Learning How To Irish Dance!

When I say I learned how to Irish dance this past weekend, I mostly mean that I got to watch professional Irish dancers do what they do so well before horribly botching a simplified version of what they were doing – mercifully surrounded by at least four bachelorette parties of girls dancing just as terribly as myself. 

Allow me to explain – my roommate and I signed up for an Irish dance party with other international students at our school. I knew what Irish dancing was as I had seen it performed before but wasn’t sure what level of seriousness to expect from the class we signed up for. As a former dancer, I was more than ready to show up sporting athletic wear with my ballet slippers in hand. (Yes, I brought my ballet slippers all the way to Ireland for God knows what purpose. Perhaps, subconsciously, for exactly this purpose.)

Instead, though, I found a thoroughly relaxed environment – a downstairs room filled with (and no I’m not exaggerating) at least four different bachelorette parties, a bar, flashing lights, a dance floor and a stage. 

All of us enjoyed live Irish music, watched four professional Irish dancers perform for us and laughed both at and with one another as we all attempted to remember the order of the steps the dancers had literally just taught us. 

In addition to kicking my roommate at least twice, I completely made a fool of myself surrounded by people doing exactly the same, which really is the most wonderful environment to make a fool of yourself in. 

This all took place through The Irish Dance Party located in the lower level of O’Sheas. The cost of a student ticket is 12 euros but regular priced tickets are 20. If you’re interested in booking one, check out this link.

In all honesty, this isn’t something I’d say you absolutely have to do when you visit Ireland, but if you’re interested in Irish dancing, have a big group of friends and are willing to spend a pretty penny on food and drinks (unlike me), I’m confident you would thoroughly enjoy yourself. 

We learned three combinations while there but mostly just walked away with the knowledge of how to do one of the most basic Irish dance steps, which is just enough to make it seem like you know what you’re doing. And isn’t that all we really need anyways?