Oireachtas (Irish dance)

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For other usages of Oireachtas, see Oireachtas (disambiguation)

In modern Irish dance, the term Oireachtas (plural:Oireachtasai) refers to an annual championship competition. The word "oireachtas" literally means "gathering" in English.

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).

[edit] Competition structure

Dancers competing at the Oireachtas in solo events generally must achieve a certain level of competency to be eligible for the competition. What this means varies depending on which region the dancer is in. Some regions have very specific requirements, while other regions leave eligibility to the discretion of the teacher.


The solo competitions at the Oireachtas are divided by gender 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, which take place the following year in April, until they reach the U10 age group. Most often, there are over a hundred girls in each age group, and around fifty boys in their age groups. Each dancer is well qualified, so it makes for a difficult competition.

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 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.

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.

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 10 or 14 depending on the competition 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.

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