlets put in her hair for competitions and that was back in the 1940?s/1950?s.
I would also like to point out that Irish dancing is run and monitored by various the Irish dancing commissions the largest being the An Coimisiún le Rincí Gaelacha, The Irish Dancing Commission, was established in Dublin in 1893 and there are very strict rules regarding costumes and make up at competitions.

[AgentProvocateur]

Debivamp, the information about the history of Irish dancing is really interesting.

Good luck to your daughter in her competitions.