AMA ! - Irish dancing ☘️

[TheBigWig]

Haha apologies this might possibly be the dullest AMA topic in the world but oh well thought I’d give it a go!

im a retired world championship level competitive irish dancer (won’t say exact placing as I don’t want to get outted but I was top 10 in the worlds and all irelands, didn’t win either unfortunately but top 10 a few times)

just wondered if anyone had any questions about Irish dancing or competitive dancing in general?☘️ I recently saw a few posts on MN from parents looking for advice with dance class questions and advice so figured this post might help someone😊

Did you ever get a sore head wearing a wig?

Oh my goodness- yes! Often for competition days (feises) you’d have a wig and a heavy headpiece like a tiara for 10+ hours and it was pinned in place with loads of bobby pins and usually these would jab right into your head but you couldn’t quite reach them to remove them or else it would all come undone🙃 You just had to put up with it tbh. I actually still have bald spots which im certain was due to having my hair really tightly pinned back and having the wig pinned on.

I actually used to get awful headaches on days I was competing which im certain was worsened by the weight of the wig (combined with tiredness and stress and everything else!)

Sorry but it’s another wig question!
When did those become a thing in Irish dancing? And why?
As far as I know they are totally not a thing in Scottish dancing or any other type of dancing so why so essential in Irish dancing?

Didn’t know wigs were a thing, but Riverdance on tv is my only real experience of Irish dancing.

I've always wanted to try Irish dancing! Thanks for the AMA OP.

Is there a cut off age in order to learn it, ie, is it easier to pick up as a youngster or is it a sport anyone can do as long as they're mobile? How long does it take to learn the basics, roughly?

Do you have a favourite performance that stood out for you?

When I was growing up in the late 60s and 70s there were no wigs, but little girls had their hair put in rollers to have ringlets for the competitions- I suppose the wigs are just an extension of this.
I think it’s horrific!

Op: What would happen now if somebody didn’t wear a wig, but just had their own hair on show at a feis- would they be marked down?

Ooh cool!!

I have very little exposure to this dance, but I am always enthralled by the super fast and intricate footwork!

I would like to ask...

Why don't you use your arms? Do you find it hard to not use your arms?

Do you have calves of steel?

Why are some in soft shoes and others in heeled shoes, and some are like tap shoes?

I started ballet as an adult and am just not strong enough to get the height when jumping off one foot. Any tips to get me stronger? 😆

Well done on your successes! That's so awesome!

How much do the wigs cost?
how much do the dresses cost?

I knew somebody at school who actually did Irish Dancing for their PE GCSE!

Did you ever get any qualifications in it? Or was it more just a hobby?

Same. I had curly hair so no ringlets were required. Tbh, friends who also did dancing had all sorts of natural hair and didn't bother with ringlets either.

I think it’s because traditionally you would dance after mass, and girls usually would have their hair curled for that so then they would have curly hair for dancing, and then it just sort of stuck! Or at least I’ve been told lol, not sure if that’s just an old wives tale! I think the wigs came about around 20/30 years ago and it meant your mum wouldn’t have to roll your hair the night before and it just became a convenience thing, then became bigger and bigger and now it’s sort of an identity thing with Irish dancing I’d say. Apparently it’s preferred to have curls because it makes you look bouncier and like you’re jumping higher but I always felt dancing with natural hair was so much easier for jumping because you didn’t have an extra kilo being carried on your head haha! x

There’s a newish book out, Dirty Dancing by Eileen Coyne, suggesting fairly widespread ‘feis fixing’. Were you aware of this when you competed?

Is Irish dancing the original “line” dancing?

Aw brilliant! I think like any sport, the younger the start the easier it will be but realistically starting as an adult is fine too! there’s not a cut off age at all, realistically if you don’t have a competitive track history from a young age it would make it very difficult to join a performing show, but in terms of competitions and dancing for fun it’s absolutely never too late to start! There’s different organisations for Irish dancing and each organisation runs its own competitions. Some organisations are bigger and more competition driven and there’s not many dancers beyond the age of 25, but some organisations are the opposite and are much more adult friendly and there’s thousands of beginners starting to dance in their 20s/30s/40s/50s/60s and it’s more unusual to have started younger tbh! I don’t have much experience or knowledge about them but I know there’s loads of adults starting as complete beginners and either dancing for fun or for competitions!😊☘️

usually after a few classes you start to pick up the basics and will know a few dances after a few weeks I’d say!

the biggest stand out performance was probably when I danced at the All Ireland’s and did my set dance which everyone thought I would do absolutely shit with (new steps and I hadn’t quite picked them up yet!) but somehow went out and nailed! Or the time at a smaller local feis I was so nervous and riddled with period pain I projective vomitted all over the stage in front of everyone 😂 definitely both stand out for opposite reasons haha!

