How Irish Dancing Helped Me Through Lockdown

Everything changed; and ultimately we as a society don’t know if returning to ‘normal’ is months away or even further. There is a new normal that we’re experiencing right now and it varies from country to country and even region to region. The new normal in Irish dancing is still very uncertain too; Oireachtas committees in some regions are working out how to still run their events, some organizations appear to be moving feiseanna online whilst others are moving towards organizing events that are open to the public again. For Irish dancers it’s all very uncertain right now. But there is one thing that Irish dancers have been able to rely upon, and that is their teachers. Irish dance teachers around the world have mobilized very quickly and have done everything in their power to keep their classes safe, (largely by taking classes online), informed, and prepared for whatever comes next.

For young people, a routine, consistency, goals — these are all parts of life that encourage wellbeing and positive growth. When these are taken away, potential can stagnate and things can get confusing. Take athletes for instance: many young athletes haven’t been able to practice their sport in the home environment — imagine a budding shot putter! Or a trampolinist! Fortunately our art form can be done in a smaller space if necessary. Irish dance teachers and their pupils have adapted to bringing their classes safely inside the home and thus have kept Irish dance going.

Other aspects of Irish dancing have continued to serve the community through this difficult time also. Irish dance apps, coaches, magazines, and social media outlets have all accepted the challenge and have done what they can to keep morale high in our community. And dancers of course have taken to social media to help each other!

But what effect has continuing to dance through a global pandemic had on the dancers themselves? Have apps, magazines and social media helped individual dancers to keep the Irish dancing flame alive? FEIS App caught up with 17 Irish dancers from around the world to get their viewpoint.

1. Dakota Courtney, O’Brien Academy of Irish Dance

“Irish dancing has helped me through SO many challenges in life, and that definitely didn’t stop when lockdown came into effect. My first phase of lockdown was a 14 day self isolation, when I landed back in Australia from Ireland. This mandatory self-isolation was one of the lockdown rules implemented by the Australian government for every person returning from overseas. These first 14 days were VERY lonely and boring, but I still had Irish dancing. Because there was nothing else to do, my dad came to where I was staying and made for me a makeshift dance floor! Practicing and playing around with steps every day was what made me want to get out of bed!

During this time, and even further into lockdown I also had many Irish dancing related tasks to complete, and that REALLY helped to keep me physically and mentally healthy at a time when the world had all but ground to a halt. Working with companies like FEIS App and IDM to bring some positive content to dancers at home also helped me to maintain a strong and positive mindset. Having such supportive teachers also played a big roll. It’s so hard when Irish dancing is your whole life and it’s suddenly taken away (classes and competitions), especially right before the Worlds, but they’ve helped me see the light at the end of the tunnel, and reminded me that it’s not over yet! It’s really helped to keep me positive and focused.”

2. Orla Baranowska, The Duffy Travis Academy

“Dancing is the most fun thing I do and without it I think I would be very bored during lockdown. I’m very lucky that my teachers Lorraine Duffy and Virginia Travis have continued our dance classes through Zoom while still working full time throughout lockdown. This had meant I can still see my friends from dance class while we are all online and I don’t miss them too much. And even though we are in lockdown I feel some parts of my dancing have improved. FEIS App has been really useful as I use it to practice and do my drills — I love the music that is on FEIS App and even just enjoy listening to it sometimes. Dancing has also helped me keep fit. I’ve been doing some online fitness like ‘Move with Meg’ and my teachers have set some challenges, like how many bunny hops can you do in one minute and the 5 minute plank challenge. I had my birthday during lockdown and one of my gifts was a subscription to Irish Dancing Magazine. I’ve received two copies so far and have read them cover-to-cover.”

3. Lauren Finglas, The Carson Kennedy Academy

“As we all know, lockdown was difficult and challenging in many ways. It was the fear of the unknown that completely terrified me and left a feeling of hopelessness within me. I sat at home every day, over-thinking the inevitable. I was surrounded by a worldwide pandemic, not knowing the outcome. The uncertainty of the situation is what I struggled with the most. I can honestly say, what helped push me through this challenging time was Irish dancing. It was the only thing that shifted my focus from what was happening in the world around me. It made me feel secure and certain about one thing. It was my safe haven. When I was dancing, I had no worries, no doubts; it was just me doing what I love. It made me realize that while the world was going through its darkest hour, it was Irish dancing that managed to brighten up my day.”

4. Lauren Woodbeck, Knock O’Hogan

“With all the uncertainty of the pandemic, Irish dancing has helped me to maintain balance in my life. By continuing to focus on my training, I am able to escape the stress of the lockdown. While in isolation, the virtual classes give me a sense of structure and keep me connected with my coaches and teammates. I am very thankful for all the support within the Irish dancing community during these challenging times.”

