Chapter Six

IRISH STEP DANCING DRESS, AUTHORITY, AND MEDIA

The process of learning how to be an Irish step dancer consists of more than

learning how to perform Irish step dancing movements. Irish step dancers must also learn

how to navigate the social worlds of Irish step dancing, from classroom to competition. In

addition, dancers learn how to style and dress themselves in ways that are quite unique to

Irish step dancing environments. In learning how to perform a certain type of Irishness

through both dancing technique and costume, participants are also learning how to

respond to a variety of types of structures and authority. The process and results of these

negotiations are rarely addressed directly in scholarship on Irish step dancing, and

scrutiny of them reveals some of the ideological work that competitive Irish step dancing

performs.

Dancers are subject to and constituents of various types of authority. Dancers’

teachers, adjudicators, and peers all help to create social worlds, with a variety of

expectations, with which dancers must interact. The desires, beliefs, and expectations of

dancers, dancing teachers, adjudicators, and other participants are also shaped in response

to the formal mandates and structure of An Coimisiún le Rincí Gaelacha, one of the

major organizations that governs competitive Irish step dancing. Dancers shape their

behaviors and performances of self in response to these various matrices of authority.

In fashioning such behaviors and selves, dancers also consume and create a

variety of forms of media, such as magazines and messageboards. These mediums offer

information about Irish step dancing that may converge with, but may also contrast with,

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the information that is offered to them by their teachers and peers. Before the

introduction of these mediums, dancers were largely reliant upon teachers for information

on Irish step dancing. Dancers have gained increased opportunities to offer their own

perspectives on Irish step dancing through means such as the internet, where they can

share information, discuss issues, and learn about developments in Irish step dancing

worlds.

These two topics—authority and media—may seem far removed from discussions

of Irish step dancing costumes. However, both are distinctly relevant to the study of Irish

step dancing costuming. The choices that dancers make in styling themselves for

competitions and for performances is one expression of their relationships with these

types of authority. To learn how to dress for the effect they want to achieve (frequently,

victory in competition), dancers must learn to negotiate these authority matrices. Irish

step dancing costuming is bounded by a major constraint, rules. Dancers’ understandings

of what is appropriate or desirable in Irish step dancing costuming are shaped in part by

their interactions with both teachers and competition adjudicators. The focus on

competition as the main forum in which Irish step dancers can achieve acclaim and

success also exerts an effect on costuming choices.

Besides attending the local feis, the primary way dancers can learn about

costumes is through consumption of and interaction with media such as magazines and

the internet. Indeed, costuming is one of the most frequent subjects presented by both of

these forms of media. There are two principal Irish step dancing magazines, both of

which discuss Irish step dancing costumes. One, Irish Dancing Magazine, 1 treats the

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topic as entertainment, offering tips on how to achieve a championship look. The other,

Hornpipe Magazine, discusses more of the social issues revolving around Irish step

dancing dress. Through reading both magazines, Irish step dancers put together more

pieces of information and learn ways in which to shape their images for success in

dancing competitions. The topic of dancing costumes also elicits a great deal of online

conversation, some critical and some supportive of general trends. Dancers share

information on new trends and fashions on online messageboards. Through interacting

with these mediums, Irish step dancers learn of new ways of conceiving of dancing

costumes. Some of these ways of understanding reinforce the social norms supported by a

variety of authority figures. However, some of these media sources encourage dancers to

reconceive and debate Irish step dancing norms.

OVERVIEW OF IRISH STEP DANCING COSTUMING

Analyses in this thesis center almost entirely on a very specific form of Irish step

dancing costuming—dresses and accessories worn by female championship-level

dancers. The following sections devote very little attention to dancing costumes worn by

males. In addition, emphasis centers on dancing dresses worn for solo dancing

competitions, as opposed to dresses worn for team competitions. There are a number of

reasons why the focus has been limited, the first and foremost being the amount of

information that can be offered and critically discussed in one thesis. I find it more

possible, and probably more coherent, to address one costume topic fully than to address

numerous elements of the costume spectrum. Areas of Irish step dancing costuming not

fully addressed in this thesis afford grist for research by future scholars.

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 Before entering into a more specialized discussion, however, some overview

information should be provided. Irish step dancing costumes are dimorphically gendered.

Female Irish step dancers are expected to dress in ways markedly different from their

male counterparts. Female dancers wear complicated outfits generally consisting of an

elaborate, often expensive dress, as well as specialized accessories such as wigs and

tiaras. These dresses usually feature a princess bodice, a skirt that goes to the knee, and

full sleeves. The fit of the bodice is generally close to the body, but the skirt extends

stiffly away from the waist and legs, at the sides of the body. In addition, most dresses are

accessorized with a matching cape, which it attached to the back of the dress.

Before the advent of Riverdance, male dancers generally wore a kilt and a jacket,

as well as knee socks. Currently, male dancers wear ankle-length black pants, a button-

front long-sleeved shirt, and an accessory such as a tie, a vest, or a cummerbund. The

history of male Irish step dancing costumes (and the fact that they differ so greatly from

female Irish step dancing costumes) would benefit from further academic scrutiny.

Dancing costumes are also separated into different types according to the level the

dancer has achieved in competition. The style of each costume offers information to

observers about the rank and ability of the dancer, as well as the event in which the

dancer is participating. Beginning dancers wear very simple outfits consisting of a blouse

and a skirt, a blouse and shorts, or an undecorated or minimally decorated dress.

Intermediate dancers in the United States wear “class” dresses, which are worn only by

members in a specific dancing school. Class dresses are also worn for group dances, such

as ceílí dances and figure dances. Each dancer in the school wears an identical dress,

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which is often embroidered with the logo of the school. Dancers from different schools

can be recognized by the colors of their class dresses and their designs. Although class

dresses are occasionally updated, they generally remain consistent over a long period of

time—they are generally worn for at least five years before being changed.

Dancers who have moved up the levels in competition may have the option of

purchasing a “solo” dress. Generally, solo dresses are worn by dancers who compete in

championships, although dancers in lower levels may also purchase and wear them. The

choice to wear a solo dress involves a negotiation of the interests of the dancer, the

teacher, and the parents of the dancer. Some teachers may have specific rules about when

and where solo dresses are bought, and may have some expectations about what styles

are appropriate for the dancer and as a representation of the school.

Solo dresses are very ornate, and may cost between US $1000 and $3000. In

contrast, the price of school dresses generally ranges between $300 and $800. Solo

dresses are made of a wide variety of fabrics and showcase a diverse array of patterns and

appliquéd designs. Each dress is individually designed, and dress design trends change

often. Solo dresses are expected to attract attention to the wearer. They are, in general,

very complicated, specialized garments that are not worn outside of the context of

competitive Irish step dancing.

