Elaine Clayton Final PowerPoint

7/28/2019 Elaine Clayton Final PowerPoint

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Rearranging IrelandsPublic 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


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+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


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+Harsh Limitations on Public Dancing

Section 13: Grda Sochna (police) can enter any place

where license is in force at anytime

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


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+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


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+Result: Unpopular Traditional DancesThey 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
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuSD6iUR7Cghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuSD6iUR7Cghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuSD6iUR7Cghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuSD6iUR7Cg


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+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 andmusic 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.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8EXDtoGfrshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjxTTjJtXDAhttp://comhaltas.ie/press_room/detail/fleadh_rules/http://comhaltas.ie/press_room/detail/fleadh_rules/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjxTTjJtXDAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8EXDtoGfrs


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+The Need to Repeal

Irish government the only entity that decides which places holddances 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.

Documents

Elaine Clayton Final PowerPoint