How to learn how to irish step dance
How I did it: I learned it the non-traditional way, through a dance school that taught Irish soft-shoe and hard-shoe in terms of the french classical ballet as well as tap. They thought it would be easier to have us learn it that way.
However, I started doing tap at the age of four and then joined ballet at the age of nine. When I was thirteen I auditioned for the beginner's hard-shoe class. I did not make it. I went an auditioned when I was fourteen and made it. Throughout my three years of Irish Hard Shoe dancing, I quickly made my way to the highest level hard-shoe Irish class.
It took me only two months to get the basics of this form of dance into impeccable form.
Lessons & tips:
- Practice keeping your feet pointed out. Otherwise, it looks bad if you have them parallel or pigeon-toed. To help this take Ballet lessons.
- Take tap dancing lessons, as Irish step and American tap are very similar.
- While sitting down, raise your legs in front of you. Point your toes out and click your heels together. This exercise is very helpful when you learn the 'click' which is not used until hard-shoes.
Resources: Richard's School of the Dance in Oshkosh, WI.
