How to Find an Irish Dance Teacher

Irish dance has exploded in popularity around the world since the show "Riverdance" began to tour. If you're looking for a dance teacher, you're likely in luck. Irish dancing is so popular that the main difficulty is in narrowing down the list of instructors.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Decide what your goal is for learning Irish dance, whether it's competing, performing, getting in shape or just having fun.
2. Research the specialty areas of Irish dancing, like the jig, the reel, the hornpipe, step dancing, set dancing, ceili dancing and sean nos dancing.
3. Go to the website of the Irish Dance Teacher's Association of North America's Links page. Pick the affiliated partner or organization that corresponds with your geographic location, find their list of teachers and write down their names and numbers.
4. Evaluate dance teachers' expertise by finding out how long they have been teaching and whether they have a certification. TCRG after the name means a certification to teach. ADCRG is a certification to judge competitions as well as teach.
5. Stop by to observe the classes you are interested in.

Tips & Warnings

• When watching a class, take note of how patient and attentive the teacher is. Make sure the teacher's personality is compatible with yours because you may be working together for years.