The changes in Irish dancing have bewildered me over the last 30 years. We all went to Irish dancing as girls in Galway, and friends and cousins were seriously competitive. But wig free, no fake tans and longer velvet dresses. Still wildly expensive, hand embroidered dresses, but no neon or tutu style skirts.
What's your take on the super fake style of modern Irish dancing?

My mother took up Sean-Nós dancing in her late 60s. Its a older, and slower, version and she loved it. Lots of schools in Ireland will offer it, as well as social dancing. Great excerise!

Haha yeah I’ve been told the rollers were really uncomfortable to sleep in!!

honestly it varies with judge preference. You could get a judge who thinks ‘great, all natural, none of the wig nonsense’ and that outlook means they look favourably on your dancing and everyone commends you for being brave and making a stand against wearing a wig….. orrrrr you could get a judge who thinks you haven’t make an effort and don’t look complete and are harsh on your dancing accordingly.

for small local feis I’ve danced without a wig but I wouldn’t risk it for a major personally x

Do boys do competitions too? Assume they don’t need wigs and can be judged without bouncy hair

You said you were one of the best in the world.
Did you do much dancing outside of Ireland?

Have you had any dealings with the Appalachian dancing and do you, as others do, see all of the similarities between this and your artform?

Haha so the whole arm thing is a bit of a mystery! There’s sooo many different theories behind it but the most common/believed is to do with British occupation in Ireland how dancing wasn’t allowed, so people kept their arms straight and still so soldiers wouldn’t see them dancing or something along those lines! I’ve also heard similar theories about arms not being used so the women dancing didn’t appear seductive or something like that (Irish dancing has always been quite closely linked with Catholicism). honestly I don’t think anyone knows really why it started but I think it’s just become a tradition and identity thing now!

I’d say it’s not hard because I’m used to it, we do a lot of training to stop any arm movement to the point it’s now really awkward for me to causally dance (weddings, nights out etc) because it feels so weird having my arms out and I just don’t know what to do with them!

my calves are my biggest insecurity😂😭 they’re disproportionately huge! I’m actually quite small boned but then have these giant calves and I literally cannot get high boots that will zip up haha

Aw brilliant ballet is a beautiful dance form! We used to do calf raises (where you go up on your toes and go up and down) thousands of times and also thigh lifts (where you sit on the floor with your legs out and lift a leg but keep the other on the ground and hold the lifted leg in the air for a set time but you try to increase it each time) a lot of jumping comes from your core strength too so I’d say planks and any core workouts would be useful too

thank you so much!!☘️ good luck with your ballet training! 💕

Wigs range between around 50-150 I’d say, then the headpieces are around 50-100 on top

and the dresses depend on what level or what dressmaker, my last dress was 2900 with stones on it, without stones it would have been 2400 ish I think xx

Wow that’s amazing!

no qualifications, I did a few dance grade exams but I didn’t want to get my TCRG (teaching qualification for Irish dancing) because I knew I didn’t want to be a dance teacher so I didn’t ever proceed with that side of things x

Oh yeah, it’s something that’s always gone on and we all knew about it

think like any subjective sport there will be cheating and scandals but it’s huge in Irish dancing

judges paid off, results fixed, it’s crazy how normalised it was for some dance schools

some results were fixed and your position was set before you even put on your dress and pointed your toe

I worked at the World Irish dancing Championships when it was held in O'Reilly hall in UCD (would've been 96 I think?). There were no wigs then. The dresses were beautiful but all the girls had rollers in their hair and then beautiful curls for dancing but all their own hair.

I find it really frustrating and sad that it's become so much about the look and not focused on dancing.