Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T10:42:52.971Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A Changing Focus: The Evolution of Irish Step Dancing Competitions in Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2019

Abstract

Considerable differences exist between Irish step dancing competitions in the current era and those which were held in the late nineteenth century. This article traces the evolution of step dancing competition praxes in Australia, exposing the multiple transformations which have occurred over time. It focuses on the shift from cultural representation to individual aesthetics and the ways in which this change has resulted from disparate influences both within the genre itself and from the broader sociocultural status of Irish immigrants in Australia.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Dance Studies Association 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Works Cited

A Mere Irishman [pseud.]. 1927a. “Irish Dancing.” Freeman's Journal, February 24. Accessed February 28, 2018. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/122924130.Google Scholar
A Mere Irishman [pseud.]. 1927b. “Irish Dancing: Its Character Explained.” The Catholic Press, February, 10. Accessed March 31, 2018. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/107971909.Google Scholar
An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha. 2017. “An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha: The Irish Dancing Commission.” Accessed March 6, 2018. https://www.clrg.ie.Google Scholar
An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha. 2019. “World Syllabus.” Accessed January 28, 2019. https://www.clrg.ie/images/World_Syllabus_2019_OFFICIAL.pdf.Google Scholar
Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2017. “Census of Population and Housing: Australia Revealed. Cat. No. 2024.0.” Accessed March 2, 2019. http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/Latestproducts/2024.0Main%20Features22016.Google Scholar
Australian Irish Dancing Association. 2019. “Registered Feiseanna.” Accessed March 2, 2019. https://www.aidainc.com/2019-registered-feiseanna.Google Scholar
The Ballarat Star. 1885. “News and Notes.” March 13. Accessed March 31, 2018. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/207634311.Google Scholar
Brennan, Helen. 1999. The Story of Irish Dance. Lanham, MD: Roberts Rinehart Publishers.Google Scholar
Pathé, British. 2014. “Irish Dancing–Competitions (1929).” Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqaHuYBQJno.Google Scholar
Campbell, Malcolm. 2002. “Ireland's Furthest Shores: Irish Immigrant Settlement in Nineteenth-Century California and Eastern Australia.” Pacific Historical Review 71 (1): 5990.Google Scholar
The Catholic Press. 1938. “St. Patrick's Day Celebrations: Comprehensive Program.” March 3. Accessed March 10, 2018. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/104384876.Google Scholar
Connerton, Paul. 1989. How Societies Remember. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cullinane, John P. 2001. Further Aspects of the History of Irish Dancing in Ireland, Scotland, Canada, America, New Zealand and Australia. Cork, Ireland: John P. Cullinane.Google Scholar
Cullinane, John P. 2006. Aspects of 170 Years of Irish Dancing in Australia. Cork, Ireland: John P. Cullinane.Google Scholar
Curtis, Liz. 1996. Nothing But the Same Old Story: The Roots of Anti-Irish Racism. London: Sasta.Google Scholar
Dayle-Ford Catholic Sports.” 1888. The Kyneton Observer, January 5. Accessed March 10, 2018. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/240860345.Google Scholar
De Gallaí, Breandán. 2013. “Imeall-Siúl: A Choreographic Exploration of Expressive Possibilities in Irish Step Dance.” PhD diss. University of Limerick: Limerick, UK.Google Scholar
FeisResults. 2018. “Welcome to FeisResults.” Accessed March 10, 2018. http://www.feisresults.com.Google Scholar
Foley, Catherine. 2001. “Perceptions of Irish Step Dance: National, Global, and Local.” Dance Research Journal 33 (1): 3445.Google Scholar
Foley, Catherine. 2013. Step Dancing in Ireland, Culture and History. Farnham, UK: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Freeman's Journal. 1926. “Gaelic League Feis.” November 18. Accessed March 10, 2018. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/116777435.Google Scholar
Hall, Dianne. 2014. “‘Now him white man.’ Images of the Irish in Colonial Australia.” History Australia 11 (2): 167195.Google Scholar
Hall, Dianne, and Malcolm, Elizabeth. 2016. “English Institutions and the Irish Race: Race and Politics in Late Nineteenth Century Australia.” Australian Journal of Politics and History 62 (1):115.Google Scholar
Hall, Frank. 2008. Competitive Irish Dance: Art, Sport, Duty. Madison, WI: Macater Press.Google Scholar
Hallmore Dance Products. 2019. Accessed June 5, 2019. https://www.hallmoredanceproducts.ie.Google Scholar
Hamson, B. 1927. “Notice.” The Catholic Press, December 22. Accessed August 15, 2018. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/115212278.Google Scholar
Hassrick, Elizabeth M. 2012. “‘Controlled Disruptions’: How Ethnic Organizations Shape White Ethnic Symbolic Identities.” Cultural Sociology 6 (1): 93112.Google Scholar
