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Encyclopedia > Oireachtas (Irish dance)

In modern Irish dance, the term Oireachtas (plural:Oireachtasai) refers to an annual championship competition. The word "oireachtas" literally means "gathering" in English.
Irish dancers at St. ... Championship is a term used to refer to various forms of sports competitions in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion; that is, the best competitor. ... Competition is the act of striving against another force for the purpose of achieving dominance or attaining a reward or goal, or out of a biological imperative such as survival. ...


In North America, Oireachtasai are qualifying events for the World Irish Dance Championship competition (Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne). Each dancer must compete in the Oireachtas of his or her geographical region. There are seven competition regions in North America: New England, Eastern (Mid-Atlantic), Mid-America (Midwest), Southern, Western United States, Eastern Canada, and Western Canada. These regions are overseen by the Irish Dance Teachers' Association of North America (IDTANA), which is under the auspices of An Coimisiún le Rinci Gaelacha (CLRG), the (international) Irish dance commission. Each region has its own officers, who contribute to organizing the Oireachtas. Usually each region's Oireachtas moves annually to different cities around the region, and area schools will serve as "hosts." Teachers and parent volunteers from host schools will typically set up and tear down stages, register dancers and man the stages, run the tabulation and results rooms, and do other various tasks to keep the competition running smoothly. Depending on the size of the region, Oireachtas events may last one to four days. The competitions are usually held in November or December, and qualify dancers for the Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne of the following year (usually held during Holy Week). This article is about the region in the United States of America. ... Red shows states east of the Mississippi River, pink shows states not fully eastern or western The U.S. Eastern states are the states east of the Mississippi River. ... The Mid-Atlantic region of the United States of America, located in the northeastern section of the country, includes the following states and district: Delaware Maryland New Jersey New York Pennsylvania Washington, D.C. West Virginia Virginia These areas provided the young United States with heavy industry and served as... The Midwest is a common name for a region of the United States of America. ... The Midwest is a common name for a region of the United States of America. ... General Census definition: The Census Bureau official, general perspective of all the Southern states. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Eastern Canada, defined politically. ... Western Canada is a geographic region of Canada, also known as simply the West, generally considered to be west of the province of Ontario. ... Empty page!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We don,t know anything about it. ...


Competition structure

Dancers competing at the Oireachtas in solo events generally must achieve a certain level of competency to be eligible for the competition, but nowhere is a measure of competency for the Oireachtas made explicit. Rather, the decision of a dancer's readiness for the Oireachtas is necessarily made by the dancer's instructor (a TCRG), who conducts all registration for the competition. Look up solo in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...


The solo competitions at the Oireachtas are divided by sex and age. While the youngest age group is U8 (that is, the child was under the age of 8 on January 1 of the calendar year), dancers cannot qualify for the World Championship until they reach the U10 age group. In many of the girls' divisions, age groups are further split into "A" and "B" groups. This split is at the discretion of the chairpersons, and is generally done by birthday. January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... According to the Gregorian calendar, the calendar year begins on January 1 and ends on December 31. ...


There are three rounds in the Oireachtas solo competitions. There is a light shoe round, a hard shoe round, and a callback round. The order of the light shoe and hard shoe rounds are variable, depending on the competition. For the light shoe round, boys invariably dance a 48-bars of a reel, but girls' competitions may require either a reel or a slip jig. In case of a slip jig, only 40 bars are danced. The requirement of reel or slip-jig depends on the age group; usually it alternates each year. The possible dances for the hard shoe round for both girls' and boys' competitions are treble jig and hornpipe. Once again, the required hard shoe dance for each year is determined by age group. For girls, reel and hornpipe generally coincide in any given year, and hence slip jig and treble jig coincide. For treble jig, the dancer is required to perform 48 bars; for hornpipe, the standard is 40 bars. This movie film reel has film wrapped around it. ... This movie film reel has film wrapped around it. ... The slip jig is one the four most common Irish Step dances - the others being the reel, the jig and the hornpipe. ... A treble jig is a dance in hard shoes that is preformed to music with a 6/8 time signature Categories: Dance stubs ... The term hornpipe refers to one of several dance forms played and danced in Britain and elsewhere from the late 17th century until the present day. ...


Rounds for most age groups are performed 2 dancers at a time, but now it is customary for younger age groups to dance 3 at a time in the larger regions. Each round has a panel of 3 judges (ADCRGs). (Note: The panels rotate between rounds, so each competitor receiving a recall is scored by a total of 9 adjudicators.)


After all the dancers in the competition have performed their first two rounds, the scores are tabulated. Approximately half the competition will receive a "recall" to dance their third round. The third round is a non-traditional set dance (for dancers in U8 and U9 a traditional set is required in lieu of a non-traditional set). The set dances are performed one at a time. Set dances, sometimes called country sets, are a popular form of folk dancing in Ireland. ...


After all three rounds are completed, the scores are tabulated. Usually the results are announced in a big ceremony at the end of the day's events. Qualification for the World Championships is decided as follows: The top 3 dancers from each competition qualify for the World Championships, and 1 for every 10 competitors who danced in the competition. In addition, any World or Nationals medal holder is automatically qualified for the World Championships, so the age group receives one additional qualifying spot for every medal holder.


While the majority of the competitions in the Oireachtas are solo events, schools can also bring teams to compete in eight-hand dance, four-hand dance, figure choreography, and dance drama competitions. Competition at the Oireachtas is sufficient to qualify the team to compete at the World Championships.


External links


  Results from FactBites:
 
Irish dance: Information from Answers.com (1081 words)
Irish social dance is a living tradition, and variations in the way a particular dance is danced are found across the Irish dance community; in some places, dances are deliberatley modified and new dances are choreographed.
Some of the céilí dances are named after the traditional Irish tunes to which they are most-frequently danced, others after the region of Ireland they were developed in, and others indicate the kind of music and/or the size of the dance.
The céilí dances were heavily influenced by French quadrille dances, and many are danced in the same formation, but many are danced in longways sets or sets of different sizes.
  More results at FactBites »

 

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