Irish Step Dancing Costumes: Framework, Rules, and Authority in the 1990s and

Early 2000s

The most formal rules that Irish step dancers must follow in designing their

“look” are the official rules set forth by An Coimisiún. These rules change slowly over

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time according to the votes of members of An Coimisiún. The rules in relation to

costumes as documented in the 2006 document, Rules for Dancing Teachers and

Adjudicators, are as follows:

4.4.1. Costumes must consist of a full front and back section i.e. cut away
styles are not acceptable.
4.4.2. Materials must be of equivalent weight to that used in the more
traditional costumes, e.g. dress velvet, trevira, gaberdine, wool-
mix, etc.
4.4.3. Skirt lengths - the minimum skirt length is not more than four
inches above the knee level.
4.4.4. Neck lines must be of collarbone level or above. This does not
preclude the use of alternative fabrics, e.g. lace, as an insert.
4.4.5. Where chiffon or lace material is used as sleeves, the sleeves must
start at the shoulder line and end at the cuff.
4.4.6. Appropriate underwear must be worn. Where tights are worn they
must be of a denier of not less than 70.
4.4.7. Dance-drama costumes must be in keeping with the theme of the
story portrayed and conform to the rules above for solo and team
competitions particularly in the area of fabric, hem and neck lines.
4.5 Make-up will not be permitted for any dancer in the first two
grades (Bungrad and Tusgrad or equivalent) up to and including
the Under 12 age group worldwide.

In 2007, An Coimisiún released an additional rule regarding costumes. While this rule is

no longer available on the An Coimisiún website, it is available on the Australian Irish

Dancing Association (A.I.D.A.) website. It reads as follows:

In 2007, all dancers dancing in beginner grade for the 1st time may only
wear a team costume, plain basic dress or skirt and top. In 2007 existing
competing beginners can continue to wear their current costume.

The vast majority of rules about judging competitions that are listed in the 2006

Rules for Dancing Teachers and Adjudicators refer to situations in which a particular

adjudicator may not judge a particular dancer—to prevent conflict of interest situations

from arising. In Irish step dancing feiseanna, dancers face off against one another to try to

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gain the highest placements in each competition. Ultimately, only adjudicators can

determine who will win or lose. Dancers, parents, and teachers hold expectations that

competitions will be judged fairly and on the basis of dancing skill. However, there are

few explicit positive written standards on which judgments must be based. In addition to

formal rules, such as those listed in the Rules for Dancing Teachers and Adjudicators,

Irish dancers must adhere to a variety of informal rules and expectations as well. Within

these rules and social constraints, they exercise a type of negotiated autonomy—dancers

are encouraged to find dresses that suit their appearance and personalities.

It should be noted that these rules are generally not available to the public in their

full form. When teachers pass their certification exams, they are given a copy of the rules.

When I tried to request a copy of them, I was told they were confidential and available

only to teachers and adjudicators. However, some portions of the rules are made available

online, through a variety of sources. The 2006 copy of An Coimisiún rules that this thesis

references was released without the permission of An Coimisiún on the website,

http://www.irish-dancer.co.uk/, as a result of a conflict between a dancing family from

Great Britain and members of the An Coimisiún branch representing their area. After the

release of these rules to the general public, An Coimisiún authorities asked the website

publisher to remove the information, essentially suggesting that the information was not

public. The website publisher asserts that the information should be open to the public.

Regardless of the outcome of the conflict, which remains to be settled, the 2006 An

Coimisiún rules (which are applicable to all dancing regions under An Coimisiún) are

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now publicly available to members of the Irish step dancing public that search for them

on the internet. 2

An Coimisiún rules are accepted by organizations such as the North American

Feis Commission (N.A.F.C.) and the Australian Irish Dancing Association (A.I.D.A.).

Often an abbreviated form of the rules is printed in, for example, feis programs. The

N.A.F.C. offers only the following guidelines in the 2007 rules it presents online at

http://www.northamericanfeiscommission.org/:

6. Steel taps or “bubble” heels on dancing shoes, display of awards,

wearing of shorts or other unconventional dress is prohibited. Authentic
Gaelic dress is desired. First Feis (if offered), Beginner and Advanced
Beginner, aka Beginner I and II, must wear a class costume, or a skirt and
blouse. All other categories are excluded from this rule. Modest attire is
encouraged when a competitor is not dancing.

28. Make up is prohibited on a dancer in the first three grades (First Feis
(if offered), Beginner and Advanced Beginner or their equivalent) up to
and including the under 12 age group.

These are an extremely abbreviated version of the full An Coimisiún guidelines.

Some of the social meanings of these rules require further discussion, which will

take place in the following chapter. However, with regards to matters of authority, a few

things are important to note here about the structure and enforcement of the rules.

First, dancers who participate in An Coimisiún-sanctioned competitions often

display a weak grasp of these rules. This is not surprising in the least because the rules

are usually not released to the dancing public. As will be discussed in the following

sections, the increasing dissemination of information about Irish step dancing through

new media sources and magazines helps to enable dancers to understand and interpret

these rules.

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 Second, these rules are enforced at the discretion of Irish step dancing

adjudicators, who generally have the final authority on what is acceptable to wear or do

in a competition. Dancers have very little recourse to the judgments of adjudicators.

Indeed, a dancer who has a concern with the way in which a feis is being run, or the way

in which a competition was judged, must submit a complaint to the feis committee along

with a fee. If the complaint is found to have merit, the fee is returned. However, relations

between teachers and adjudicators as peers are often highly politicized, and some

teachers do not encourage their dancers to go through official channels or seek redress for

perceived wrongs.

There are no penalties listed for a violation of the rules regarding costuming. In

contrast, a rule about “artificial carriage aids” specifically states that a dancer may be

disqualified from the competition for using them. A dancer may also be disqualified for

up to a year from all NAFC competitions for “conduct unbecoming a lady or gentleman”

or “falsification of age or other important facts – i.e., teaching, award winning, competing

under another competitor’s name or number, etc. With regards to violations of the

costuming rules, the sanction process is described in neither the 2006 An Coimisiún rules

nor the 2007 N.A.F.C. rules. There may be informal means by which dancers are

disciplined, but these are not detailed. Indeed, little of the inner workings of

competitions, aside from competitions age groups, levels, awards needed to move up a

level, and music speeds, among very few other aspects, are described in either the An

Coimisiún or the N.A.F.C. rules.

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 N.A.F.C. rule number 23 explicitly states, “in matters pertaining to adjudication,

the decision of the adjudicators is final.” Dancers also have very few means of knowing

why exactly they placed one way or the other. At some feiseanna, dancers can purchase

their results, which include a raw score, their rank in the competition, and, when these

exist, comments from the adjudicator about their performance. A raw score will range

between 1 and 100, and will generally vary from a 70 to a 90. Their raw score is

theoretically made up of “25% for timing, 25% for the steps, 25% for execution and

method, and 25% for deportment and style,” according to the Redmond School of Irish

Dance website (http://www.funtodanceirish.nl/web/Redmond/uk/feis_extended.html).

However, the score is generally given as a full number and these elements are not divided

up for scrutiny by the dancer. In addition, adjudicators are not required to give comments.

Indeed, the pace of Irish step dancing competition is so fast and adjudicators have to

observe so many dancers that to give a qualified explanation of why one particular dancer

scored one way or another would be prohibitively time-consuming. The absolute finality

of adjudicators’ decisions, the capriciousness of the categories on which Irish step

dancing competitions are judged, and the little information that dancers receive

afterwards lends a certain amount of mystery to the process.