5. Lochlan Howard, The Academy

“Dancing has helped me a lot through lockdown. I live in Columbus, Ohio. Throughout the state there were strict regulations we had to follow regarding quarantine. I was lucky enough to still be able to attend class through Zoom calls generously provided by my dance teachers at The Academy. These calls kept up my fitness and basics when we couldn’t be at the studio. After all of the hard work we had put in before the World Championships, it was great to maintain the progress I had made. After the World Championships were cancelled we also had to learn our new steps, as we all had to switch dances.

This definitely helped keep me occupied because I could then work on and perfect those steps. Many of the things that we had planned have been cancelled and continue to be cancelled or delayed. However, amidst all of this unknowing, dancing was still going on, which made the world seem a bit more normal for me. Regulations are starting to get lifted little by little so it will be nice to have everything back to normal, but I will forever be thankful that I was able to keep dancing during this global pandemic.”

6. Youcef Belouazani, Carson Kennedy School

“Being in quarantine has made me realize how much I love this sport, because I would be sitting in the house doing nothing otherwise. I have had dancing to keep me occupied and my amazing teachers, who have always kept my motivation going.”

7. Lauren Wales, Kelly Hendry School

“When you’re normally dancing in the studio 20+ hours a week, it becomes very time consuming; and when you’ve been doing this for 14 years, it becomes your entire life. The dramatic shift in my schedule that came with the lockdown certainly made it difficult to continue Irish dancing; initially it appeared like an impossible task. With the 2020 World Championships being cancelled, along with not being able to see my teachers or friends, or even just move freely around the studio, lockdown was beginning to seem like the most difficult challenge I’d ever have to face; but still nothing compared to a Planxty Davis! Now looking back at my time during lockdown and how I’ve spent my days, without Irish dancing and my online zoom classes, I dread to think where I’d be! My zoom classes and fun activities with my classmates helped me not only remain fit and healthy, but also grow as a dancer. The online classes allowed me to switch off from the stress of trying to finish a Law degree during a global pandemic as well!

I know we aren’t quite through this strange and scary time, but I’m so grateful to know that Irish dancing and the studio is waiting for me when it’s over. While this period has been anything but normal, some level of normality has been maintained through my connection with dance, and I’ll treasure that forever.”

8. Colm O’Brien, Angela Brien School

“Much like every other Irish dancer globally, I struggled to find any motivation to dance at the beginning of lockdown. What did I have to dance for anymore? The World Championships had been cancelled, all tours, shows and gigs had been cancelled and even dance class had been cancelled. I struggled to find a way to retrieve the same passion I had in the weeks before lockdown dancing on stage with Riverdance every night. That was until I realized what brought me to where I am today. It wasn’t my love for performing to an audience. It wasn’t the success at feiseanna. It wasn’t the costumes. It was Irish dancing — the very basics of Irish dancing. That was what I loved most when I was a young boy learning to dance a reel or jig and still is what I love now when learning new choreography. Realizing this was what brought my motivation back to dance regularly again.

Whether it was dancing basic traditional sets or choreographing a new step or two, it did not matter, because Irish dancing is my passion. Dancing turned into what I looked forward to every day during lockdown. It was my escape from the pandemic! As soon as I put my dancing shoes on I was in my own world, where only my love of dancing existed. I strived to improve every day, and will continue to do so as there WILL be dancing after lockdown!”

9. Seoda Wang, McNelis Cunningham Boyle School

“For me, Irish dancing kept me motivated during lockdown and it gave me something to work on. I focused on learning my new dances and I worked on my new steps for when lockdown lifted and we would be able to go back to class, and hopefully, feiseanna again. It was also a good way to get exercise during quarantine!”

10. Abbie Walshe, Flynn O’Kane Academy

‘The best thing about dance is you can do it anywhere, any place and at any time, so when everything in the world was changing during lockdown, dancing was still an option. When competitions were cancelled, I got the opportunity to explore new steps, new dances and new rhythms while enjoying the new music FEIS App delivered. At the start of lockdown, honestly, it was tough to stay motivated to not only dance but to do my school work and stay fit, but as time progressed over lockdown dancing helped me to gain a daily routine and keep busy.”

11. Aaron Delaney, Callanan MacLoon O’Meara School

“Irish dancing has helped me get through lockdown by making me eat healthier with the help of The Irish Dance Coach and staying fit thanks to my amazing teachers at Callanan Mac Loone O'Meara by doing Zoom workouts every morning and Zoom dance classes.”

