Over the years I have heard many different ways to say, "Irish dance." People have asked me if I am a clogger, riverdancer, step dancer, or tap dancer. My absolute favorite description of hobby turned addiction was when someone asked my little sister, who also Irish dances, "Do you do the leprechaun dancing with the clogs?" Most of these are horrible things to say to an Irish dancer. We will be nice the first time you say one of these things but after that I cannot ensure your safety when you tell an Irish dancer that you liked her tapping. I would liken it to telling a football player that he made a nice home run in the game. Irish dance, clogging, and tap dance are all three very separate and distinct forms of dance. I hate to sound like the father from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but give me a dance and I will show you how the Irish came up with it first. Tapping and clogging can traced back to the old country but it does not mean they are all the same thing. Irish dance has become far more controlled, aggressive, and in my opinion, complex then these other two. Now I say "has become" because Irish dance has gone through a very complex evolution in a very short amount of time. This is due to a number of factors, but the main reason is because of one man, Michael Flatley. If you do not know his name you know of him. He is the guy who would prance around stage in a big puffy white shirt and move his feet really fast. I am sure your mother or grandmother has pulled you to one of his many shows sometime in the 90s. He started with Riverdance, and moved onto create Lord of the Dance, (or LOTD for those in the know) Feet of Flames (it's the exact same thing as LOTD) and Celtic Tiger. It is these shows that helped to propel Irish dance outside of its strict cultural boundaries and onto the world's stage. It was this man prancing around in a puffy white shirt that got me interested in Irish dance in the first place, like many of my Irish dancing peers. Before him Irish dance was only danced by the kids who went to Catholic school and had reels and jigs drilled into them by Irish nuns. With this explosion in the number of Irish dancers it helped to not only expand the audience and the number of dancers, but it also pushed from a simple folk dance to a competitive sport.
Abhor: To detest I abhor curling my hair for a feis.
Abscond: To run away I absconded with all the medals from the awards table.