Because of these factors, Irish step dancing adjudicators may have a great degree

of discretion regarding the placements they award to dancers. Indeed, Irish step dancing

adjudicators themselves describe the process of judging as being subjective. For example,

in an “Expert Advice Q & A” column in the April 2003 issue of Irish Dancing

International Magazine, Marie Duffy-Messenger, A.D.C.R.G. (Ard Diploma Choimisiuin

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Le Rinci Gaelacha), a very famous teacher and adjudicator who was heavily involved in

the development of Lord of the Dance, said:

(Each) judge’s results are very subjective. There have been times when I
have given a dancer much lower marks than another teacher, not with the
intention of marking them down but, placing them, in my opinion, where I
feel they deserved. Also, we all look for different styles or put a different
emphasis on different things. For example, one adjudicator might look for
execution of steps, whereas another might put emphasis on foot placement
or timing. After [all,] if we all had the same results and winners [there]
would be no need for competition (17).

The broader Irish step dancing community may have very little collective

understanding of what goes into the adjudication process. In the January/February 2002

issue of Irish Dancing Magazine a letter-writer from Tyne and Wear, England, addressed

this issue, suggesting that dancers not “try to work out how an adjudicator marks on the

day, as it is a secret art not to be told to us mere mortals” (5). For the dancer, this level of

mystery leads to a path of trial and error in terms of performance, and to assumptions

about what adjudicators want that may or may not be helpful.

Dancers may not worry that their dresses are in violation of particular rules—

especially if they are unfamiliar with the rules themselves—but they do seem to perceive

costume as having an impact on judging. This may or may not be an accurate perception,

but it is certainly prevalent and widespread, in my experience of the past 15 years in

Western U.S. Region competitions. The intent (of many dancers) in wearing the solo

dress is to enable the dancer to be the brightest and most stunning, and to inevitably win

the judge’s eye and the judge’s favor. In online posts and letters to the editor to Irish step

dancing magazines, commentators often link a dancer’s costume to her competition

results. For example, in the anonymous rant column, "Sounding Off" in the June 2005

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issue of Irish Dancing and Culture International magazine, the commentator identified

the phenomenon, saying, “Isn't there something wrong when the costume is driving

results or that parents feel the pressure to spend huge amounts of money to have their

child noticed by the judges?” (21). A dancer from Scotland, writing a letter to the editor

of International Irish Dancing Magazine in July, 2001 also critiqued the perceived

phenomenon, stating that, “the adjudicator should not judge you on what you are

wearing, or how beautiful you look, but on footwork, carriage and your overall

performance” (33). These comments reflect perceptions of some participants that

costume may be directly factored into the judging process.

The perception that the dress influences competition results is not simply held by

those critical of the perceived phenomenon. In an article called "ID HEAVIES: The Best-

Dressed! (Part 2)" featured in Irish Dancing International in September, 2003, a dancer

named Shannon, whose dress “set her back a cool €1100” (approximately US $1600),

enthusiastically noted the effect she perceives her dress had on her results at the World

Championships. She states, “yes, my dress definitely did help me win the Worlds,

because last year, I got a new dress for the All-Irelands and I won. This year, I got a new

dress and I won again!” Another dancer interviewed for the same article, Aoife, asserted

that “the judging is mainly based on the dancing but, if there were two dancers, dancing

exactly the same, and one wore a fabulous costume whilst the other performed in a

beginner's dress, I think the judges would probably give the winning marks to the dancer

with the excellent dress” (18-23). These comments are representative of a general

assumption that dancing dresses do, in fact, comprise a factor in the judges’ calculations.

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Dancers who logically follow through this argument may ultimately feel that to

successfully compete, they must compete with their attire. While this perception may or

may not be valid, or indeed may be valid as an evaluation of some adjudicators and not

all, it can be a potent assumption.

There is no way to discern whether adjudicators disagree with some of the trends

in Irish step dancing costuming and whether they do not feel comfortable judging dancers

who adopt the latest looks according to their costuming. Adjudicators may feel that they

have very little control over the standards of Irish step dancing costuming, because

costuming is not necessarily a basis on which they are supposed to be judging the

dancers. Adjudicators may have a wide variety of opinions on Irish step dancing

costuming in general—they certainly see more costumes than nearly anyone else in Irish

step dancing. They may or may not take costumes into account in judging. Whether or

not they do take them into account, however, is almost irrelevant—because of the

strength of the pervasive belief, held by dancers, that they are taken into account. This

belief is continually articulated by dancers in mediums such as magazines and internet

forums. In addition, when I was a competitive dancer I was well aware of many

conversations about the topic. Even if adjudicators do not take appearance into account—

and certainly it is likely that some do not—the ideas and the perceptions remain

important to dancers.

Dancing Teachers

Dancers must comply with the directives and expectations of their dancing

teachers in order to be able to compete under An Coimisiún. In many areas there are a

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relatively small number of certified Irish step dancing teachers. In addition, An

Coimisiún rules limit the ability of dancers to switch between schools without penalties.

It is not considered acceptable to take classes from more than one school of dance, and

many schools of dance are headed by only a single teacher. This stands in contrast to the

experience of many modern or ballet dancers, who may take class from a wide variety of

teachers with few repercussions. Although dancers are not necessarily discouraged from

approaching or talking to other teachers, or dancers from different schools, the amount of

contact a dancer has with other dancers outside of her school is generally fairly minimal.

Indeed, the emphasis on competitiveness may have the effect of strengthening the school

as a unit: dancers cheer for their classmates and take pride in their teacher’s

achievements.

Dancing teachers are the primary source for information about the world of

competitive Irish step dancing. In class, dancers learn from their teachers what techniques

or ways of performing a step are appropriate and what are not, based on verbal guidelines

and corrections. Teachers also coach their dancers in what they should expect at a feis,

how they should represent the school, and how they should interpret their results

afterwards. Eimir Ni Mhaoileidigh, T.C.R.G. (Teasgicoir Choimisiuin Le Rinci

Gaelacha), describes the way in which some teachers orient their dancers towards an

understanding of the feis process in her April/May 2000 Hornpipe Magazine column,

“Ask Eimir”:

At class, treat your teacher as an adjudicator and ask her the questions you
would like to ask an adjudicator at a feis. Questions such as, how did I
execute my difficult movements in my reel? Did I lift high enough? How
was my upper body? Did my rhythm sound good and in time with the

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 music? Ask her to explain exactly how various moves should be executed.
Listen to her explanation - it cannot be too far off that of the adjudicator's
(5).

Teachers are also to a certain extent dependent upon the results of their dancers in

competition to maintain the school’s prestige. Some teachers exert a high level of control

over what dresses their students will wear. A variety of impulses may guide the direction

they chose for their school’s “look.” At the very least, the dancing teacher generally has

at least a small interest in seeing that the dress fit the dancer correctly, that the dress be

flattering on the dancer, and that the dress be of respectable quality.

The level of authority that some teachers try to maintain over what dancing

costumes their pupils wear occasionally is a source of conflict between dancer and

teacher or, more commonly, between parent and teacher. A particular parent may not be

versed in the level of etiquette a dance teacher expects for mediating a costume purchase.

