Ierland (Ierse dans)

The Five Most Important Things In Irish Dancing

1. Know Your Steps
If you don’t know your steps well enough to do them 99 times out of 100 without any basic mistakes (going the wrong way on your sevens, for example), then you first need to concentrate on practicing the step until you know it so well you could do it perfectly in your sleep--or when you’re really nervous. (like at a Feis!) 2. Match Your Steps With the Music
Irish dancing is very closely matched with its music, so it’s very important that you practice with the right music until your steps go exactly with the beat of the music. If you don’t have practice music, you should ask your teacher which music they recommend or get hold of one of the CD\'s or cassettes that have been especially recorded for Irish Dancers. 3. Keep Your Arms Down
Your arms should stay touching your sides, with your hands loosely in fists, throughout your whole dance, no matter how difficult your steps get. Remember that how your upper body looks is just as important is how your legs look--your arms just aren’t doing anything fancy! 4. Stay Up On Your Toes
While dancing, your heels should stay off the ground at all times (unless, of course, putting your heel down is part of your step.) How high you are on the ball of your foot depends on how strong the muscles in the bottoms of your feet and calves are, so you will want to practice the exercises that work your foot muscles as well as practicing your steps up on your toes. 5. Keep Your Feet Crossed and Turned Out
Your feet and legs should stay crossed and turned out during your whole dance. Some of the dance exercises help flexibility in your hips, where cross and turnout start. Practicing in front of a mirror will also help you check your form.

Movies Shrek - who could forget the merry men & their little spot of Irish dancing? I have to comment though.. Robin hood was French, the merry men were English, and they did Irish dancing.. eh? lol

The Emperors New Groove - Another kid\'s movie with Irish dancing. This one is a Riverdance type routine.

Billy Elliot - Although the movie focusses more on mainstream dance forms, and ballet in particular, Billy\'s main dance routine features Irish dancing. This can be seen best in the scene where he dances in front of his father. He performs a small about of heavy-style dancing at the start of his routine. This is repeated again when he auditions.

Backdraft - A group of Irish dancers can be seen performing in the background at a function held in a large hall.

Mafia - Irish dancing can be seen at the end of this film. Tim O\'Hare plays Michael Flatley, and other dancers include members of the Trinity Irish Dance company and some of Tim\'s students.

The Fugitive - A St Patrick\'s Day parade includes Irish Dancers.

Road to Perdition - This film is was released in July 2002. Sister & brother Paul & Julie Mayer, from the Mayer school are in the dancing sequences. It was originally going to have much more dancing, and Tom Hanks was taught Irish dancing for the film (by Mark Howard, Trinity\'s director). However, the directors changed the direction of the dancing scenes, and there ended up just being a Ceili.

Luck of the Irish - a movie by Disney, about a boy who finds out he is a leprechaun. He goes to an Irish Festival, where there are dancers. The dancing is done in the style of Lord of the Dance.