Rearranging Irelands Public Dancehalls Act of 1935

Analytical Report for the Irish Fine Gael, 2013

Elaine Clayton 6/23/2013

International Communication and Cultural Policy SIS 645 Dr. Shallini Venturelli Summer 2013

Table of Contents
Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 1 The Current Policy: The Public Dancehalls Act of 1935 ............................................................... 1 Expert Analysis ............................................................................................................................... 2 Final Policy Recommendation ........................................................................................................ 3 Concluding Remarks (future research needed and international implications) Error! Bookmark not defined.

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Executive Summary
The first line on the EU Presidency 2013 websites section on Irish life Dance states that, Ireland has a strong dance tradition: it is no coincidence that one of the most renowned Irish exports is Riverdance[which] has put traditional Irish dancing on the international map (eu2013.ie). Irelands cultural sector on dance has grown substantially as a result of this Eurovision winner in 1994. The Public Dancehalls Act of 1935 is one of the major contributors to this export, allowing the institutionalization of traditional Irish dance and recognition on a global scale. Despite its effect on institutionalizing and promoting traditional Irish dance on a global scale, however, the Public Dancehalls Act has not been changed, except for three minor amendments in 1997, since its inception in 1935. Its goal is to limit dancing in public areas to those who carry a license issued by the Irish government. Many controversies have sparked from this Act, including questions of what defines traditional Irish music and opinions on cultural nationalism by the public and private sectors. The current government of Ireland, the Irish Fine Gael party, has been called upon to reform the specific cultural policy aimed at closely monitoring and regulating dance in public spaces.

The Current Policy: The Public Dancehalls Act of 1935

The Facts: Limitations on Public Dancing The first, and only, amendment made to the Public Dancehalls Act in 1997 was within the Licensing (Combating Drug Abuse) Act. This amendment changed section 10 of the Public Dancehalls Act, the liability to the owner of a venue that organized a public dance without a license. Originally, the owner would be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding ten pounds for every day or part of a day on or during which such place is so used (original act). The Licensing Act changed this, raising to liabilities on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding 1,500 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or both, or on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding 10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years, or both (amendment). The owner is also entitled to a defense that he or she had no knowledge that their place was being used for public dancing if prosecuted. This amendment has created a harsher punishment for unlicensed hosts of public dancing, with public dancing being defined as dancing which is open to the public and in which persons present are entitled to participate actively. This poses a larger threat to dance organizers and is interesting to note given that the nation had become relatively more liberal and increased freedoms during the Celtic Tiger economic boom around 1997. Furthermore, section 13 explains that the national police, the Grda Sochna has the right to enter any place where a license is in force at any time while such place is being used for public dancing or at any other reasonable time and there make such inspection, examination, and inquiry as he shall think proper (1935 act). If this is prevented, the court can issue the owner a fine not to exceed 1,500. This price was raised by the amendment on section 11 of the original Act from five pounds. Allowing the Grda this provision has the potential of leading to closing of dancehalls that have receive the licensing since the Grda are not closely regulated (Nightlife Report). Finally, Section 1.2 lays out somewhat vague consideration criteria for those applying for a public dancing license. The Justice of the District Court, the deciding official, may bring up any other matter which may appear to him to be relevant along with listed matters including

the character and the financial and other circumstances of the applicant, the facilities currently existing in the neighborhood of the applicant, the accommodation for the parking of vehicles in the neighborhood, the approximate age of those who will be using the public dancing space, and the hours the applicant proposes public dancing can be permitted. The Justice of the District Court therefore has extreme power in issuing public dancing licenses, especially with section 4 stating how he or she can insert in such license conditions limiting the days on which and the hours during which the place to which such license relates may be used for public dancing. With these strict licensing rules, it is nearly impossible to be accepted for a dancehall license. (Fleming 734) Action Items and Goals The Public Dancehalls Act of 1935s policy provision is for the licensing, control, and supervision of places used for public dancing, and other matters connected with them. The Act lays out the steps for doing so, including the progression as follows: - At least one month before the hearing at the District Court for the grant of a public dancing license, the applicant must publish a notice with his/her intention in a newspaper that circulates in the district the application relates to. - The license is granted by a Justice of the District Court, where conditions and restrictions can be placed as he/she sees proper, in particular limiting the days and hours the place may be used for public dancing. - The license is granted for a defined period of time, and is in force for the defined period and no longer. (Irish Statute Book) The goal was to control the influences from other countries deemed unsuitable for mixing with what the government named traditional Irish dancing. The Act was also instated to control public dancing, ensuring it was only carried out in properly licensed venues.

