Irish Dance Research Paper

It seems like I have been waiting years for my letter to come in the mail. Just last month I sent out my application to see if I can get into Juilliard School of Dance, in New York. I live in Springfield, Massachusetts. Juilliard is where only pro dancers, the best of the best, the real shining stars can get into. Ballet has been my passion since I could walk. If I don’t get in, my life is over! All I want to do in life is perform, not sitting down having to fill out paperwork the whole day in a crowded office, or stuck behind a fryer, serving greasy, crusty food to ungrateful customers. Ballet is my escape from that.

Dance is one of the major things that defines my identity and it is an interest that had become so meaningful, that without it my application would be incomplete. This has been able to shape me throughout the years, from discipline and maturity all the way yo leadership and teamwork. I find dance as an art work, that it is easy to make mistakes and fall, you just have to learn from those mistakes and get up twice as strong as from where you started. Dance is to look above and beyond and just let everything fall into place without hesitation.

The third Mexican cultural activity that has survived and influenced the development of Chicana cultural practices in the U.S. is the Folklorico dances. These dances can be seen in the U.S. especially when there is a Mexican celebration or event. I personally experienced begin part of a group that danced folklorico. The dresses we used for the dance were inspired by the Yucatan look. We also accessorized with a crown of flowers made with fabric, long earrings, and a necklace of perals. We also combed all our hair back, and used make-up. It took alot of time to learn the three dances, and a lot of practice for the dance to come out good. In the end it was all worth it because I learned how to dance and how the women dress to dance. This cultural

I was a dancer for fourteen years, beginning at the age of four and ending at the age of 18. I participated in basically every type of dance including ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, modern, lyrical, and contemporary. Each year, I would participate in more classes than the last, and it eventually got to the point where I would be attending dance classes five or six days of my week. It definitely got tiring, but I still loved it. Dance is a great way to be able to portray emotions through movement, and I think that is very unique and special to participate in. It was a very huge part of my life, and so were the people teaching me. Dance and everything that came with it was a huge influence on my life, and it helped shaped me into the person I am today.

On the Saturday morning that the team was announced, I was wracked with fear. I was participating in a rehearsal for a dance competition with another team during the hours leading up to the time that the list was going to be posted. Trying to get through that rehearsal was nearly impossible as my attention was more focused on what color nail polish would best match my new Chiefettes shirt that I would be wearing to school on Monday. Once my mother and sister arrived to pick me up from the studio, I shook nervously in the back seat, sending messages to my other friends, waiting to find out the news. Both my mother and my sister remained silent, but I knew that they were praying just like I was that I would see my number on that list. As we

The year is 1923. There is this very small, quiet, and amazing town in Ohio called Otway. In this town there is a small white two story house with a beautiful garden as a backyard. In this house lives a 12 year old brunette haired girl named Myronetta June.

An extracurricular activity that I have had the pleasure to take part in for the past five years is the Greenwood College School dance team. Starting off as a new and young member of the team, I often faded in the background and followed the instruction of senior students, showing up to practice and doing the dances as told. During my first two years, in addition to being in various senior choreographed routines, I choreographed a dance alongside girls in my grade, an experience that gave me a basis of teamwork skills including compromise, commitment, open mindedness, reliability and creativity. After I became an experienced member of the team, the coach offered me a position as the team coordinator which I happily accepted. For the past two

The phone rings. My mom steps up from her worn office chair and grabs her cell phone.

This past summer, I was lucky enough to travel with Burklyn Ballet Theatre to Edinburgh, Scotland, and perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Each day after performing, my group would travel all throughout Edinburgh and nearby cities, exploring nearby historical sites and castles as well as attending performances, such as the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. After the dancing portion of the trip had finished, my family met up with me and stayed for an extra three days. While visiting Linlithgow Palace, the birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots, I became extremely intrigued with the line of Scottish and English succession. More precisely, the merge between Scottish and English monarchy with the rule of James the VI of Scotland/1st of England’s Merger of the Crowns. Not only

“Passion,” a strong and barely controllable emotion. “Movement,” the act of changing physical location or position. “Joy,” the feeling of great pleasure and happiness. These are three choice words the remarkable Sheila Vecchiarelli used to describe the art of dance.

When I was born, my grandma was overjoyed. She made comments about how I was the ‘first girl in the family for two generations,’ and how she ‘finally had an Irish dancer.’ Her father, who died shortly after I was born, was the man who brought Ireland to Cincinnati. He organised the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade and was a member of many local Irish groups, but most importantly he was the person who brought two Irish ladies to America so they could teach Irish dance. It was these ladies who taught my dance teacher, Mary McGing.

Dance has been apart of my life ever since I can remember. When I was young, before I officially started my dance training, I was always up on my feet and moving. No matter what hobby I took interest in (whether it was cheerleading, musical theatre, or jump rope), I would always find a way to choreograph little routines a show them to my friends and family. Even when my parents tried to put me in sports, I would do cartwheels and dance on the playing fields, completely oblivious to what was going on during the games. When I look back at how I started my dance training, I just smile and laugh because I was so naïve and unaware that it would become such a huge part of my life. In 5th grade I was put into my first dance class as a hobby. It happened because I watched the Disney Channel movie High School Musical and immediately fell in love with it. I showed the movie to my parents and told them, “This is what I want to do.” At the time I thought I excelled in both signing and acting and that all I needed were dance classes. So in 4th grade I was put into my first dance class and I began to scratch the surface of the basics of dance. What I didn’t know then is that dance would slowly but surely influence my entire life and

Another major change in Irish step dancing since its creation, and even in the last century, is the actual movement of the dancers. Watching Irish step dancing now, it is very clear that the movement is about the feet. In competition, dancers move their feet and legs quickly and swiftly in order to impress judges and the audience. Another distinct feature about Irish dance as opposed to other dance styles is the rigidity of the top half of the body. Dancers keep their torsos straight and keep their arms at their side. Keeping the arms at the sides is so important to the sport that judges will actually deduct points from a dancer’s score if there is any movement in the arms. However, this rigidity in the torso and arms was not always the

You step out on the stage with excitement and nerves wanting to be better than the last time because that’s the life of a dancer one performance after another. You see, anyone can be a dancer they just step onto the stage and dance but that doesn’t automatically make them a dancer. You as the dancer, dance to escape your troubles and find a way to feel and show others those feelings through motion. You dance as a recovery from the strain of the water slowly pulling you under, you dance to finally breath again. A true dancer strives to find and show the mystery that weird something in dance so fascinating and indescribable. That’s why people watch dance because they want to see words expressed through motion showing the something not able to be said. Of course for an art form so unknown and misunderstood many think dancing is as simple as stepping side to side throwing in a slide maybe a kick and a swivel of the hips. If you were to take the movement I just created and call it choreography and put on some music it would be the definition of dancing. However it’s not so basic because there are multiple forms of dancing such as ballet, jazz, tap, hip-hop, contemporary, folk, ballroom and so many more. It has many faces that are shown throughout the world from Russia to Los Angeles or even to Rome. Similarly just like Rome is not a city you can see in one day, you also can’t learn everything about dance in one paper, but you can dig deeper and see one community of dance. For

When I went to my first real class of ballet, it was hard being the new student. I started being in Ballet 2. It was hard to see me being alone and everyone else going to go talk to their friends. I was really bad at first and everyone else was so good at ballet.