Some parents may purchase dresses, especially bargain dresses, without the explicit

assurance from the teacher that the costume will be acceptable. Dancing teachers

sometimes respond negatively to these purchases, partially because they may be

perceived as threatening the unified image of the school that the dance teacher wishes to

present. One example of these sort of conflict is described in a letter from “A Very Angry

Mother” to International Irish Dancing Magazine, which was printed in July of 2001:

I recently mentioned to my daughter's new dancing teacher that I intended

to purchase a new costume for my daughter. You can imagine how
shocked I was to hear her say, "Any new costume for dancers in my
school will need to be approved by me first," I am an adult, and as such,
fully capable of making decisions regarding colour, pattern and style of
my daughter's new costume, thank you. This attitude is totally alien to us,
having come from a school where the teacher was more understanding and
trusting of our own decisions (33).

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Some parents and dancers feel pressured by their dancing teachers to purchase new, state

of the art dresses, even when the dancer or parent does not believe such a garment is

necessary. One Australian letter-writer in the March 2002 issue of Irish Dancing

Magazine complains, “…so many parents are falling into the trap of Spend! Spend!

Spend! Because, they are told by teachers who unless they take this course, their child

stands no chance!” (5). However, not all teachers have the same perspectives on

costuming.

Chris Ryan, T.C.R.G., was asked, in a profile for Irish Dancing Magazine printed

in May of 1998, “Irish Dancing has become very expensive, how does this affect you as a

teacher?” Ryan responded that:

It puts teachers under a lot of pressure because we are aware of how much
money has been spent on a child. Parents want their children to look good,
but I cringe when I think of the amount that can be spent (29).

This quote demonstrates that some dancing teachers may be dissatisfied with elements of

Irish step dancing costuming—although of course it cannot be read as representative of

the interests of all teachers.

In sum, teachers often have a high degree of influence over which costumes their

pupils purchase. Because teachers are a diverse population, they may hold a multitude of

opinions about what is acceptable in the world of Irish step dancing costuming and what

is not. Their interactions with dancers and the parents of dancers ultimately have

influence over Irish step dancing costuming from the demand side.

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Competition and Irish Step Dancing Costumes

In her 2001 Dance Magazine article, “Colorful, Complex Creations Adorn Irish

Dancers,” Darrah Carr described the competitive culture of Irish step dancing, and

suggested that it has had a definite impact on developments in Irish step dancing

costuming, writing, “the nature of competition itself produces an inevitable escalation of

technique and artistry, which is reflected in the ever-increasing complexity of both Irish

dance steps and costumes” (74). The perception that the dress is a primary means of

“catching the adjudicator’s eye” surfaces frequently in magazine and internet texts.

Bridget English, a magazine writer, describes the feelings some dancers may have with

regards to the relationship between presentations and results in her article, “Dressed for

Success,” which was printed in Irish Dancing and Culture International in June of 2005:

Each dancer feels the pressure to make themselves known through their
costume. While it's the dancer's performance which ultimately wins the
medal, her dress must be eye-catching if she hopes to capture the interest
of the audience and judge. It's the brightest and most unique costume that
enchants the crowd, sustaining their interest until fancy footwork blows
them away (12-13).

This article suggests, and my experience has been the same, that dancers are often

intensely conscious of their own appearance and the appearances of their peers. Many

dancers discuss the costumes of their competitors with their parents, friends, and

teachers, as well as online. Dancers debate what they perceive works in a dress and what

is less successful in its effect, according to their perceptions. Because Irish step dancing

dresses are often extremely unique, there is often much to discuss. Some of these

discussions are positive and supportive of individuals’ strivings, but some of them are

mocking and competitive.

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 Gender figures into rivalry regarding costume. In her book, Catfight: Rivalries

Among Women—from Diets to Dating, from the Boardroom to the Delivery Room, Leora

Tanenbaum describes the effects of competition between women on women and on

cultures created by women in white, middle and upper class America. Tanenbaum

attempts to critique essentialist views of women as caregivers and conflict-solvers, and as

sharing an essential commonality and solidarity. She cites the work of Phyllis Chesler,

whose book Woman’s Inhumanity to Woman extensively describes “the hostility that

women around the globe are capable of—from shunning and malicious gossiping to

being complicit in acts of rape and murder” (24). Tanenbaum writes, “When women feel

competitive, we want to feel superior and we want our rivals to be inferior (17).

However, she suggests that the multiple imperatives faced by women, such as the drive to

both achieve within the workplace and the political sphere—as feminists and others have

encouraged women to do—converged with the remaining drive to succeed within

traditionally feminine area such as beauty, the home, and child-rearing. Tanenbaum states

that certain forms of competition can be “healthy” and can “spur us to do our best work,”

and that certain forms of competition, such as sports, can “provide the perfect vehicle for

channeling aggression in an aboveboard way” (70-71). However, she writes, women

often compete more covertly, as a result of more limited opportunities for outward

competition and success. Tanenbaum connects feelings of competitiveness to social

inequalities, to “feelings of inadequacy,” and also to patriarchal norms: “…the cause is

more than psychological. A sense of inadequacy is fostered by a very real social

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situation: women’s restrictive roles” (39). While Tanenbaum’s scope is particular to only

certain classes of women, it seems to comport with the demography of Irish step dancing.

Tanenbaum specifically focuses on women’s competitiveness with regards to

beauty in one of her chapters, addressing such subjects as plastic surgery, eating

disorders, whiteness, and cosmetics. Tanenbaum cites the writings of Susan Faludi, who

blames a culture of “commercialized feminism,” where consumption is viewed as an act

of freedom, and where “feminine happiness equals other women’s envy of your

purchased glamour” (52). Tanenbaum states that “the beauty standards of our time are

oppressive,” but notes that the engagement in the search for beauty with other women

“can bring us together supportively to appraise one another as we experiment.” However,

she concludes, “…the problem has never been rouge or lipstick per se. The problem is

that society makes women believe that without these aids they are not beautiful and

therefore not important. In fact, without these aids, women are taught they are invisible”

(116). It is possible that, in accordance with Tannenbaum’s line of thinking, competitive

Irish step dancers, who are generally young, female, and striving to succeed, compete in

negative ways over costuming. Regardless of value judgments on competition, however,

it does seem straightforward to note that competition with one’s peers may be an issue

capable of influencing Irish step dancing costuming choices.

As Irish step dancing grew more and more popular in the period following

Riverdance, local competitions and, later, international competitions gained an increasing

number of competitors. This increasing number of competitors made it much more

difficult to move up the competitive ranks. Indeed, An Coimisiún changed the rules

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regarding competition to allow dancers in lower levels to move up to the next level with a

first, second or third place, and not just a first place, to accommodate the marked

increases in numbers of competitors. Because it was so much more difficult to move up

the ranks, the level of competitiveness and interest in competition that one was inherently

required to possess to move up was increased. As evidenced by internet posts and

magazine commentary, dancers saw costuming as one way to compete in Irish step

dancing.

