Top 10 Irish dance videos of 2011 - VIDEOS

It's been a big year for Irish dance on the Internet. From hand-dancers to Sneaky Steppers, Irish dance videos blew up YouTube in 2011.

I've compiled a list of the top Irish dance videos of the year according to YouTube statistics. Watch them all below, and have a very happy new year!

1. Saint Patrick's Day Flashmob

The Sneaky Steppers introduced a sense of humor to the Irish dance scene that livened up the art form in a whole new way back in 2010. By 2011, the boys (Sneaky Steppers co-founders Jason Oremus and Chris Naish) wrangled their Riverdance pals and youngsters from Australian Irish dance academies to shoot this ambush video to promote tourism in Ireland.

Since its mid-March debut, the video has been viewed more than 2 million times!

Sneaky Steppers is a Hammerstep initiative. For more info on Hammerstep, visit the crew's website and Facebook page.

2. "Jig" trailer

Until this year, the world outside of the Irish dance bubble knew little to nothing about the drive, dedication and passion that goes into perfecting and advancing our beloved art form. After some gentle coaxing, filmmaker Sue Bourne convinced An Coimisiun le Rinci Gaelacha to let her crew film a documentary centered around step dancers preparing for the 2010 World Irish Dancing Championships in Glasgow. This was our very first taste of the final documentary, appropriately and concisely titled "Jig."

3. "Lord of the Dance 3D" trailer

Michael Flatley revamped his dramatic dance show Lord of the Dance, which originally debuted in 1996, to include updated costumes, new "it" dancers ("bad girl" Ciara Sexton has more than a few international championship titles under her belt, and her on-camera presence is simply electric) and a new technological twist -- 3D!

4. Up & Over It - "Britain's Got Talent" semi-finals

(click link to watch video)

You can't talk about hand-dancing without giving credit to ex-Riverdancers Peter Harding and Suzanne Cleary, and filmmaker Jonny Reed. This trio, known widely as Up & Over It, was launched into commercial fame in 2010. By 2011, Harding and Cleary were working their way up to the top of the talent list on "Britain's Got Talent."

5. The Celtic Colleens - "Britain's Got Talent" semi-finals

(click link to watch video)

Speaking of "Britain's Got Talent," Up & Over It wasn't the only Irish dance crew making a splash in the UK. The Celtic Colleens, a troupe of dancers clad in glow-in-the-dark shoes and gloves, created a vibrant stage spectacle. Appearing as if they defy the laws of physics, these dancers presented Irish step in a new light -- err, well, darkness?

6. Holiday Christmas Music Flashmob

More than 150 choir singers, bell ringers and dancers broke into song and dance in an effort to spread holiday cheer. And as we learned from the St. Patrick's Day flashmob above, it's hard not to smile at the sight of cheerful Irish dancers.

7. Boiz in Motion - "Holland's Got Talent"

Three young male dancers bring Irish dance to mainstream Dutch media with this rousing dance performance on "Holland's Got Talent."

8. "Riverdance on Ice"

So this is what you get when Irish dancing meets ice dancing! The skating was beautiful and all, but I couldn't help but want to yank the skaters out of my way so I could watch the Irish dancers. Still, this mixture of expression is representative of the year in Irish dance. 2011 was definitely a year of experimentation and collaboration, it seems.

9. World Irish Dancing Championships parade of champions

And another viewpoint...

There's no other way to put it: these dancers are simply the best -- the best on the planet. Held in Dublin in 2011, the CLRG World Irish Dancing Championships brought the highest calibre of step dancers from around the globe to one venue to compete for places on the podium. The videos above show the gold medalists from each age category strutting their stuff in the parade of champions. Bravo, dancers.

10. "Hands" by Up & Over It

Back in September, Up & Over It released a video that represented the darker side of professional show dancing. Feeling beat up and bruised after commercial success, Harding, Cleary and Reed produced this video, "Hands," a symbolic end to their hand-dancing days.

Honorable Mention: Prodijig on "Got To Dance"

Having only been on the Internet for just two weeks, this clip of unconventional Irish dancing is already sparking both debate and excitement. Prodijig, from the creative mind of Irish dancer extraordinaire Alan Kenefick, will debut on UK's "Got To Dance" on New Year's Day. We can't wait to see how this Kanye West choreography goes over with the judges!

