That’s a wrap! We had a great first summer dance intensive throughout the month of July. It was wonderful working with this group of students and I’m already looking forward to next year!
The summer dance intensive gave advanced Irish step dancers an opportunity to build technique, style, and repertoire through exploration within a variety of styles. Styles included feis style step dance, show style (e.g., Riverdance), and festival style step dance (Northern Ireland). Students learned how each style contributes to Irish dance today and how we can incorporate ideas and techniques from each into our own dancing. The goal was to work toward a holistic understanding of Irish dance to create stronger performers and well-informed traditional dancers.
Each class included 30-45 minutes of intensive conditioning and technique drills. The rest of the class was focused on building repertoire drawn from the above styles. We finished the series by creating a short group performance choreography together, borrowing ideas from each of the styles explored throughout the month.
Check out the highlights below!