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. |
Contents
| 1 | |
Tradition Reinvented | 17 |
Memories in Motion | 33 |
The Link to the Land | 51 |
Storytelling Dance | 69 |
Winning the Worlds | 91 |
The Riverdance Moment | 109 |
Rooted Cosmopolitanism | 125 |
Afterword | 139 |
| 147 | |
| 161 | |
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Common terms and phrases
adjudicators anthropologists Arts Council audience Ballads ballet Belfast Bill Whelan Catholic céilí Championships in Irish Chapter choreographers competitive dancing competitive Irish dancing contemporary dance cosmopolitanism costumes crossroads dancing Dance Company dance competitions dance critic dance form dance in Ireland dance production dance teachers dance world dancers dancing community David Bolger debate Dublin emigration especially Famine field Gaelic League Gaeltachts girls Giselle global Hannerz International Dance Festival interview Irish culture Irish dance theatre Irish Dancing Commission Irish diaspora Irish language Irish themes land memory Michael Flatley Michael Seaver mobility move movement musicians Newgrange Ní Dhuibhne Northern Ireland O’Connor O’Toole parade past performances piece political Republic of Ireland Riverdance sean-nós sean-nós dancing set-dancing Siamsa social St Patrick’s Day stage step dancing Stockholm stories storytelling style talked television Theodores 2003 told tour traditional dance traditional Irish dancing west of Ireland Wulff