We Tried Irish Step Dancing [VIDEO]

St. Paddy's Day is just a few days away which means being Irish, or pretending to be Irish, is the cool thing to do. The phrase "everyone's Irish on St. Patrick's Day" comes to mind. We decided we wanted to tackle Irish step dancing and see just how hard it was.

As someone who Irish step danced for over 10 years, I was very excited to try to teach some non-Irish people a few basic dances. While I haven't danced in almost 10 years and the dances I taught I learned over 20 years ago, it was fun to revisit something from my childhood. Whenever I tell people I used to Irish step dance one of three things happen. Some people break out into what they call a jig, which is usually a mix of weird kicking moves and hopping. Some people ask me to a do a jig, which never happens. Some people ask if I Riverdance as if that's a special type of dance. Never the less, people are fascinated when they hear I used to step dance.

With that first person who attempts a "jig" in mind, I decided to see if I could get people to really Irish step dance. I attempted to teach a dance called Walls of Limerick. This dance is called a ceilidh, which traditionally just means a social gathering with music, storytelling, and dancing, but now is more associated with group/couple dances. American square dancing came from ceilidhs. The second was a reel, which was the first Irish dance I ever learned when I was 6.

For only having one 20 minute lesson I have to say these "non-Irish Americans" did pretty darn well.