Have any other favorite Irish dance videos posted in the last year? Tell me about them in the comments section below.

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Gothard Sisters revisit Irish dance roots for new CD - VIDEOS

Gothard  sisters

Traditional Irish dance music has somewhat of a different meaning for Greta, Solana and Willow Gothard. For these sisters, "traditional" refers to not only classic tunes preserved throughout history, but it also reflects the family traditions the Seattle-based siblings have developed in their years performing together.

Part of that family tradition involves innovating musically -- combining music and dance influences from different genres -- which the trio continues to do with each album they record.

The three sisters are classically trained musicians and decorated Irish dancers with a stage show and a collection of six recorded albums to their name. "Story Girl," the Gothard Sisters' sixth CD released earlier this month, mixes well-known Celtic songs and original tracks written and arranged by one or more of the sisters. And, as eldest sister Greta, 24, pointed out, the group has drawn heavily from its Irish dance influences, making this latest album is the most "danceable" yet.

Tracks like "The Sailor and the Mermaid," a jig-reel hybrid written by Greta and Willow; Greta's "Celebration Reel"; "Midsummer Jigs"; and "The Three Coins" are especially dancer-friendly. Any Irish dancer's ears will quickly perk up upon recognizing the hard shoe percussive rhythms in "The Three Coins," a lively reel tune written by middle sister Willow, 22.

Even the music video for "The Three Coins" displays the siblings' breezy Irish step dance style, performed hillside in cowboy boots.



What the Gothard Sisters manage to achieve in just 12 tracks is a harmonious blend of traditional Celtic with hints of Americana. There's a country-western earthiness that gives the songs a lively, approachable, down-home sound. And 16-year-old sister Solana's angelic vocals add a youthful life to otherwise somber traditional ballads or laments such as "Scarborough Fair" and "Fields of Athenry."

For the Irish dancer, "Story Girl" is a refreshing alternative to a predictable feis CD -- and it offers a few tracks that would lend themselves nicely to stage performances and casual dance-outs.

But "Story Girl" isn't just for the step dancers. It's a collection of melodious tracks from a wide spectrum of Celtic cultures with a lively modern American twist that would delight any fan of classical, Celtic or country music.

Listen to samples from the CD on iTunes, or order it on the official Gothard Sisters website.

'Irish dancer' Halloween costumes: culturally inaccurate, intentionally erotic

Each year, the same complaint about girls' and womens' Halloween costume options resurfaces: those tight-fitting, barely-there outfits are just too sexy.

Unfortunately, it's not just the "naughty cop" and "flirty fairy" costumes that are turning heads. Even the image of the Irish lass -- a traditional Irish dancer, in many cases -- is subject to hyper-sexualization. This year, it seems like more online Halloween outfitters are offering inaccurate interpretations of Irish dance gear.

Are these costumes examples of cultural confusion or intentionally tasteless fetishization of Irish step dancers?

CostumeCloset.net and StarCostumes.com offer a few of the same vaguely Irish dance-inspired costumes, some worse than others. The "Irish Lass Costume" is described on CostumeCloset.net as " just the thing for an Irish dance performance," even though it's fair to say a kitchen apron is not standard attire for the modern-day stepper.

The same site boldly hawks an "Irish Dancer Costume," which also includes a short-sleeve blouse (the CLRG and other dance organizations should laugh at such a suggestion) and a matching apron. Described in the site's text as a "premium quality Irish Dancer costume for adults," one might wonder if the costume designer ever saw an actual Irish dancer.

Spirit, one of the most recognizable online Halloween costume shops, offers some of the most blatantly sexist descriptions among the lot. For its "Iris U Luck" costume, which includes a glimmering shamrock applique on each breast, the website offers the following description:

"Get lucky in this darling green and white Iris U Luck adult women's costume. They'll be reaching for those shamrocks, that's for sure! Dance a jig in this flirty dress and live it up on Halloween."

Spirit's belly- and bust-baring Lucky Charm Womens Costume also includes a -- no surprise here -- "get lucky" reference and suggests the buyer should first "dance an Irish jig in the kicky skirt."

DanceCostumes.com jumped on the uninspired catchphrase bandwagon, instructing the buyer to "get lucky" in the Lucky Leprechaun Costume, a strapless poly-spandex skin-tight cocktail dress. "Get dancing," the description continues.

