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Rearranging Irelands Public Dance Halls Act of 1935

Analytical Report for the Oireachtas By Elaine Clayton, Representative, Association of Professional Dancers in Ireland
Communication & Cultural Policy Summer 2013 SIS 645

Public Dance Halls Act, 1935

Led by the Catholic Church, Gaelic League, and Irish Government viewed private dances held in homes that incorporated jazz and other international genres to be sinful and not true, Catholic Irish tradition
Goal: To limit dancing in public areas to those with a license issued by the Irish government Enacted in 1935, slightly amended in 1997 and has not changed since

Profits from taxes on the licensed public dance halls go to the government and the Catholic church

The Act did not allow the informal house dances, crossroad dances and set dances that had been operating for generations as a source of cultural identity for Irish nationals

House dances: a common blend of storytelling, music and dance that was held at a private home; main social outlet in rural areas

Watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSGqxSdsC4w Watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyqFG0jUdYg (hard to find clip)

Crossroad dances: outdoor dances similar to house dances

Set dances: Watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_2uL57BTRs Cil: accepted, seen as authentically Gaelic overlooks the fact that it originated in Scotland, the ceiligh

Watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmkaWZ9ieGU

Harsh Limitations on Public Dancing

Section 13: Grda Sochna (police) can enter any place where license is in force at any time

But no specific reasons are listed for Grda to intrude with or accuse owners of: more dance halls can be closed as a result

Section 1.2: vague consideration criteria for application

Nearly impossible to obtain a Dance Hall license

Further Restrictions

Amendment made in the Licensing (Combating Drug Abuse) Act of 1997

Section 10 of 1935 Act altered: increased the punishment for unlicensed owners caught running dances to a higher price & jail time Larger restrictions placed on dance organizers and public dancing in general

The law in practice was patchy and hard to assess: family gatherings were intruded upon and marked as illegal, and even today large dances in private homes are intruded upon by police as well

Result: Unpopular Traditional Dances

They did not seem to realize the value of what was being lost

As these dances were not allowed, they simultaneously became unpopular with the townspeople

- Younger generations were drawn to the modern music in the licensed dance halls

- Interesting insight: http://www.youtube.com/watch ?v=VuSD6iUR7Cg

State-Run Ventures Rose in prominence

Riverdance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8EXDtoGfrs Lord of the Dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjxTTjJtXDA Comhaltas dance competitions: no videos were available, but it is a state-sponsored organization that initiates dance and music competitions many see it as poor since performers do so for the competition, not the art; but others enjoy it. Rules: http://comhaltas.ie/press_room/detail/fleadh_rules/

All three performances/competitions became popular worldwide, and the Irish tradition of music and dance became recognized through these state-run ventures. However, the shunned dances were never brought to light.

The Need to Repeal

Irish government the only entity that decides which places hold dances and which dances are truly traditional to broadcast worldwide The Act has led to the decrease of traditional Irish dance Irish dancing, whether state-sponsored or not, has already incorporated global influences that it was originally enacted to discourage Ireland is not a fully global player in the international sphere of dance and promotion of national culture

No regulations are specified to ensure Garda and others do not misinterpret provisions.