Step Dancing

Step dancing, often just called "Irish dancing," is the more formal, competitive, and performance-oriented solo dancing that shows like Riverdance are based on.

Sean Nos Dancing

Another form of solo dancing, sean nos (or old-style) dancing is improvisational and low-to-the-ground with a loose, natural style.

Ceili Dancing

Ceili (kay' lee) dancing is social dancing with a more precise, formal style than set dancing. A typical ceili dance formation could have three dancers in a row facing another row of dancers; the rows dance a pattern together, progress to the next row, repeat the pattern with them, etc. What else does "ceili" mean?

Wonderful explanations of set and ceili dancing, including the origins of ceili dancing, can be found on the Quad Cities Ceili Club website.

Types of Irish dancing

There are many forms of dance with roots in Ireland. They share some common steps and movements and, of course, are all done to Irish music (reels, jigs, hornpipes, slides, and polkas) -- but each form has a distinctive style. The classes and dances sponsored by Sets in the 'Burg are all set dancing.

Set Dancing

Origins

Set dancing is the traditional country dancing of Ireland. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Irish dancers adapted French cotillions and quadrilles to Irish reels and polkas to create their own lively dances, which became the set dances we know today.

Set dancing shares some of its origins with American square dancing and, like square dancing, is done in squares of four couples. There is no caller in set dancing, however; rather each dance (or set) has a unique pattern of figures. These figures often incorporate many turning moves and generally use steps that are low to the ground and smooth. Varying the rhythm of the steps can allow for creativity and improvisation in the dancing.

Revival

In earlier times, a set might have been unique to a particular town in Ireland, but as time went on dancing masters began to collect the sets from different communities and teach them at dance workshops, thereby bringing them to a larger audience. This led to a trememdous revival of set dancing that began in Ireland in the 1980s and has since spread throughout the world. Set Dancing News has information about set dancing workshops and ceilis on almost every continent.

Set dancing is very much a living tradition; the dancers aren't re-enacting an old dance form, and the sets themselves and the style in which they are danced continue to evolve. Toronto-based dancing.org offers this excellent description of traditional social dancing.