One of the most perplexing costume-accessory combinations comes courtesy of DanceCostumes.com in the form of the Dancing Leprechaun Costume. While it's safe to expect bursting bustlines and skirts barely covering the model's bottom, it's unclear why this "Irish stage production" dress includes a floppy foam hat and a green riding crop. It's clear that the costume designer was going more for green dominatrix than step dancer.

As the Google search for Irish dancer Halloween costumes continues, it becomes increasingly apparent by the automatic inclusion of a frilly apron that Halloween costume designers equate any "cultural" costume to a French maid outfit -- just in a different color, depending on the country being represented. Just about every mass-produced "Irish dancer" Halloween costume is green, which might seem like an obvious color choice, except even a newbie Irish dancer would know that custom Irish dance dresses come in virtually every color under the sun. It's almost a rarity to catch a glimpse of an all-green solo dress.

Do these costumes offend you? Or have you come to expect women's Halloween attire to be skimpy and misrepresentative? Feel free to leave your comments below.

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'Noctu': autobiography of an Irish dancer - VIDEOS

Watching Noctu was a little bit like watching bits of my life performed on stage. Talking to the show's creator-choreographer Breandan de Gallai after Saturday's evening show, I learned that was exactly the desired reaction.

Noctu, which just wrapped up a short run at Manhattan's Irish Repertory Theatre on Sunday, is what de Gallai called the autobiography of an Irish dancer. Through the eyes of three disenfranchised characters, de Gallai unveils the conflicts within every dancer, including feelings of inadequacy and simply being misunderstood, in stark contrast to joy and camaraderie.

While it surprised me that de Gallai, a legend in the Irish dance world, might've ever felt inadequate in his dancing ability, he explained that these emotions are in every dancer -- from beginners to world-class champions. De Gallai, who himself ranks among the world's most esteemed step dancers, said assuredly, "Everybody has those feelings -- the times when no matter what you do, you just feel awful."

The theme of inadequacy was personified by the lead female character, played by Australian dancer Peta Anderson. In this role, Anderson portrayed a passionate dancer whose natural skills didn't quite match up with her bursting enthusiasm for dance. In her solo, a dream sequence, she bounds gracefully across the stage. But when the dream is over, Anderson's character clumsily bops along to a few bars of a slip jig tune.

Principal dancer Callum Spencer offered an inside look at the struggles of being a male Irish dancer, who is constantly ridiculed and proactively presenting himself as macho. Still, Spencer's character is berated with homophobic slurs by his peers. The stereotype that Irish dancing is a girly activity is matched by an ironically masculine traditional hornpipe performed by Spencer, a clear athlete with a strikingly robust build.

In a related -- and "intentional" -- move, de Gallai choreographed soft shoe dances for the male dancers. Unlike Riverdance, Lord of the Dance and other popular Irish dance stage shows, de Gallai deliberately choreographed reels to be performed by the men. He said that he's sometimes stuck explaining to people that all Irish dancers -- male and female -- begin with light dances. Too often, audiences unfamiliar with traditional Irish dance mistakenly associated hard shoes with masculinity and soft soles with femininity.

"There's a lot of expression in what we do in soft shoes," he said.

There was no lack of expression, power and strength in dancer Nick O'Connell's reel, performed barefoot to a modern rendition of "I Will Survive" by Cake. This particular dance was both unexpected and exhilarating. The combination of gymnastic choreography and O'Connell's gallant stage presence was anything but delicate.

Noctu was refreshing. It was honest. De Gallai described it as an "exploration of the possibilities of Irish dance," and it was exactly that. From the contemporary soundtrack to the interculturally influenced choreography, Noctu strips Irish dance of its stuffy reputation. Yet, somehow, de Gallai's creation was in ways more traditional and representative of Irish dance than its famous step dance show predecessors.





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Up & Over It debuts new video, shows darker side of hand-dance craze

After a whirlwind year of press tours, dancing on nationally televised talent shows and appearing in a McDonald's commercial, the team from Up & Over It has delivered to the Web world another cheeky YouTube video that marks an end to the hand-dance era.

About a year ago, the Up & Over It crew -- comprising dancers Peter Harding and Suzanne Cleary, and video producer Jonny Reed -- posted its now famous "We No Speak Americano" hand-dance video on YouTube. The stone-faced dancers caught the attention of the world, and they were pitched into sudden stardom after the video became a viral hit.

