"Dancing," thundered one parish priest in 1670,
"is a thing that leads to bad thoughts and evil actions.
It is dancing that excites the desires of the body.
In the dance are seen frenzy and woe,
and with dancing thousands go to the black hell."

A brief history of Irish dancing

The earliest written reference to dancing in Ireland comes from about 1300. Unfortunately, it doesn't say anything in specific detail .

In the mid-16th century there are references to the Rinnce Fada, which means "long dance". The Rinnce Fada, or "fading" continues to be mentioned in literature throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. There are also references to jigs, roudelays, heys, and trenchmores.

The 18th and 19th centuries saw the rise of the dancing master. Dance teachers (the dancing masters) would travel from town to town (or village to village), staying about 6 weeks in a place, teaching dancing. Dancing masters would sometimes compete with each other for the right to teach in a particular area. They would dance their steps and whichever one could dance more steps won. Dancing competitions frequently happened on small spaces, such as the top half of a door laid on the ground. More interestingly, sometimes the surfaces were soaped to make it more challenging. The dancing masters were probably responsible for the development of both the ceíli dances and the set dances.

The 20th century saw the rise of "standardized" Irish dancing. The ceíli dances were standardized, definitely at a loss to regional variations and probably to historical accuracy. The An Coimisiún le Rincí Gaelacha produced a series of books which have the standard ceíli dances in them..The dances that were danced consisted of those that were popular at the time. Quadrilles and Waltzes were danced to Irish music by a company of doctors, journalists and civil servants and their wives and women (attendance was by invitation only). What we now refer to as Céilí dances were almost completely unknown outside of Kerry and Donegal and were not performed at this first Céilí. It is interesting to note that a few years later, the Irish Gaelic League banned the practice of dancing foreign dances like quadrilles in favor of more authentic Irish dances.

The Gaelic League was created to restore the Irish image following the Great Famine and to preserve such cultural aspects of Irish life as their language, music, and dances. Consequently, they frowned upon the undisciplined dancing style that was often seen at a crossroad dance or in one's kitchen, and many such wild evenings were accompanied by drinking. The League instituted very rigid rules for 'proper' dancing including strictly regulated footwork (promenade step, side step and rising step), posture (holding the arms straight at the sides), and dress.

As mentioned above, the old set dances or quadrilles were frowned up on and were eventually banned in favor of more authentic Irish dances. A group of dances from the Counties of Kerry and Donegal formed the core of dances we now refer to as Céilí dances. These included several 4, 8, 12, and 16-hand reels, 4-hand jigs, Rinnce Fada, Rinnce Mór, Walls of Limerick, Resin the Bow, and High Caul Cap. Later, others were invented and added to them (Siege of Ennis, Bridge of Athlone, Haste to the Wedding). It wasn't until the 1930's, however, that these were referred to as Céilí dances. In 1969, 30 of these dances were published in a book entitled "Ar Rinncidhe Fóirne" (Our Figure Dances) which is the official publication of the Irish Dancing Commission.

While set dances were frowned upon for many years, they never died out, and since the 1970's have again become more popular than the Céilí dances. Set and Céilí dances have a common ancestry, i.e. French quadrilles, although set dances are much older. Modern set dances differ from Céilís in that, while a Céilí is one complete dance, a set dance may consist of 3-7 distinct figures with a break between each one. Figures may all be done to one type of music (e.g. reels) or a mixture of reels, jigs, hornpipes, slides, and polkas. Different steps are used in set dances as well. While the promenade step is seen in sets, the side step and jig step are not.

Today, one can find set dancing in almost any part of the country.

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