Youngsters Enjoy the Fun and Footwork of Irish Dancing

Sunday, March 14, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Step by Step

Youngsters enjoy the fun and footwork of Irish dancing

By JOAN WHITELY

Thirteen-year-old Jesse Teta of Las Vegas likes playing rugby, lacrosse and football.

But he really, really likes Irish dancing -- for its complex rhythms, the competition circuit, the athletic endurance it requires.

And for the comparative shortage of boys who study Irish dance, he adds. "It gives me an advantage," jokes Jesse. At competitions, "you see a lot of girls. When you see a boy, it's kind of rare."

Boy partners are so in demand that at Jesse's last feis -- the Gaelic term for dance contest -- "I had two partners," he says, not exactly gloating, but clearly happy to get so much time on the special rubberized dance floor.

Irish dance has been popularized by such '90s stage productions as "Riverdance" and "Lord of the Dance." Dancers in so-called step dances wear hard shoes that create a staccato sound effect similar to flamenco, thus requiring a special floor surface. But dances that call for soft slipper-type shoes also are part of Irish tradition. Partner, group and solo dances all fall into the mix, too.

"Riverdance" and "Lord of the Dance" have created young die-hard groupies in much the same way as such productions as "Cats" or "Phantom of the Opera." Many of the youngsters who study Irish dance in Las Vegas under Sharon Lynn Rezendes are fans. Rezendes directs the Sharon Lynn Academy of Irish Dance, 3655 S. Durango Drive.

But Irish dance has been around for centuries, though it has waxed and waned over the years, even in Ireland. Some of the dance types were not codified until the 20th century. At times in Irish history the Catholic Church opposed the folk dancing, even as recently as 1935, when it used an Irish law, the Public Dance Hall Act, to try to quash informal dance gatherings.

Rezendes, who declines to give her age, has been dancing and competing since about age 6. Born and raised in the San Francisco area, she began commuting to Las Vegas in her midteens to perform on weekends and summers with Brendan Boyer's Irish Show Band, which used to perform at the Barbary Coast.

"I was not expecting it to ever hit the mainstream," Rezendes says to explain her surprise at the ongoing "Riverdance" clamor.

Today she performs nightly at Nine Fine Irishmen, a pub inside New York-New York. She also leads the local Celtic Storm Dance Company.

Rezendes grew up in a family of Portuguese extraction, but became familiar with Irish dance because her father enjoyed taking the brood to various ethnic cultural festivals.

"I love the energy (of Irish dance), the spirit of the music, the complex rhythms that are forever changing and progressing," says Rezendes, recalling how she would sit on her dad's lap as a toddler, and tap or clap out the beat with him as they watched Irish dancers.

"I liked the appearance of how their feet moved," says Shelby Chapter, 11, who has been studying Irish dance with Rezendes for two years.

The idea that those who pursue Irish dance are mainly of Irish heritage is mistaken, Rezendes says. She points to herself as a perfect example of a non-Irish participant.

"You don't have to be Asian to do karate. You don't have to be French or Russian to do ballet," she notes.

A cross-section of students at the studio on a recent afternoon illustrates her point.

Jesse has a smidgen of Irish blood inherited from great-great-great grandparents. But he also has Thai, Chinese, Burmese and Italian ancestry. He's been dancing Irish for three years.

The family of Karolin Etzel, 13, comes from South Africa. She has been dancing for 3 1/2 years.

Tiffany Cook, 13, who has been dancing since she was 8, has a drop of Irish blood, too, but her mom, Alane, believes Tiffany got interested after watching Irish dancers on TV.

High leaps are part of the fun, several students say. Others relish the intricate footwork. Some of them were surprised to hear Rezendes say that much of the patterning created in group dances simulates the intricate lines of old Celtic graphic designs.

Students learn their dance steps in a standard sequence. Just as students at a martial-arts studio advance by earning belts, Irish dance students advance by performing in competitions.

Students can compete only if their teacher holds a teaching certificate from the Rinci Gaelaca, which translates to English as the Commission of Irish Dancing. "It's like our bar (association)" is how Rezendes explains the governing body for Irish dance.

But Irish dancing creatively evolves, too, according to Rezendes. Afrocelts is a music ensemble that attempts to fuse rhythms from ethnic sources as disparate as Africa and Ireland. Students in a class at the Sharon Lynn Academy perk up visibly when Rezendes starts playing an Afrocelts track.

Brittney Leavitt, 13, has been studying Irish dance for more than five years. She started at the same time as her sisters Savanna, 16, and Victoria, 10.

Brittney pronounces it great fun. Competition is stressful, but learning to cope with stress is a useful skill, she says.

"I get really nervous when I get up there. But you have to control your butterflies. If you let them stay, they'll affect your dancing."