12. Emma Martin, Doherty Petri School

“Lockdown has been a very difficult time for everyone but the one thing different for me was that I had Irish dancing to get me through it! Some days I missed my friends, but thankfully, through the Zoom lessons created by my DP teachers, I felt that we were still together. During lockdown I had even more time at home to work on my dancing and create and choreograph new steps.”

13. Alliyah O’Hare, Scanlon School

“Through lockdown I’ve been doing lots to keep myself busy — I practice and workout every day, do drills, strength, conditioning and flexibility classes and stretch every night. Dancing has helped me as I just love to dance, so whenever I’m feeling down or bored I’m lucky enough to have a practice room in my house, so I can just go down whenever I want to and perfect and drill everything down. I love making up new moves and steps too, so it’s been fun doing all the different collabs and it’s always so insane to see them put together with the tune and effects — I feel so lucky to be asked to do all these amazing things! Also, dancing has given me so many of my closest friends and practically second family so it’s been good having more time to meet up (socially distanced of course) and have a laugh with all of them! Without dancing I would have been bored and it’s so good to have all this extra time to focus on it.”

14. Evie Roberts, Carey Academy

“If I didn’t have dancing, my teachers, and FEIS App through lockdown, I really would be crazy and bored! We didn’t do anything the first couple of weeks, and my mum had to make a space in the garage for me to practice as she is working at home and I was just bored doing school work! I would put my shoes on and try doing some treble reels. Then my dance teachers started Zoom classes twice a week for 40 minutes, and I also was able to do some 40 minute private lessons as well. This has helped me so much, and because my feet can also be seen I was able to get corrections and really work on them. We have fitness Zoom on Friday and they are killers! John and Kathleen make it so much fun, they are hard on me but then joke when I pull silly faces, or go wrong which makes me laugh! I also was asked to do a collab with David Geaney and my friend Aidan and this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It took me nearly 3 weeks! But I’m happy with how it turned out.”

15. Elliot Kwelele, McGee School

“Irish dancing has helped me to think about how to improve myself in terms of  my technique and working on my weaknesses. Not only has Irish dancing helped me to improve my dancing, it has also kept me occupied and busy in times when I had nothing to do. From doing online Zoom classes to practicing at home, I’d say that receiving critiques and corrections from my teachers has helped me to really pin point the areas in which I am not executing well or need to do better. I found it really beneficial as the teachers see much more than I may be able to see myself. It’s so important to receive corrections in order to do well and progress in the long term. Irish dancing has helped me through lockdown, improving my techniques and other aspects of my dancing. This pandemic has made me concentrate on using my time wisely and has made me realize that this is the time to become better as a dancer and as a student!”

16. Grace Clancy, Flynn O’kane Academy

“Irish dancing helped me get through lockdown as it kept me busy and helped me stay active and motivated. Through lockdown I had loads of time on my hands so I decided to set goals and focus on parts of my dancing that I needed to strengthen. I love dancing so much, but during lockdown at times it was difficult to motivate myself but thanks to the encouragement from my teachers, Bernie and Damien, this was made a lot easier with Zoom classes, but also with constant support and contact with my dancing friends; we helped each other to stay connected and encouraged. Irish dancing also helped me through the tough times when the news was filled with statistics everyday about Covid-19. Dancing helped me escape from this worry because when I start dancing I am only focused on dancing and nothing else!”

17. Caoimhe O’Halloran, Aine Murphy Academy

“How did Irish Dancing help me through lockdown?

• Routine

• Kept me motivated

• Helped me stay positive

• Helped me know that everything was going to be ok

• Helped me stay calm and relaxed

Dancing has helped me in many ways throughout lockdown. Dancing has been a part of my daily routine from day 1. After homework it is out to my studio. It has been hard on some people to stay motivated and active but dancing is one thing that helps me. I put on some motivational music and off I go. Irish Dancing has also made me stay positive and know that everything is going to be ok. When I am dancing I let all my emotions run free and I feel much better afterwards. It has also made me stay calm and relaxed about the pandemic. Dancing makes me a lot less stressed about everything that is going on around me.”

Reading about the positive effects that Irish dancing has had on this sample of Irish dancers from all around the world may very well give us an idea of its overall effect on the world-wide Irish dance community.

While crediting their amazing teachers, musicians, Irish dance health consultants, apps, magazines, and social media, these dancers were unanimous in their praise for the purpose and direction our wonderful art form has provided. Irish dancing is a way of life for many people, young and old; once embraced, it is rarely abandoned. While for the moment there are no titles, or sashes, or trophies to be won, no glitz or bright lights, it is fantastic to see that it is the dancing that ultimately matters; that it is the dancing that keeps Irish dancers going —  keeps their spirits up and their hearts beating.

FEIS App would like to thank everyone in our community for doing all they can to keep Irish dancing alive and kicking during a very challenging time.