The growing internationalization of Irish step dancing competition, in terms of the

increasing number of events worldwide, and the increasing contact of dancers from a

variety of regions at these events, may have an impact on the pace at which Irish step

dancing costumes change. John Cullinane cites the importance of competitions such as

the World Championships in the spread of Irish step dancing fashions. He writes:

Increased world-wide contact and the ever-increasing speed with which

contact can be made nowadays means that as soon as an acceptable trend
appears at a major event in any country, that trend makes its appearance in
other countries within weeks rather than decades as had been the case in
the past (1996: 77).

Darrah Carr also observes the impact that the establishment of the World Championships

in 1970 may have had on Irish step dancing costuming, saying that the “relationship”

between the holding of the event and a “proliferation of trends in dressmaking” appears

“consequential rather than coincidental” (74-75). Cullinane notes that some other effects

of the internationalization of Irish step dancing, aside from the increase in number of

trends, include the general homogenization of the “overall format” or “unwritten code” of

dancing dresses, greater familiarization with costuming trends in areas where knowledge

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had been scare, and a loss of distinct regional styles in costuming (1996: 75). It seems

very likely that the increasing competitiveness of Irish step dancing and the increasingly

international nature of the dancing community bear some relationship to developments in

competitive Irish step dancing costumes.

Parental Control Over Dancing Costumes

Because they are the main persons purchasing Irish step dancing dresses, parents

also exert a level of control over Irish step dancing costuming fashions. Parents may have

an interest in the success of their dancers in competition, and may also perceive dancing

dresses as being linked to that success. However, parents may also have an interest in

limiting the cost of dancing costumes, the prices of which can be quite exorbitant.

John Cullinane refers to the role of parental competition in pushing trends and

maintaining the high price of solo costumes: “It is my own opinion that it is the dancers

and the dancing-parents who are responsible for these very elaborate and very costly

costumes, vying with each other in an effort to make sure that their child is ‘as good as

the other” (1996:85). It is possible that some of the changes in Irish step dancing

costumes may be attributable to competition between parents over children’s successes.

Some parents enjoy the task of finding a costume for their dancer, but many

parents are critical of both the prices and the looks of Irish step dancing costumes.

Parents may try to converge these divergent interests into an overall policy that

acknowledges the importance of a dress, but limits the amount of dresses that are

bought. 3

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Dancers’ Control Over Dancing Costumes

Dancers may be perceived as being enmeshed in a nexus of authorities and forces,

which push them to purchase extravagant gowns. However, they may also be perceived

as actively negotiating this nexus of competing forces, employing techniques they have

learned to achieve their own desires—such as success in competition. Certainly there are

a number of reasons why Irish step dancers chose to decorate their bodies so elaborately.

Some of these likely do relate to pressure put on dancers to conform to the expectations

of An Coimisiún, adjudicators, teachers, and parents. However, dancers are directly

involved in, and excited by, the process of dressing for Irish step dancing. Dancers are

definitely interested in solo costumes, and their interest supports multiple websites and

discussion boards on costuming, as well as a great deal of the content of dancing

magazines. In my survey of these outlets, spanning 1998 to 2008 for dancing magazines

and 2003-2008 for websites, dancers appear to derive a lot of pleasure from them as well.

John Cullinane portrays advanced dancers as wielding a great deal of choice and

control over popular styles in Irish step dancing costuming. He states that, “it would

appear that it is the champion dancers who decide the trends in costumes” (1996: 77).

Cullinane also displays a strong faith in the ability of dancers to change the systems of

dress through self-assertion and non-participation in prevalent trends. He notes his

personal frustrations with trends in Irish step dancing dresses as he viewed them in 1996,

and states his perception that dancers could have the ability to change them by making

personal fashion choices adverse to the norm:

It is very possible that female dancers are also becoming somewhat

disillusioned with the present-day excessively elaborate costumes. They

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 may have got the message… from Riverdance that Irish dancing can be
performed in elegant non-elaborate costumes devoid of all embroidery and
‘glitter’ and yet present the dancing in a most effective manner. It will
only take the courage of a few to show the way and in fact about three
prominent female dancers did so at the 1995 World Championships.
Hopefully more will follow (1996: 83-85).

In this statement, Cullinane clearly identifies agency and control of the broader culture of

Irish step dancing as being located within the minds and bodies of individual dancers.

Regardless of the pressures Irish step dancers may feel to conform to a certain standard of

dress, and regardless of the ways in which their minds and bodies are disciplined into

participation, the dancer ultimately holds the power to change the fashion system towards

a simpler, more inexpensive one. However, dancers have chosen not to do so.

One reason may be that some dancers covet and value the allure of the costumes.

Often dancers express publicly the idea that the choice to self-decorate is a positive one.

Some dancers also suggest that qualities such as self-esteem and power can be gained

through the wearing and deployment of Irish step dancing costumes. Perhaps it is prudent

to acknowledge that dancers are subject to a variety of pressures to display a certain look.

However, dancers also have the ability to participate in this system, to generate their own

interpretations and looks, and to impose social pressures on their peers.

AN COIMISIÚN, COSTUMES, AUTHORITY, AND MEDIA

The spread of information by persons not embedded within the power structure of

Irish step dancing has critical implications for power relations in Irish step dancing in

general. An Coimisiún le Rincí Gaelacha, as an organization, has a highly formalized and

relatively rigid hierarchical structure that tends to guard access to information and

maintain the status of its members as authorities on Irish step dancing. When there was an

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absence of publicly available information, it was relatively simple for dancing authorities

to maintain a high level of control over the accepted actions of participants, and to direct

those actions. Members of An Coimisiún still have considerable authority, in part because

of the prestige and respect their training and achievements have granted them. However,

the development of horizontal networks of information sharing in effect destabilizes a bit

of this authority.

In his book, Cyber-Marx: Cycles and Circuits of Struggle in High-Technology

Capitalism, Nick Dyer-Witheford describes some of the ways that enhanced global

communication can be used as a means to develop structures of resistance to capitalist

cultures and practices. He describes the transformation of knowledge in a digital world—

potentially from “information” to “communication.” The author writes, “Information is

centralized, vertical, hierarchic; communication is distributed, transverse, dialogic” (86).

The growing access of Irish step dancers to methods of “communication” may allow

them a means of subverting the mandates of An Coimisiún as an organization, or at least

become more empowered by understanding them.

Whereas in previous years, information about Irish step dancing was disseminated

largely by official authority figures such as teachers, it is, in the early 2000s, distributed

in a wider variety of ways. Some of the restrictions on information remain within the

community that is An Coimisiún. For example, the rules that An Coimisiún uses to

govern Irish step dancing (Rules for Dancing Teachers and Adjudicators) are largely not

available to the general dancing public, although some of these rules are disseminated by

feis organizations such as the North American Feis Commission, discussed earlier.

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 Prior to the advent of instructional and historical books on Irish step dancing, Irish

step dancing videos, Irish step dancing magazines and online messageboards, all of which

began to proliferate roughly in the mid to late 1990s, most student dancers could only

obtain information about Irish step dancing through their own personal experience and in-

person interactions with other people. Also, before the 1990s, touring Irish step dancing

shows were relatively limited, so dancers did not often have the experience of witnessing

dancing outside of class or the feis.

