Editing Irish dance (section)

==History==
[[File:Irish Jig, from National Dances (N225, Type 2) issued by Kinney Bros. MET DPB874573.jpg|thumb|311x311px|[[:File:Irish Jig, from National Dances (N225, Type 2) issued by Kinney Bros. MET DPB874573.jpg|Irish Jig, from National Dances (N225, Type 2) issued by Kinney Bros 1889]]]]
There is very little documentary evidence of dance being practised in Ireland prior to the 7th century; this could be due to the destruction of written records in Ireland during [[Viking]] raids.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DWVdDAAAQBAJ&q=Travelling+dancing+masters+taught+across+Ireland+in+the+16th+century&pg=PT11 |title = How to Irish Dance: (All About Irish Dancing and {{sic|It|'s|nolink=y}} History)|isbn = 9781300013914|last1 = Mosley|first1 = Sean|date = 30 January 2013}}</ref> Scholars have hypothesised this is from [[Oral tradition|non-literate]] nature of the Irish cultural tradition.{{sfn|Ó hAllmhuráin|2017|p=11}} Indeed, the modern Irish words for "dance", ''rince'' and ''damhsa'' did not develop until the 16th century.{{sfn|Ó hAllmhuráin|2017|p=16}} The scant evidence available is primarily that of visitors to Ireland, such as a fourteenth-century song written in the [[South of England]], where the poet invites his listeners to "come ant daunce wyt me in Irlaunde".{{sfn|Brennan|1999|p=15}} The first native Irish documentary evidence of dancing is an account of a [[Mayor of Waterford]]'s visit to [[Baltimore, County Cork|Baltimore]], [[County Cork]] in 1413, where the attendees "took to the floor" to celebrate [[Christmas Eve]].{{sfn|Ó hAllmhuráin|2017|p=16}} However, the [[Norman invasion of Ireland]] in the twelfth century may have brought with it the [[Round dance (ballroom)|round dance]] tradition, as it was contemporaneously performed in British camps while every now and then being seen in a Norman stronghold.{{sfn|Whelan|2000|p=9}}

Accounts of dancing in the 17th century means that dancing was by that time extremely widespread throughout Ireland.{{sfn|Brennan|1999|p=18}}  In 1674 [[Richard Head]] wrote in reference to Ireland, 'In every field a fiddle, and the lasses footing till they all of a foam,' suggesting some type of Irish dancing or dance with heavy foot movement.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Breathnach|first=A S|date=September 1971|title=The Herman Beerman Lecture|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1523-1747.ep12261482|journal=Journal of Investigative Dermatology|volume=57|issue=3|pages=133–143|doi=10.1111/1523-1747.ep12261482|pmid=5094723|issn=0022-202X|doi-access=free}}</ref> There is ample evidence of Irish jigs or Irish dancing in the 16th century, in 1569 Sir Henry Sydney sent a letter to Queen Elizabeth in which he expresses his enthusiasm for the Irish jigs, or fiddle of Galway.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.libraryireland.com/IrishMusic/XVI.php|title = Anglo-Irish Music in the Sixteenth Century}}</ref> A report from 1600 mentions that some forms of Irish dances were similar in form to [[English country Dance|English country dances]],{{sfn|Brennan|1999|p=16}} and later references mention the "''[[Rinnce Fada|rinnce fada]]''", also known as the "long dance" or "fading".{{sfn|Brennan|1999|p=18}} This dance, performed to a jig tune though not to any particular piece of music, became the customary conclusion to balls held in Ireland towards the end of the seventeenth century.{{sfn|Ó hAllmhuráin|2017|p=33}} At this time, dancing was commonly accompanied by musicians playing [[bagpipes]] or the [[Jew's harp]].{{sfn|Ó hAllmhuráin|2017|p=26}}
By the 1760s, the distinctive hornpipe rhythm of the Irish dance tradition had developed,{{sfn|Brennan|1999|p=22}} and with the introduction of the fiddle to Ireland from the European continent, a new class of "dancing master" began to emerge.{{sfn|Ó hAllmhuráin|2017|p=33}} Reference to the Irish fiddle can also be found in John Dunton's ''[[Teague Land|Teague Land: or A Merry Ramble to the Wild Irish]]'' (1698) he says “on Sundays and Holydays, all the people resorted with the piper and fiddler to the village green, suggesting the fiddle was introduced to Ireland much earlier then 1760.

[[File:Chestnuts Folk Day 1985-2.jpg|thumb|200px|Irish musicians and dancers, 1985]]
The dancing traditions of Ireland probably grew in association with [[Folk music of Ireland|traditional Irish music]]. Although its origins are unclear, it was possibly later influenced by dance forms from the Continent, such as the ''[[Quadrille]]''. Travelling dancing masters taught across Ireland as late as the 18th and early 19th centuries. Because local venues were usually small, dances were often demonstrated on tabletops, or even the tops of barrels. As a result, these early styles are characterised by the arms held rigidly at the sides, and a lack of lateral movement. As larger dance venues became available, styles grew to include more movement of the body and around the dance area.