In their new video "Hands," the crew references the previous year, "explores the sensationalism of Internet hype and reflects on their struggle to balance commercial success with artistic integrity," according to a statement provided by the group.

While the original intent of producing "We No Speak Americano" was to break the Irish dance mold set by shows like Riverdance and Lord of the Dance, the dancers found themselves "cornered" creatively.

“Our message has always been that professional Irish dance can be many things. It can be more than just a museum piece about the famine, more than Riverdance or Lord of the Dance, and it can be more than hand dancing,” Cleary said.

The new video, performed to the track "Hands" by the Ting Tings, marks the end of the hand-dance era for Up & Over It -- for a while at least, Harding said, adding, "the TV appearances and perceived commercial success are great, but we don’t want our work to just be consumed passively. We want to carry on contributing to Irish dance’s evolvement and its relevance in the
broader dance landscape.”

The dark imagery in "Hands," paired with the beat-up appearance of Harding and Cleary, illustrates the emotions the dancers have toward the popular view of Irish dance. Reed called these disgruntled, disheveled characters a "comment on the endless amount of carbon-copy Irish dance shows that are out there," adding that Cleary and Harding often turn to these characters when they feel like pigeon-holed, abused professional show dancers.



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Reel Swing puts a jazzy spin on traditional Irish dance

While Irish dance is evolving with each passing day, one dancer-choreographer is bringing Irish dance back a handful of decades and exploring a pivotal period in Irish-American history.

Reel Swing, choreographed and directed by Dervla McGee, is a throwback to America in the 1950s, told through the lens of the Irish immigrants who brought with them to the states a love of lively music and rhythmic dance, and a willingness to embrace cultural fusion in a new country.

The choice to highlight the swing era was easy for McGee, whose grandfather was a diehard Rat Pack fan. She was intrigued by the "looseness" of swing music, paired with the rigid movement in Irish dance. But Reel Swing, she said, "celebrates and showcases both traditions in their own right as well as creating a unique fusion of both genres."

Having toured with Riverdance and Ragus, McGee said Reel Swing is a much smaller-scale production, and that's intentional. "The intimacy and energy of the show, together with the sincerity of the storyline, allows the audience to sympathize, engage and perhaps identify with the various characters as the show unfolds," she said. And unlike the established shows with which she's toured, McGee sought to introduce a fluid call-and-answer element to Reel Swing -- a style of performance she didn't know she was capable of dancing or choreographing until studying Irish dance and music at the University of Limerick.

Upon entering the university program, McGee said guest instructor Colin Dunne helped her try new movements and approach Irish dance in an out-of-the-box manner. "I had to loosen up, to shake the feis dancing out of me," she said. "He gave me the confidence to let my feet to what I thought I couldn't do." That sort of encouragement spurred a curiosity in McGee that led her to turn a class project into a bull-blown dance show.

McGee plans to continue developing and tweaking Reel Swing while performing for audiences in Dublin and Dundalk, her hometown in Ireland. If all goes as planned and all the financial pieces fall into place, she'd like to take the show on the road -- maybe even over the pond to New York, the epicenter of America's swingin' past.

Wan to learn more about Reel Swing? Visit the show's Facebook page and enjoy the promo video below.



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Sneaky Steppers channel Banksy in new YouTube video

Ambush Irish dancers the Sneaky Steppers are back to their stealth ways with a brand new YouTube video -- a Banksy tribute video that packs a double dose of street art.

Banksy, the notorious graffiti artist who's known for using stencils and spray paint to create satirical artwork, has been an inspiration for the men of the Sneaky Steppers, so it was only a matter of time before they'd use Banksy's works as the backdrop for a video.

"His guerilla-style street art and enigmatic presence have been some of the main forces behind the ideas we have had with Sneaky Steppers and Hammerstep," said Sneaky Steppers co-founder Jason Oremus. "Banksy ambushes the public through art. We are trying to do that through dance, so it seemed fitting that we give him a shout-out. Banksy, if you're reading this, we're coming for you."



It's not just ambush art that the Sneaky Steppers and Banksy have in common; Both Banksy and Sneaky Steppers co-founder Chris Naish hail from Bristol, England. Creativity must be in the water over there.

For more info on Sneaky Steppers, a Hammerstep initiative, follow them on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

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