Gender Differences and Religious Background

Hey Everyone! Today we are going to talk about gender differences in Irish Step Dancing and how it is and was viewed in their culture. We are going to hint on how the church viewed it and the different (maybe not so different?) roles that men and women have during this dance! 

In the early 1920's it was considered indecent for Irish women (and most parts of Europe) to dance according to the Church, however by the 1930’s a flood of Irish women started coming out and showing the world the talents they possessed that had otherwise been cooped up. Because of this new “tight and poise” style that these women obtained, the stiff posture and upright position of Irish dancing developed. 

Men and women dance alongside of each other now which is a beautiful contrast and testimony that this dance can be performed by a diverse population, but at the same time their in-sync movements are very easy on the eye!

Irish step dancing is a little bit different than the Lord of the Dance performance that is often done by the same dancers. Lord of the Dance strongly promotes the difference between a man and a woman. The male dancers have, “strong, percussive, serious ‘masculine’ movements” while the females perform, “air-borne, light, playful, and ‘feminine’” movements. As far as Irish step dancing nowadays there is no real distinguishing factor between men and women as far as the dance movements themselves. They both have the same stiff upper body structure and fast paced steps and kicks. Their shoes or attire are one of the only things that differentiate between the genders.  The men always wear exceptionally hard shoes while women may wear the same hard bottomed shoes, but they also may sometimes wears shoes called ghillies which are softer, almost like ballet flats – it all depends on the dance.

This video captures beautifully how each dancer...male or female...step dances in sync with one another. They are partnered off to create a performance but their steps are completely in sync and even copied by one another at certain points! Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B718RsboGEI

Until next time, bloggers!

Lauren C

Rozakis, Laurie. "Research Methods." Google Books. Web. 13 Apr. 2015. <https://books.google.com/books?id=aSru7XVwFa0C&pg=PA147&lpg=PA147&dq=irish step dancing gender differences&source=bl&ots=XAhPwEnwQ1&sig=29Izss1AOrEzBRZamu1AneEKH9s&hl=en&sa=X&ei=1hIrVaHxB4LUggSHvoP4DA&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=irish step dancing gender differences&f=false>.

Vallely, Fintan. "The Companion to Irish Traditional Music." Google Books. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. <https://books.google.com/books?id=_xN1VS6sWsEC&pg=PA217&lpg=PA217&dq=gender roles irish step dancing&source=bl&ots=E95tbkhaFY&sig=LIAnWNP4kKyQDoaTm97JJle2sxo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=N1c