Irish Celt [psued.]. 1900. “Irish Dancing.” The Catholic Press, August 18. Accessed February 11, 2018. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/104659932.Google Scholar
Irish Dance Athlete. 2017. “Irish Dance Athlete. Fitness for Competitive Irish Dancers: Building a Fitter, Stronger, Better You.” Accessed August 15, 2018. http://irishdanceathlete.com/.Google Scholar
Irish Dance Teachers’ Association of North America. 2019. “NAIDC.” Accessed March 3, 2019. https://www.idtana.org/pages/resources/media/2018%20NAIDC%20Syllabus%20Final-12.pdf.Google Scholar
Kavanagh, Donncha, Kuhling, Carmen, and Keohane, Kieran. 2008. “Dance-Work: Images of Organization in Irish Dance.” Organization 15 (5): 725742.Google Scholar
McDonald, Rónan. 2015. “Has Australia Forgotten its Irish Past?” The Sydney Morning Herald, March 16. Accessed February 25, 2018. https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/has-australia-forgotten-its-irish-past-20150316-1lzw3a.html.Google Scholar
Mollenhauer, Jeanette. 2015. “Competitive Irish Dance: Culture and Community.” The Australasian Journal of Irish Studies 15: 3553.Google Scholar
Mollenhauer, Jeanette. 2018. “Michael Charles Purtill (1846–1914): An Irish Step Dancer in Sydney.” The Australasian Journal of Irish Studies 18: 116129.Google Scholar
National Archives of Ireland. n.d. Ireland-Australia Transportation Records (1791–1853; FAQs of Transportation to Australia). Accessed March 2, 2019. http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/ireland-australia-transportation-records-1791-1853/748-2/.Google Scholar
O'Connor, Barbara. 2013. The Irish Dancing: Cultural Politics and Identities 1900–2000. Cork, Ireland: Cork University Press.Google Scholar
O'Farrell, Patrick. 1986. The Irish in Australia. Kensington, AU: UNSW Press.Google Scholar
O'Keefe, J.C. and O'Brien, Art. 1902. A Handbook of Irish Dances: With an Essay on Their Origin and History. Dublin: O'Donoghue and Co. Reprinted 2012, Forgotten Books.Google Scholar
O'Mara, E. 1918. “Funeral Notice.” Warwick Examiner and Times, November 6. Accessed March 7, 2018. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/82841007.Google Scholar
Phelan, Sharon. 2014. Dancing in Ireland: Steps, Stages and Stories. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
Purtill, Michael. 1898. “Judges of Irish and Scotch Dancers.” Truth, January 16. Accessed March 6, 2018. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/168086455.Google Scholar
Rapuano, Deborah L. 2001. “Becoming Irish or Becoming Irish Music? Boundary Construction in Irish Music Communities.” Journal of American and Comparative Cultures 24 (1–2): 103113.Google Scholar
Reader [psued.]. 1927. “Irish Dancing.” Freeman's Journal, January 13. Accessed March 10, 2018. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/122922691Google Scholar
Reid, Richard. 2012. “Irish in Sydney from First Fleet to Federation.” Dictionary of Sydney. Accessed March 3, 2018. https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/irish_in_sydney_from_first_fleet_to_federation.Google Scholar
Scahill, Adrian. 2009. “Riverdance: Representing Irish Traditional Music.” New Hibernia Review 13 (2): 7076.Google Scholar
Shields, David L., and Bredemeier, Brenda L.. 2009. True Competition: A Guide to Pursuing Excellence in Sport and Society. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.Google Scholar
Shields, David L., Funk, Christopher D., and Bredemeier, Brenda L.. 2016. “The Contesting Theory of Competition: Evidence from Metaphor Priming.” Journal of Sport Behavior 39 (4): 446466.Google Scholar
Silverman, Carol. 2012. Romani Routes: Cultural Politics & Balkan Music in Diaspora. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stratton, Jon. 2004. “Borderline Anxieties: What Whitening the Irish Has to Do with Keeping Out Asylum Seekers.” In Whitening Race: Essays in Social and Cultural Criticism, edited by Moreton-Robinson, Aileen, 222238. Canberra, AU: Aboriginal Studies Press.Google Scholar
The Sydney Morning Herald. 1947. “English Extracts: The Difference between Crime in England and Ireland (from The Times, June 19).” October 12. Accessed March 10, 2018. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/12894072.Google Scholar
Tabar, Paul. 2005. “The Cultural and Affective Logic of the Dabki: A Study of a Lebanese Folkloric Dance in Australia.” Journal of Intercultural Studies 26 (1–2): 139157.Google Scholar
Varade, Kristen R. 2015. “Dressing the ‘Feispora’: Changes in Irish Dance Costume in the New Millennium.” New Hibernia Review 19 (3): 5875.Google Scholar
Werron, Tobias. 2015. “Why Do We Believe in Competition? An Historical-Sociological View of Competition As an Institutionalized Modern Imaginary.” Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory 16 (2): 186210.Google Scholar
Wilcox, Hui. 2011. “Movement in Spaces of Liminality: Chinese Dance and Immigrant Identities.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 34 (2): 314332.Google Scholar
Wulff, Helena. 2009. Dancing at the Crossroads: Memory and Mobility in Ireland. New York: Berghahn Books.Google Scholar