As information has been disseminated by magazines, and by dancers writing

online, a wider variety of perspectives on Irish step dancing have been spread throughout

the Irish step dancing community. Irish step dancers are able to discuss and access

information in settings removed from the school and removed from their locality. A

relative level of anonymity allows dancers to offer perspectives that are critical of Irish

step dancing authorities to their peers, either through letters to the editor in magazines or

through participation in messageboards. There is much more visible discussion of Irish

step dancing by participants. The spread of information offers dancers considerable

opportunity to develop new perceptions of Irish step dancing cultures and to shape Irish

step dancing as a culture.

COMMERCIAL PRINT MEDIA SPECIFICALLY MARKETED TOWARDS IRISH

STEP DANCERS: IRISH DANCING MAGAZINE AND HORNPIPE MAGAZINE

The developing structures of communication via magazines and the internet have

provided a fertile ground for the marketing of dancing products and the development of

Irish step dancing capitalist ventures. While the growing emphasis on, and interaction

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with, the products of Irish step dancing may not necessarily be “liberating” for dancers,

considering the considerable expense that Irish step dancing has begun to involve, the

changing relationship of dancers in relation to the authority structures is manifested in

these market interactions. The market for Irish step dance, and the path of Irish step

dance, may be becoming more directed by consumers and by consumer choices, or also

by entities such as costume designers, rather than the authority of adjudicating

organizations, some areas whose direct control over all of the students and teachers it

governs has grown rather weak—especially in the area of dancing costuming. Irish step

dancers exert considerable authority over their costuming choices, which are often only

loosely regulated.

The growth in the amount of information available to dancers has likely had a

wide variety of impacts on the practice of Irish step dancing. Some of the impacts that are

considered in the following section include the implications of information transmission

for authority structures such as An Coimisiún, the increased access of Irish step dancers

to Irish step dancing products and knowledge about dress and accessory fashions within

Irish step dancing, impacts upon conceptions of gender in Irish step dancing, and changes

to the ways in which Irish step dancers view and construct the practice of Irish step

dancing itself.

Currently, two major magazines are marketed to Irish step dancers: International

Irish Dancing and Culture Magazine and Hornpipe Magazine. These magazines offer

very different types of content, although they nominally deal with some of the same

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issues. Their perspectives are quite distinct, and each mediates the experience of Irish

step dancing in different ways.

International Irish Dancing and Culture Magazine was formerly named, and is

often informally referred to by dancers as Irish Dancing Magazine. The magazine was

first introduced in 1998. Irish Dancing Magazine is targeted at an international audience

and is printed by Wildfire Communications Ltd. in Bristol, England. Irish Dancing

Magazine appears to be aimed at “tween” or pre-teen dancers, that is, dancers between

the ages of 8 and 14. In terms of content, it is reminiscent of magazines also aimed at this

market, such as the American magazines Teen Magazine, TeenVogue, Seventeen, and YM

(Your Magazine). The magazine is printed in glossy color and is saturated with photos

and advertisements.

Although Irish Dancing Magazine does occasionally feature articles relating to

fitness, dancing technique, and elements of Irish culture such as Irish traditional music,

the magazine is by and large focused on two subjects: fashion and step dancing

competition. In addition the magazine provides short updates as to developments in Irish

step dancing competition, and achievements of its readers. The magazine features

monthly “makeover” columns, where dancers are remade by means of MAC cosmetics 4

and hairstyling, numerous product promotions for clothing, music releases, snacks, and

dancing products, and articles about subjects including travel information for cities where

major championships are being held.

In addition, the magazine features advice columns which address competition

issues and dancing issues, and which are answered by such Irish step dancing celebrities

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as Olive Hurley, Ryan Carroll and Tara Barry. There are also regular interviews with

(often younger) actively competitive dancers who are currently placing at the top of

international championships, as well as professional dancers who perform in touring

stage shows. The magazine also seems to make a significant effort to spotlight younger

up and coming competitive dancers, or “Rising Stars.” Far less frequently, there are

interviews with teachers or other officials.

A recent addition to Irish Dancing Magazine is the “Man of the Month” column,

which features an interview with a male dancer. In some ways these articles are able to

convey and explore the experience of being a boy and participating in Irish step dancing.

However, these columns often seem in many ways to be aimed at a female readership and

are more similar to publications such as the fan magazine Bop.

In many ways, the content of Irish Dancing Magazine is responsive to the

contributions of its readers. For example, the magazine features line drawings from

dancer-readers, photographs sent in by dancers, answers to dancers’ questions, and letters

to the editor. In addition, Irish Dancing Magazine occasionally bases small articles and

news stories on submissions from readers, although it seems that the content is generally

written by regular contributors and/or employees of Irish Dancing Magazine.

Hornpipe Magazine, which debuted in 1999, is targeted at a more adult audience,

although some of the material would also be appropriate for younger dancers. Hornpipe

Magazine focuses on a wider array of topics than does Irish Dancing Magazine. For

example, the magazine features articles on subjects such as Irish history, Irish culture,

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and Irish art, as well as Irish step dancing. In addition, the content of Hornpipe responds,

to a certain extent, to developments in world affairs.

The content of Hornpipe Magazine is largely targeted towards an Irish-American

audience. The magazine tends to cover events happening in North America, and also

solicits much of its content from American dancers, dancing teachers, and adjudicators.

The magazine tends to solicit a much higher level of content from professional teachers.

However, its articles tend to focus less on the promotion of Irish step dancing trends than

the discussion of them. The content is much more intellectually critical of ongoing

developments in Irish step dancing than is comparable content in Irish Dancing

Magazine, and it pays very little attention paid to such aspects of dancing as costuming

trends, makeup, and wigs. The magazine generally features a color cover but is otherwise

printed in black and white, and is far less glossy and advertising saturated than, for

example, Irish Dancing Magazine.

Hornpipe Magazine is significantly less expensive than Irish Dancing Magazine,

especially for American and other non United Kingdom/European Union subscribers. A

copy of Hornpipe Magazine retails for US $4.50 as of 2007, a yearly United States

subscription costs US $19.95 and an international (e.g. Great Britain, Ireland)

subscription costs US $44.95—in prepaid American dollars. An issue of Irish Dancing

Magazine retails for GB £2.99/US $6.99 an issue, a and an yearly subscription costs GB

£27.50, or US $69.95 for Americans and Canadians. Hornpipe Magazine is based out of

Austin, Texas, and Irish Dancing Magazine is based out of Bristol, England, and

Elmhurst, Illinois.

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 Neither magazine is institutionally affiliated with any major dancing organization.

However, as both magazines are often promoted at official events such as Oireachtasi and

feiseanna, and through dancing teachers, neither magazine is particularly critical of the

competition and adjudication structures of Irish step dancing. However, each magazine

offers information that is not being provided to dancers by the institutional structure of

An Coimisiún. In the case of Irish Dancing Magazine, this extra information is largely

related to costuming, although other topics are covered by the magazine. Hornpipe

Magazine concertedly publishes new rules promulgated by major adjudication

organizations, providing that information to the broader Irish step dancing community.

