The Beginners Reel in Irish Step Dancing

Series Summary

Irish step dance is a type of performance dance that originated in Ireland and has become popular world-wide thanks to exposure granted by Michael Flatley's Riverdance. Characterized by stiffly maintained erect upper body postures and nimble, quick-moving feet, Irish step dance is often performed in group form, displaying a unique form of rhythm, syncopation and talent amongst its dancers. Irish music and its history have inspired many kinds of native dance traditions, but step dancing is one form of expression that has made its way through the years to gain popularity. The two types of Irish step dance (hard shoe and soft shoe) contain a variety of moves ranging in difficulty to very simple to extremely difficult, and they all have traditional Irish names, as well. A step dance performance may contain steps with such names as the “jig”, the “reel”, the “slip jig”, the “corkscrew” and the “hornpipe”.

In this free instructional video dance lesson, our expert dance instructor Alicia Lagan will demonstrate the beginner's reel in Irish step dancing. These dance steps are the basis of Irish step dancing. First you'll learn the 3 steps, 7 steps, and point and toe steps, and then she'll teach you how to combine the moves and try out the footwork with music. Additionally, you will learn a brief history of Irish step dancing and what type of costumes that are traditionally worn by Irish step dancers.

Video Transcript

"Hi my name is Alicia Lagan and on behalf of Expert Village I'm going to teach you how to Irish dance. I'm from Port Rush which is a small sea side town on the North Coast of Northern Ireland. I also grew up with 3 sisters, so my mom enrolled us in a lot of hobbies; singing, acting, dancing Irish dancing of course. At 8 years old I started Irish dancing with a school called Dominic Graham School. At the start it was merrily a hobby to go somewhere with all my friends but as I grew older and became a teenager it became more of a passion. I started getting more series about competitions and I came in 6th in the Championship which is probably the most prestigious competition in Ireland. Not the world's as much of Americans would think. But we began tap dancing, set dancing all different kind of Irish dancing. I really loved it and I started teaching Irish dancing when I was 17 under the same Dominic Graham School. Our school preform dance grammar a lot to which is touring productions all of the shows like plots and stories in Irish music. Much of which is scripted and recorded by own musicians in Irish dancing school. So today I'm going to teach you a beginning reel which involves a lead of rhyme, side step and end step. So let's start out. "