When the Riverdance craze swept through the world faster than Michael Flatley’s feet, everyone got very excited about taking up Irish dancing. Americans redoubled their attempts to prove their Irishness to uninterested Irish people, mothers bought their daughters funny looking shoes and boys told each other that Irish dancing was actually very manly.
All was good, then the public got bored. Luckily those who were dancing before are still dancing now and its popularity continues to grow. The most widely known form of Irish dancing is traditionally referred to as stepdance and it’s this type which can be learnt and watched in Budapest. People recognize stepdance because of the rapid leg movements coupled with the distinctive straight upper-body and arms.
The dances are usually divided into hard shoe and soft shoe dances. Soft shoe dances include the reel, slip jig, light jig, and single jig, while hard shoe dances include the hornpipe, in 2/4 time, the treble jig, in a slow 6/8, the treble reel, and traditional sets, which are a group of 36 dances with set music and steps. Both types require extreme technical skill and excellent physical fitness, so it’s lucky that there are schools in town to help you with both!
