For The Love Of Irish Step Dancing

Irish Dance as it is known today is a group of traditional dance forms that obviously made their origins in Ireland. There are essentially two types of Irish Dances: social dances and performance dances.

The social dance is a living tradition and can further be divided into ceili dances and set dancing. Ceili dances are performed by couples of 2 to 16 people. Most of the social dances take root in Pre-Christian Ireland's history but there are many modern forms and new ones are being choreographed all the time.

The performance dance is what is traditionally referred to as Irish Step Dance. It made it's way to global notariety through many touring shows and troupes. The most prevelant and popular being Riverdance and the three shows that were produced by Michael Flatley. Those being Lord of the Dance, Feet of Flames and Celtic Tiger.

Most Irish Step Dance is known for it's rapid leg movements and usually stiffer upper body that is not rigid but rather controlled. It uses quick, precise footwork and foot movements as it's trademark.

Irish Step Dancers can perform in two types of shoes, both soft shoe and hard shoe. The soft shoe dancers in the majority of the cases are female. The hard shoe dances are more likened to tap dance but set to traditional Irish, Gaelic or Celtic music with strong footwork and flair.

Irish Step Dance is a very popular dance form in modern times and attracts students of all ages. It is growing in global popularity and as a dance medium is highly competitive as far as awards and recognition goes. These dance competitions span both children and adults and are no longer European or Irish in their location or dancer's origin. Irish Step Dance is a very big movement in the United States and there are many students involved. American based Irish Step Dancers is overseen by the Irish Dance Teachers Association of North America which makes it's rules for competitive dance.

We will cover Irish Dance's most influential dancers in modern times here in a bit but let's see what Wikipedia has to say about Irish Step Dance.

With global touring shows that met with incredible audience popularity worldwide, Irish Step Dancing is definitely on the map and has a large number of fans.

The most famous and influential in the Irish Dance world are said to be some of it's performers, producers and choreographers who created those phenomenal touring shows.

As such, we will visit with the three most influential Irish Dancers of our time based on their popularity, name recognition and input into those Irish Dance phenomenon shows that attracted hundreds of thousands in their audiences worldwide.

The top three would be: Michael Flatley, Colin Dunne and Jean Butler.

Is Michael Flatley the ultimate Lord of the Dance? Some say yes. Some argue no.

But what can't be disputed is the fact that the name Michael Flatley is synonymous with Irish Dance. He is the most successful of the dancers in modern times and by far the highest earning. While some would claim his ego is his downfall, I would argue that he is an incredibly talented man just the same.

Michael Flatley's beginnings were very humble as the American-born son of Irish immigrants. He had an incredible drive to excel at everything he liked which included not only Irish Dance but being a very accomplished flautist and kick boxer as well.

Michael Flatley was the original male lead in Riverdance which really put the Irish Dance movement on the map in the 1990's. He later left the group over creative differences and began to self-produce a series of three fantastic shows that he choreographed and starred in himself.

Today, Michael Flatley is still a presence in the dance world. Most recently he appeared on Dancing With The Stars and acted as a judge on NBC's Superstars of Dance.

One things for certain: Michael Flatley does have Feet of Flames and won several world records for the most taps per minute by an Irish Dancer in hard shoe form.

With Michael Flatley's departure from Riverdance came the meteoric rise of another Irish Dance star in Colin Dunne.

Colin Dunne is English born and trained from a young age. He likewise won many awards and competitions but had made his earliest career in teaching and training. He only began touring a few years before Michael Flatley's departure from Riverdance. When Michael left, Colin Dunne stepped into his shoes as male lead dancer.

It was a great match for him and the then-lead female dancer, Jean Butler, who went on to collaborate together following Riverdance. The most famous of those performances being the touring dance show "Dancing On Dangerous Ground".

Today, Colin Dunne is still very much a presence in the dance world as a teacher and choreographer.

Jean Butler is often referred to as the Leading Lady of Irish Step Dance. In physical form, she is a beautiful and accomplished dancer. She also personifies the true essence of the Irish woman when she's on stage.

Jean Butler has not only had a successful solo career but has danced beside BOTH of Irish Dance's leading men when she partnered with both Michael Flatley and Colin Dunne.

Jean Butler is another American born Irish Dancer from an Irish immigrant family. Of all the three influences I believe she was the youngest to make her start in the field at the super young age of 4 years old.

Jean was always a touring dancer and danced with a handful of troupes before she became known worldwide in the lead female dance part in Riverdance.

She collaborated with her latter male lead partner, Colin Dunne into the future and they co-created Dancing On Dangerous Ground.

Jean Butler is also an accomplished actress and has appeared in such films as: The Brylcreem Boys, Goldfish Memory, The Revengers Tragedy and Old Friends.