Riverdance in the context of "Marina Bay Sands"

Irish dance refers to the traditional dance forms that originate in Ireland, including both solo and group dance forms, for social, competitive, and performance purposes. Irish dance has evolved over centuries and is believed to have its roots in ancient Celtic dance. In the 17th and 18th centuries, dance was taught by "travelling dance masters" across Ireland, and separate dance forms developed according to regional practice and differing purposes. Irish dance became a significant part of Irish culture, particularly for Irish nationalist movements. From the early 20th century, a number of organisations promoted and codified the various forms of dance, creating competitive structures and standardised styles. Irish dancers who compete for competitive reasons dance in a dance style that is more modern than traditional Irish dance. It is mainly done solo, but there is some team dancing in groups of 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 16 or more.

Solo Irish dance includes the most well-known form of Irish dance, Irish stepdance, which was popularized from 1994 onwards by shows such as Riverdance, and which is practised competitively across not only the Irish diaspora but by many people of disparate cultural backgrounds. Stepdance is characterised by the rigid upper body and intricate footwork of its performers. Other forms of solo Irish dance include sean-nós dance, a relaxed and social dance style involving improvised steps, and festival Irish dance, a style which separated from step dance in the mid-20th century.

Irish stepdance is a style of performance dance with its roots in traditional Irish dance. It may be generally characterized by a stiff upper body and fast and precise movements of the feet, and can be performed solo or in groups. Aside from public dance performances, there are also stepdance competitions all over the world. These competitions are often called Feiseanna (singular Feis). In Irish dance culture, a Feis is a traditional Gaelic arts and culture festival. Contemporarily, costumes are sometimes considered important in Irish stepdance; costumes are typically designed to attract the judge's eye in competitions and the audience's eye in performance, with widely varying colors and patterns. In many cases, costumes are sold at high prices and can even be custom made. General appearance beside the costume is also equally important, with female dancers typically wearing curly wigs or curling their hair and male dancers often neatly styling their hair to a shape to their liking for competition or performance. Additionally, poodle socks are worn by female dancers while males wear plain black socks. Poodle socks are white socks that have distinctive ribbing, and can be embroidered with gems. This hyper-stylization originated in the Irish diaspora, while traditional costume was homemade or from the local dressmaker and embroidered with Celtic knots and designs.

Riverdance, an Irish step-dancing performance in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest that later became a hugely successful theatrical production, greatly contributed to its popularity. Once Riverdance became a large production, it changed the way that Irish dance was performed and viewed. Now that entrepreneurs could capitalize on Irish culture, they were able to tweak it to the audience's liking. This meant adding a theatrical flair to the performance, including arm movements (as opposed to the previously rigid top half that dancers maintained) as well as sexualizing the dance and the costumes. To some, this was a betrayal of tradition, but to others, it was a way of expanding Irish culture and became widely accepted. Following after Riverdance was Lord of the Dance and many other theatrical productions based on Irish stepdance; Michael Flatley, an Irish stepdancer, became a well-known name within these shows.