The circulation of these magazines allows readers to negotiate the world of Irish

step dancing and make use of researched information on a variety of topics. Additionally,

each magazine strengthens the setting of Irish step dancing by connecting dancers to a

perceived broader community of dancers.

Saturation of Advertising in Dancing Magazines

Each magazine has a different approach to advertising. The chart below details

the quantity of advertising that is published in each magazine. This chart includes a

defunct magazine published in the 1990s called Irish Dancer for numerical comparison

purposes.

Irish Dancer’s content was very dancing-focused—it had very few articles that

did not explicitly address dancing. It was probably more explicitly dance oriented than

any of the other magazines, and did not feature articles about general Irish culture, like

Hornpipe Magazine, or articles about makeup and fashion, like Irish Dancing Magazine.

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In all of the copies I have—I only retained three issues—there were columns directly

oriented towards boy dancers and adult dancers. In addition, one of the issues featured an

article on eating disorders.

Irish Dancer commenced printing in 1998. It went out of business in 2000, to the

dismay of a number of readers. Subscribers to Irish Dancer were then given a

subscription to Dance Magazine [United States]—and Dance Magazine began to have

Darrah Carr write articles on Irish step dancing.

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Chart Eight—Saturation of Advertising in Dancing Magazines

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Analysis of Saturation of Advertising in Dancing Magazines

It could be argued that simply counting the number of advertisements in any

particular set of magazines is an incomplete measure of the concentration of advertising,

because ad sizes differ. However, I believe that counting the number of ads is viable—not

as a final sum articulation of the amount of advertising, but as one measure. Certainly,

future scholars might measure ad size or show the proportion of advertising content to

editorial content in centimeters, for example.

In fact, a researcher who used additional measures to determine relative levels of

advertising content in these magazines would actually see that these numbers

underrepresent the visual impact of advertisements in Irish Dancing Magazine. This is

because many of the advertisements in Irish Dancing Magazine are full-page, half-page,

or quarter-page size, whereas most of the advertisements in the other magazines are much

smaller. In addition, the advertising in Irish Dancing Magazine is printed in color,

whereas the advertisements in Hornpipe Magazine are printed in black and white. Thus,

there may be many factors aside from the sheer number of advertisements, which may be

useful in analyzing advertising content.

This chart shows that Irish Dancing Magazine is much more heavily saturated

with advertising than either Hornpipe Magazine or the defunct Irish Dancer. Advertising

dominates the content of Irish Dancing Magazine, and many articles sit alongside

advertisements and mirror or support their content. In addition, Irish Dancing Magazine

features a much higher proportion of advertising related to costuming than does Hornpipe

Magazine. Indeed, the percentage of advertisements devoted to costuming in Irish

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Dancing Magazine is higher than the percentage for all other types of advertising. Irish

step dancing costume makers appear to actively advertise to Irish step dancers and, in

doing so, appeal to dancers to participate in commodity culture. Furthermore, the

concentration of advertising in dancing magazines, and, especially, Irish Dancing

Magazine, ensures that understandings about dresses and understandings about dancing

are linked in the world of Irish dancing.

Irish Step Dancing Messageboards

Irish step dancers around the world use a wide variety of messageboards to

contact each other, discuss and debate, and share information. Messageboards are

qualitatively different from magazines in many ways. Differences include the

mechanisms of operation of messageboards, the ways in which they engage dancers, and

the meanings that dancers create through both the acts of reading them and posting to

them.

Health researcher Katherine Morton Robinson discusses the potential for tapping

into personal narratives offered over the internet and using them in scholarly papers in

her 2001 article, “Unsolicited Narratives from the Internet: A Rich Source of Qualitative

Data.” Robinson suggests that internet forums such as bulletin boards provide a forum for

the personal expression of “voices [that] may have been unheard” in traditional print

mediums (706). Robinson gives a general description of online bulletin boards, writing:

A bulletin board is a medium that displays all messages that have been
posted on it and their respective replies. Some bulletin boards can be read
and posted to by anyone, some can be read by anyone and posted to only
by authorized users, and still others are unavailable except to authorized
users. Bulletin board postings usually remain in place for some time, and
archived versions are frequently available as well (707).

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A messageboard is one form of online bulletin board, which is similar to a weblog (or

“blog”) in that participants are able to post personal content, but different in that most of

the posts on a messageboard are not so much personal as topical. Messageboard posts are

generally related to a specific subject such as, in the case of Irish step dancing

messageboards, Irish step dancing competitions, costumes, or dancing techniques. These

messageboards are largely informal in that grammar and content is generally unregulated,

and information does not go through an official filter such as an editor.

According to Robinson, the temporal format of bulletin boards is also

qualitatively distinct from other forms of print media. For example, Robinson notes, “if

one wishes to have a conversation on a bulletin board, one posts his or her message and

waits for others to post their replies. Replies may come very quickly or may be sent

several months later” (708). The publication of information on any messageboard is

dependent on the participation of members, and is variable according to participants’

capacities to respond, and levels of interest in responding. Messageboards for Irish step

dancing are generally non-commercial, and participants are allowed to transmit

information that is of relevance to their interests as individuals.

According to information technology scholar Cameron Marlow, who discusses

blogging in his 2004 paper, “Audience, Structure and Authority in the Weblog

Community,” weblogging and messageboards are social phenomena. Both of these

mediums are created by participants in online communities, as opposed to being posted

by one singular authority for consumption. According to Marlow, communities of

bloggers are connected to one another “through the social ties of readership” (1).

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Connections are also made between participants in blogs and online forums through

interactions such as comments and responses to posts. Marlow describes the ways in

which the mechanism of direct comment or response works to create a specific

community of readers and writers, all of whom have a certain amount of ability to create

new material and interact directly with one another. Irish step dancers have created and

sustained online communities such as these since at least the 1990s. Their interactions

provide participants with new means of disseminating, discussing, and interpreting

information and knowledge about Irish step dancing. I have been observing and

participating in these messageboards for approximately five years, with varying intensity

and frequency over time.

One prominent Irish step dancing messageboard is found on the website

http://www.dance.net, referred to as “Dance.net” or “Dance dot net” by participants.

Users of Dance.net can talk about a variety of dance styles, including, among others,

ballroom dance, highland dance, and hip hop dance. Dance.net has a host of

messageboards specifically on the topic of Irish step dancing, including boards on the

topics of “Adult Dancers,” “Beginners,” “Champs,” “Dressmakers & Costumers,”

“Feiseanna,” “For Sale,” “Hard shoe,” “MAIDs” (Mothers Addicted to Irish Dancing),

“Shows,” “Softshoe,” “Technique & Training,” “Wanted,” “Photos-Members,” “Photos-

Misc” and “Irish Dance Videos.” Dance.net is a moderated board wherein all entries are

visible to the public, but for which persons must register to post on the board or reply to

posts. A large number of ongoing conversations occur on a daily basis within the site.

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Persons using the board post questions, comments, and discussion topics for their own

purposes.

