Irish dance catches on at performing arts center
VALENCIA — The noise crashes off the walls of the practice studio at the Pine Tree Performing Arts Center.
The cacophony is caused by tap shoe-clad feet slamming down onto the wooden floor in ever faster and more intricate steps.
This is only one class of eight Irish dance students. Imagine what all four classes of 25 students of Irish dancing would sound like stepping together.
Irish dance classes aren't just popular around St. Patrick's Day. They're filled year-round.
Jill Sweet, owner of the center at 1161 Pittsburgh Road, said her facility has been teaching Irish dance since 2005.
It was added to a curriculum that includes tap, ballet, jazz, contemporary, lyrical and hip-hop dance classes, said Sweet.
Sweet credits Michael Flatley and his “Riverdance” touring stage show with sparking an interest in Irish dance in Butler County.
“After 'Riverdance,' I started looking for an instructor to teach Irish dance,” said Sweet. “The first class was 10 girls in third through fifth grade.”
But Sweet said, after that inaugural class performed at Pine Tree's annual June recital, the number of students doubled.
Presently, Pine Tree boasts the four classes of Irish dance taught by Melissa Barton, 20, of Shaler, herself a student of the Bell School of Irish Dance in Warrendale, Allegheny County.
“Classes are not broken down by age but by skill level,” said Sweet.
“Our version is done with tap shoes,” said Sweet. “It's very loud, very synchronized and very, very detailed.
“When you get them together, it sounds like it fills the recital hall,” Sweet said.
Irish dance can be divided into social and performance forms. It's characterized by rapid leg and foot movements while the body and arms remain relatively still.
Dances can either be in soft shoe or hard shoe.“There is an Irish dance curriculum that some studios follow. This is the social form,” said Sweet.She described the dance Pine Tree teaches as “nontraditional Irish step. Imagine 'Riverdance' for age-appropriate dancers.”It made quite an impression on the recital audience that day at Butler Intermediate High School.“There's a specific appeal to the audience. They erupt when the Irish dancers come on,” Sweet said.The beauty and challenge of Irish dance, according to Sweet, is “it's not stationary. They are moving all the time, they change formations.”“They not only have to master the steps, but master them quickly and cleanly. It is one thing to learn a step, another to execute it,” Sweet said.Sound plays a part in teaching Irish dancing, Sweet said.“The students will stop momentarily to get direction and then it's right back at it,” Sweet said. “They (the instructors) make them go down the line to make sure they have the correct number of sounds, and then they put it together as a group and keep refining.”Sweet said tap dancing experience translates well over to Irish dancing.While performing, Irish dancers often need dresses, wigs and elaborate hair styles for competition. Sweet said her students just need tap shoes and comfortable dance clothing.“We do not do parades or Irish dance competitions,” said Sweet.Pine Tree Irish dance instructor Barton said she has been studying Irish dance for 12 years.“I like it because it is athletic and challenging,” she said. “It is unique and, of course, I make really good friends. I like the hard shoes because it has technique, as well as rhythms. It keeps me in shape, too.”“When I was 7, I saw Irish dancers at Busch Gardens in Virginia,” Barton said. “I thought they sounded like coconuts. When I first started lessons, it wasn't my favorite activity at the time, but I kept going. I definitely didn't enjoy it as much as I did when I got older. My life goal was to make the world championships.”It's a goal that she will achieve over Easter in London when she will compete in the Irish Dance World championships against 100 other dancers.“I qualified in the Mid-America region in November,” Barton said.“You had to perform a reel in soft shoe and a hornpipe in hard shoe for a panel of three judges,” said Barton.“I would like to teach Irish dance for my life,” said Barton, who's a sophomore at Allegheny County Community College majoring in early childhood education. She is contemplating transferring to Slippery Rock University in the fall.“I might need to get a job as a teacher,” said Barton if her dream to get hired in a professional Irish dance troop doesn't come true.“I'm close but I'm not there yet,” said Barton.
