Hundreds of Irish dancers descend on Florida Gulf Coast University this weekend for the university’s first Irish Dance competition. It’s hosted by Southwest Florida’s Celtic Spirit School of Irish Dance in Naples.
Catherine and Claire Gorman opened the school in 2010. After watching Riverdance on TV when they were kids, the sisters traveled to study Irish dance in Miami. They have been training and competing ever since. They now rent two practice spaces, in Naples and Marco Island, and teach more than 30 students of all ages.
Claire received her certification as an Irish dance instructor three years ago. She said even at a young age, she knew Irish dance would be something they would do for the rest of their lives.
“We do it in the evenings,” said Claire. “We do it on top of our regular job, but when you find something that you really enjoy, and then have the opportunity to pass on to another generation, it’s such a unique experience and absolutely something we want to continue to do.”
One of the main features of Irish dance is the way in which the dancers hold their upper bodies still. Claire said the movement stems from the English occupation of Ireland and its subsequent oppression of Irish culture.
“It’s this physical manifestation of that oppression,” said Claire. “Where you do not move your upper body when you dance, but your lower body will move quickly.”
This is commonly called “fire and ice.”
Claire said each dance step is specific to the dance school itself and music plays an important role. The difficulty of the steps correlates directly to the speed and timing of the music. The faster the pace, the more difficult the steps.
Celtic Spirit School students learn both Irish social dance, or céilí, and competition solo dance, known more commonly as Irish step dance. Claire said there are some major differences between the two.
“In céilí dancing the movements of the steps remain the same, so you could pick up a partner and everybody knows the same steps,” said Claire. “In competitive dancing the steps are proprietary. They belong to each specific school and are choreographed for that school and sometimes for that specific dancer.”
Two types of shoes are worn for Irish step dance: soft shoes, much like ballet flats and hard shoes. Catherine said hard shoes have a fiberglass tip and heel that resonate sound.
“In competition and in traditional Irish dancing, it’s really only the fiberglass that allows you to hear that noise and produce a lot of bruises when you’re learning how to get those clicks,” said Catherine.
The first Feiseanna, or Irish Dance competition, at Florida Gulf Coast University this Saturday is all about competition solo dance. More than 100 dancers of all levels from schools across Florida will perform alone in front of judges.
One of them will be Melissa Fuller, a senior at Palmetto Ridge High School in Naples. She was one of the first dancers at Celtic Spirit School seven years ago. She went to one practice and immediately fell in love, but Fuller said it takes a lot of practice.
“If you don’t practice you can definitely tell in dance class,” said Fuller. “You can definitely tell when you perform.”
Fuller practices 2 to 3 times a week. She said training for a competition is much more intense than preparing for a parade or a show.
“It’s nerve-wracking, like I’ll tell you right there before you go on you’re just biting your tongue like, ‘I don’t want to mess up, I don’t want to fall, I don’t want to do anything,’ but you sit there, as soon as you’re finished, you point and bow and it’s just like the stress comes off and you’re just like, ‘wow, I just nailed that step,’” said Fuller.
Dance instructor Catherine Gorman said solo dancers like Fuller wear big, curly wigs that give the illusion of height to the judges, poodle socks, which are white under the knee socks with bubbles and ridges on them and non-traditional, almost pageant-like competition dresses. The solo dresses are individually made and can cost up to $3,000.
“Lots of glitter and beadwork with knot work, but remember that it’s meant to grab the judge’s attention, so it’s the kind where when we perform locally in the parades, spectators are blinded by all of the sunlight dancing off of the sequins all over the dresses,” said Catherine.
Dance instructor Claire Gorman said it’s the students who make them want to keep teaching Irish dance. But they keep their day jobs at FGCU. Catherine is a mentoring and special programs coordinator. Claire works at the Foundation.
The Irish Dance Competition runs from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Saturday at FGCU’s Cohen Center Ballroom.