Expert Analysis
The Invented Tradition of the Modern Nation State (cultural nationalism) Most, if not all, of the expert literature on the Public Dancehalls Act of 1935 view the Act as being detrimental to true Irish traditional music and dance. Resisting Cultural claims that the Act outlawed the hose dance, a common blend of storytelling, music and dance that was held at a private home, the main social outlet in rural Ireland up until the Act was passed (resisting cultural). The Gaelic League, founded in 1893 to promote Irish language and culture, was one of the major players who banned a form of dance called set dancing because it was perceived to have foreign origins. The cil dances, however, were seen as authentically Gaelic, even though the set dancing was performed at local crossroads (footnote to define) and in homes. DanceWork found irony in this, however, since out of the nearly 150 cil and set dances danced today, only 4 have been continuously used as social dance forms for the past century. The Catholic Church was a major player, claiming that unsupervised dances allowed new dance styles from abroad that were seen as promoting licentious behavior (resisting cultural). Dancing on the Hobs stated that with the private and unlicensed dance halls that opened in towns and villages came the anti-jazz crusade led by the Gaelic Leaguers, Irish Irelanders, and Catholic Church to rid the country of foreign importations from the vilest dens of London, Paris and New York (dancing on the hobs).

As a result of this Act, dance moved from the local to the national setting. It began to promote Catholicism and Celtic origins even more; costumes were changed from ordinary clothes to bright costumes with Celtic motifs, covering the body so all attention was drawn to the Irish designs, promoting a rigid group identity at the expense of any assertions of individual style (Fleming 734). This became a nation-building strategy, inventing new traditions for traditional Irish dance that could not, in fact, be traced to any period in Irish history (O something in Fleming). Economic Factors Now taken to the national arena, both the Church and the government received financial profit for licensing dances (Fleming, ). Once the Act was passed, the clergy started to build parish halls to house the now licensed public dances, and the state collected taxes (rabble). Those in the country who had grown up on traditional music, storytelling, and dancing did not view the parishes as natural places of enjoyment. Further Controversies How the ban on public dancing was enforced created controversy as well, affecting public perceptions of traditional music (McCann 2002:82). Crossroad dancing was overlooked. It has become practically impossible to hold dances without the sanction of the trinity of clergy, police and judiciary (Smyth). Enforcement was seemed to be patchy and the overall effect is hard to assess (Ibid.) The Grda Sochna and local clergy even went as far as to act on gatherings of friends and neighbors as if they were illegal activities, directing these gatherings to licensed dances (rabble). The Department of Justices files were released in the 1980s and 1990s that showed disturbing insights into confused interpretations of the act by its handlers, 43 years after the Act was enacted (dancing on the hobs). Once housed in the Public Records Office in Dublin, controversial documents began to appear, such as a tirade delivered before the Criminal Law Amendment Committee in 1931 (OHallmhurain, 2005, 11). These documents were mysteriously omitted from the file (Ibid.). Irish dancing became institutionalized, especially highlighting competitive dance, and the Act promoted a more restricted version of Irish dancing than ever before (dance-work). Bishops would explicitly point out the moral dangers that modern commercial dance halls represented, valorizing traditional Irish dance (celi) (dance-work).

Final Policy Recommendation

It can be argued that the Fianna Fil-led Irish government was utilizing the culturalnationalist global communication policy model as identified by Dr. Shalini Venturelli. By enforcing the Public Dancehalls Act, the public sphere sought to preserve the national culture of Ireland and collective national interest, even though the traditional culture was re-invented into new ways of set dancing and promotions such as Riverdance. This collectivist notion was led mainly by the Catholic Clergy and the Grda Sochna, promoting a new aesthetic tradition expressed from the Catholic religion and invented Irish tradition. The State obviously intervened in regulation of public dancing, and is still doing so today, at the expense of individual rights to what many rural Irishmen and women considered to be true traditions of Ireland. Harsh amendments made in 1997 are also still in place today despite the fact that the current Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, recently stated that he, is a Taoiseach who happens to be

Catholic but not a Catholic Taoiseach (http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/enda-kennyinsists-i-am-not-a-catholic-taoiseach-29339843.html). Therefore, as the structure of the government has changed and its focus on the Catholic Church has digressed, the Public Dancehalls Act of 1935 is in need of repeal. This Act has led to the decease of traditional Irish dance, such as the crossroads dances and the common social activity of dancing in homes that has carried on for centuries. Today, it is affecting the cultural nationalism of Ireland since the Irish government is still the only entity that decides on which places can hold dances and consequently has discouraged the advancement of truly traditional Irish music and dance throughout the world. With the increase in globalization, emigration and media influences have permeated into the country and are still being shunned by this Act. According to the expert advice stated above, the Act seems to assume that any public dancing not deemed proper for a license is inherently against the societal norm, and the Catholic religion. However, in reality, crossroad dancing and cil were used for decades to pass down the Irish culture through generations. Set dance has a strong Scottish origin, and Riverdance incorporates dances from around the world to highlight the Irish Diaspora and show the audience how dances around the world are interconnected. It is also interesting to note how the Act was created to stop foreign influence from permeating into Ireland, but the most popular current dance, Riverdance, has skyrocketed in popularity as a state-run venture.

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