James George O'keeffe

A Handbook of Irish Dances: with an Essay on Their Origin and History James George O'keeffe

"It is with a feeling of anything but satisfaction that one arises from a perusal of extant accessible Gaelic literature for any assistance in tracing the origin of Irish dances. It may be candidly said that there are no allusions whatever to dancing either in old or mediaeval Irish literature. The one text to which an enquirer would naturally first turn, with some degree of confidence, for information on the sub­ject is that entitled the Fair of Loc Carman, which deals with an ancient festival held at Loc Carman, the Wexford of to-day. In this very old and interesting text there are to be found some vivid descriptions of a number of entertainers, and of musicians in particular, who frequented the Fair, but there is no mention made of the man of dance. It is true that the name Fer Cengal, occurring in that text, has been interpreted by some as a dancer, and his dance has even been compared to the German Springendantz, which was a song and dance combined. The name, however, suggests an acrobat rather than a dancer, but as it does not appear elsewhere in Irish literature it would be unwise to build any theories on it." [...] This fantastic historic book on Irish Dances with general remarks, definitions, explanations and descriptions is a reprint of the originally published work from 1902.