ITMA are delighted to make available a digital edition of Micheal Tubridy's A selection of Irish traditional step dances (2018).
The steps in this book come from people who learned their dancing in the old school, in the early part of the 20th century, and this form is generally described as Traditional Irish Step Dancing. It is a form of dancing which is not really competition orientated, even though the odd competition is held, so there is no need for a stiff body posture. The arms may hang loosely by the side, the body be held in its natural upright position, and the legs should always be bent slightly at the knees, to give a bounce or spring or easy style to the step.
Michael Tubridy, from the introduction to the 2nd edition
In 1998 Brooks Academy published the first edition of this book, which used a unique notation system devised by Michael to describe step dances which he and his wife Céline had learned from dance masters Dan Furey (1910−1994) and James Keane (1917−2000). Both men, from Labasheeda, Co Clare, perpetuated an older style of traditional step dancing. Michael and Céline brought this local tradition to another generation through teaching in Ireland and abroad. In 2007 they released an instructional DVD Step Dancing with Céline and Michael Tubridy. In 2018 Micheal published a second edition of the book and another DVD, with a further 9 dances.
Michael Tubridy has generously allowed ITMA to publish the DVD recordings and his notation, and this page brings together the learning tools for all 18 dances from the book.
For each dance there is a video recording at normal dance tempo first, followed by a performance at a slower tempo for learning purposes. Individual steps are isolated and slowed to highlight certain phrases of the dance. Voice-over instructions can be heard from Michael and Céline throughout the videos. Links to the individual steps are available when viewed on the ITMA YouTube channel.
Each dance also has a PDF download of the steps in notation, as it appeared in the printed book. A PDF download of the full book is also available.
ITMA would like to thank Michael Tubridy, and his late wife Céline, for permission to publish this material on its website.
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