Fears for the future of Irish dancing
THE future of Irish dancing is in a ‘precarious situation’ and classes should be allowed during Level 3 Covid restrictions, politicians were told yesterday.
Under Level 3 rules, which the country is expected to enter next week, exercise and dance classes will still not be allowed as people will only be allowed to train individually.
Orfhlaith Ní Bhriain, vice chair of An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha (CLRG) – the competitive Irish dancing governing body – told an Oireachtas committee yesterday that dance had been singled out for ‘harsh treatment’ and f uture dancers were being lost.
Ms Ní Bhriain said: ‘We have not been able to hold in-person dance classes since we entered Level 5. A return to Level 3 still precludes us from teaching indoors.
‘We wish to seek guidance from your committee as to the reason dance has been excluded from activities allowed indoors at Level 3, particularly when other comparable activities have been permitted to continue indoors during this time,’ she said. She added that dance ‘seems to have been singled out for particularly harsh treatment’. ‘We have definitely lost dancers, particularly some of the senior-cycle students who haven’t been able to get to class,’ Ms Ní Bhriain said.
‘We will have future generations of those really talented dancers that just won’t be there because we’re losing them now. We haven’t had them since February.’
Ms Ní Bhriain said that Irish dance is ‘vital’ for children’s physical health and wellbeing and by running classes, Irish dance teachers can ‘promote healthy lifestyle choices’ in young people in a ‘safe, socially distanced and structured environment’.
She added that many Irish dance schools have been ‘decimated during this pandemic’.
Carol Carberry, chair of Comhdháil na Múinteoirí l e Rincí Gaelacha (CMRG), which repre
‘Whole generation will lose out’
sents Irish dance teachers, said that Irish dancing has been ‘thrown into total disarray by the pandemic’.
She told the Oireachtas Committee on Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht: ‘As schools have now reopened safely, I am of the opinion that Irish dance classes should be permitted under Level 3.’
Ms Carberry said that during the Level 2 phase of restrictions dance classes did reopen and teachers abided by all the requirements to make it safe for pupils.
‘Teachers were very particular about putting in place all the things of hand sanitising, social distancing, cleaning of surfaces, wearing masks, all those kinds of things. So they did all that very, very safely for quite an amount of time until they had to close down in Level 3.
Ms Carberry said: ‘A whole generation will lose out now if they are out of dancing f or maybe 12 months. They will never come back and they will have lost great opportunities, once they’re gone. They’ve lost their fitness, they’ve lost their motivation, they’ve l ost their confidence.’