Dancing at the Crossroads: Memory and Mobility in IrelandDancing at the crossroads used to be young people's opportunity to meet and enjoy themselves on mild summer evenings in the countryside in Ireland--until this practice was banned by law, the Public Dance Halls Act in 1935. Now a key metaphor in Irish cultural and political life, "dancing at the crossroads" also crystallizes the argument of this book: Irish dance, from Riverdance (the commercial show) and competitive dancing to dance theatre, conveys that Ireland is to be found in a crossroads situation with a firm base in a distinctly Irish tradition which is also becoming a prominent part of European modernity. Helena Wulff is Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at Stockholm University. Publications include Twenty Girls (Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1988), Ballet across Borders (Berg, 1998), Youth Cultures (co-edited with Vered Amit-Talai, Routledge, 1995), New Technologies at Work (co-edited with Christina Garsten, Berg, 2003). Her research focusses on dance, visual culture, and Ireland. |
Contents
Into the Rhythm of the Dance | 1 |
Tradition Reinvented | 31 |
Memories in Motion | 33 |
The Link to the Land | 51 |
Storytelling Dance | 69 |
Winning the Worlds vii 1 | 91 |
17 | 96 |
The Riverdance Moment | 109 |
Rooted Cosmopolitanism | 125 |
Yoyo Fieldwork | 139 |
| 147 | |
| 161 | |
| 162 | |
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