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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
7/28/2019 Elaine Clayton Final PowerPoint
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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=VuSD6iUR7Cg7/28/2019 Elaine Clayton Final PowerPoint
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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=w8EXDtoGfrs7/28/2019 Elaine Clayton Final PowerPoint
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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.