The messageboards hosted on the website http://www.voy.com, or Voy, are

unregulated and unmoderated. Discussions in these messageboards also range over a

large number of topics similar to those on Dance.net. However, because these forums are

not moderated, conversations can become critical very quickly. The Voy messageboards

feature very few graphics, and consist almost entirely of text and links. This is in contrast

to the Dance.net messageboards, which allow dancers to post many pictures of

themselves, awards ceremonies, and costumes. The distinctive character of Voy

messageboards—their tendency to become relatively hostile when prompted—stands in

contrast to the somewhat enforced geniality of Dance.net. However, readers with a

tolerance for this sort of banter will find critical, sarcastic discussions of Irish step

dancing which are not present in other media sources.

Dancing messageboards are not just an amalgam of random postings. Rather,

users build virtual communities, become familiar with each other over time and develop

friendships and alliances. Each messageboard takes on its own particular character, which

is made consistent by the actions of users. Although messageboards, even moderated

messageboards, do not generally give dancers directive on what to write, the

encouragement or discouragement of particular topics by the collective can be perceived

when certain messages are not responded to, or are responded to negatively. Dancers who

do not find their interests or perspectives represented in one particular board can easily

search for another. Some users interact on multiple boards, whereas other users connect

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more to one particular site. Some messageboards are more sympathetic to the opinions of

youths, some to adults; some are more characterized by a climate of enforced “civility”

(as on moderated boards), whereas others are locations of open hostility. Posts within one

messageboard represent the discourse within that particular site, and not the totality of

discourse over the internet on Irish step dancing. However, there is some consistency

between boards. Irish step dancers often talk about similar topics from board to board,

including tips on competing, training, institutional issues, competition results, and

developments in costuming.

Irish step dancing messageboards are generally not formally or informally

endorsed by authority figures in Irish step dancing. Divergences from this might occur

within a particular school; some teachers do participate in messageboards, and their

participation might be taken as a de facto endorsement of the practice. Another exception

occurs in the case of the messageboards sponsored by shows such as Riverdance. The

lack of official endorsement or even the condoning of participation in messageboards by

official Irish step dancing organizations such as An Coimisiún, An Comhdháil, the North

American Feis Commission, or regional organizations of dancing teachers, means that the

discussions conducted on the boards may offer perspectives that are not in line with, or

are indeed counter to, the positions of members of these organizations. Especially in

unmoderated, anonymous boards, dancers may “air the dirty laundry” of an organization,

its members, or related entities to the extent they wish, although they may be countered

by responses from other participants or the “real life” responses of people involved.

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Dancers likely have more access to unsanctioned information, information that authority

figures might prefer that they not possess, than they did prior to the 1990s.

Indeed, teacher Mary Ann McGrath Swaim, T.C.R.G., encourages dancers to

avoid the internet in her column entitled “Anonymous Messageboards” in the Volume 4,

Issue 3, 2003 issue of Hornpipe Magazine. 5 The author states:

Teachers are supposed to answer students' and parents' questions. That's

our job. Don't look to nameless people for accountable answers. Life is
hard enough without anonymous Irish Dance Messageboards. If you have
questions about Irish Dance, ask your teachers. If your teacher will not
answer or if you doubt your teacher's answer, then reading anonymous
messages on anonymous Irish Dance Messageboards won't fix the
problem anyway (6).

While it is true that the validity of Irish step dancing message posts is not certified, Irish

step dancing messageboards do allow dancers to easily spread information that they may

not be able to receive from their teachers. This information may certainly not be

sanctioned, but the tendency to view it as a threat to “honest,” “human” Irish step dancing

relationships, to quote Swain, is perhaps a dubious charge. Messageboards do allow for

“human” communication, but it is a different kind of communication from that which is

experienced in the classroom or in the feis—one that maintains a distance from the

authority of An Coimisiún and has few mechanisms to control or filter dancers’ voices.

Messageboards allow dancers to spread information in a way that is largely

directed by their own interests. Posters communicate information dancer-to-dancer,

instead of going through any sort of hierarchy, except that exerted by messageboard

moderators. Dancers are able to communicate with others all over the world; they are

able to view information from beyond their own direct experiences at the feis or in class.

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Dancers who have questions may choose not to go directly to their teacher, but rather

may consult their online peers.

I propose that when dancers interact with internet messageboards, they are able to

discuss Irish step dancing issues and Irish step dancing costumes in a relatively

uncensored manner. The ways in which dancers are able to spread information offers a

challenge to the policies of An Coimisiún le Rincí Gaelacha, which has in the past

seemed reluctant to release formal information to dancers directly. By use of the internet,

and magazines (to a lesser extent), dancers are able to share information and receive

information without the official sanction of an Coimisiún. In this way, at least some Irish

step dancers constitute themselves as a source of authority.

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 ENDNOTES

1 The name of Irish Dancing Magazine went through a variety of revisions. In 2000, the
name was changed to The International Irish Dancing Magazine. Then, in 2005, the
name was changed to Irish Dancing and Culture International. Finally, in 2006, the name
was changed to Irish Dancing and Culture. However, even when the name changed, the
approach and content of the magazine remained largely the same over time. In this thesis,
where a specific issue is referenced, the name of that particular issue is noted. Where
Irish Dancing Magazine is referred to as a phenomenon, it is referenced as “Irish
Dancing Magazine” and not another permutation.

2 These rules appear to be complete, because they are similar to the 1993 copy of the
rules that I obtained through personal connections, and because the rules relating to
costumes are identical to rules that are published on other sites. However, there is always
a possibility that some of the language may have been altered—although it seems
unlikely, because the website owner stated that it was his intent for dancers to be able to
read all of the rules and have access to accurate information.

3 One solution is linking the dress to an achievement of merit. The solo costume is
conventionally used as a reward and as a motivating factor for advancement in
competition. The attainment of a dancing technique worthy of a solo costume (generally,
championship-level) can perhaps be construed as a symbolic act of status achievement.
According to Darrah Carr, “Obtaining such a dress, known as a solo costume, is a rite of
passage within the world of competitive Irish step dance because it signifies that a dancer
has reached a certain level. At that point, she will work with her teacher and a costume
designer to create a specific, individual look,” in “Colorful, Complex Creations Adorn
Irish Dancers,” Dance Magazine, (Oct. 2001): 73. In a February/March 2000 advice
column in Hornpipe Magazine, Eimir Ni Mhaoileidigh refers to a dancing costume as “an
incentive or reward” which can be used by parents to motivate dancers to achieve high
results in competition, in "Ask Eimer," Hornpipe Magazine, (February/March 2000): 5.
However, the use of this kind of a dancer-parent contract raises the importance of the
achievement of the dress. While this may increase the value that a dancer attaches to the
dress, and thus, perhaps, the level of care a dancer gives a dress, it also changes the
meaning of achievement in competition. To a certain extent, dancers may be trying to
move higher in competition not just for the sake of prestige, but also to achieve an
expensive, personalized dress. While it is unlikely that most dancers push themselves just
to earn the dress, it does seem straightforward to say that for many dancers the
achievement of the dress is an important, idealized, and dreamed-after moment, in part
because of the way that it is explicitly linked to status and personal esteem.

4 A fairly expensive brand, which some readers have suggested is unreasonable for them
to be expected to purchase.

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5 Specific publication dates are not provided for many of the issues of Hornpipe
Magazine. Because of this, I have chosen to list volume and issue numbers.

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