COSTUMES AND SHOES

Most of the costumes seen in irish dancing are of various fabrics. However the traditional Irish dancing costumes are of velvet fabric. They have a cape in the back and fall to just above the knee. These costumes are very elaborate, and have very beautiful and intricate patterns. The costumes are either high necked or have a scoop neck collar with lace, they are also longsleeved and have a loose fitting skirt.
The boys of today dress the same as they always have in pants and shirts.
No matter what the dancers are wearing, you will always see some bright pattern on the costume that the dancer is wearing. It will be of an intracate woven design with the different coloured ribons weaving over top and underneath each other.
Every costume will have a different design on it and you may see the same pattern on a dancer's dress but you will never see it in the same colours. The only time you will see this is when you see a group of ceilidgh dancers. ceilidgh or group dancers usually have costumes with the same coloured background and the same pattern in the same colours.
All of the patterns on the costumes of the dancers come from a manuscript called
The Book of Kells. Today this stunning manuscript is housed at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. For more information see our link on The Book of Kells in this site.

With regards to the dance shoes, the boys and girls alike start their first lessons in slippers or softshoes. For the girls, a slipper similar to the one used for highland dancing is used. For the boys a shoe similar to a jazz shoe ( no hard part on the toe and a very low heel) is used. The dancers remain in these softshoes for at least a year before learning to use the irish hardshoes.
Irish hardshoes are different in many ways from a tapdancing shoe. First of all, let's look at the design of both shoes. Right away there are a few noticeable differences. First, look at the bottom of both shoes. On a tap shoe, you have a thin metal peice on both the toe and heel.We refer to this peice as thin because it is thiner than the bottom of an irish hardshoe. By contrast an irish hardshoe has a thick peice on both the toe and heel. This peice is usually made of either fibreglass or wood. The toe of an irish hardshoe is generally used on the floor only and is not clicked together in the air the same way the heels of the hardshoes are another difference between the tap shoe and an irish hardshoe is the way in which they are kept on your feet. While most tap shoes have either a buckle or are lace-ups. Irish hardshoes have both a buckle and laces. This is to prevent the shoes from flying off the dancers feet.