Student organization taps into Irish heritage through dance

Alexis Schupbach
Wed, 23 Mar 2022 02:52:03 +0000
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The Irish Dance Team is a student organization that celebrates Irish culture and heritage through traditional dance and music. Credit: Courtesy of Rachel Schofield

The Irish Dance Team at Ohio State celebrates Irish culture with traditional steps, fun music and the occasional pub performance.

The Irish Dance Team is a student organization that competes twice a year and performs at several events at Ohio State and throughout Columbus. Members showcase their love for the dance style and Irish culture through performances, according to the team’s student organization page.

“Everything is also really critical, like, passed down for hundreds of years,” Brigid Lawler, a fourth-year in industrial and systems engineering and vice president of the club, said. “So, while it has evolved over the years to become a little bit more, probably, practical and stylized, everything is rooted in tradition.”?

Although many other dance-based student organizations hold auditions for their members, Lawler said the Irish Dance Team does not, and no prior Irish dance experience is required to join, though she said it is heavily encouraged.

“You don’t really audition for the team,” Lawler said. “It’s more like you hear about it through word of mouth. Like, if you were in the Irish dance world, you probably know what colleges have an Irish dance team.”?

Although the group uses traditional and culturally Irish dance moves, the team occasionally likes to break from tradition with what they refer to as a “fun number,” which is danced to a more popular song as opposed to Irish music, Maggie Smith, a third-year in human nutrition and choreography chair for the organization, said.?

In Irish dance, the traditional music and steps themselves are representative of Irish culture, Erin Byrne, a third-year in psychology and neuroscience and treasurer of the club, said. Through dancing the steps to traditional music, she said the dance team celebrates Irish culture and heritage.

“I would say dancing is the culture. And the music,” Byrne said. “Then, when we do, like, the ‘fun number,’ it has some traditional Irish music and then it goes to ‘Let’s Groove.’ But like, the steps that we’re doing are all traditionally, I would say, culturally Irish.”

Because St. Patrick’s Day occurred over spring break, the team did not have any events or performances planned together, Meaghan Vrabel, a fourth-year in nursing and secretary of the club, said.?

Lawler said the team performs at many Ohio State events during the year, such as BuckeyeThon, and competes twice a year — once in the fall and once in April. However, she said the group’s favorite performances often take place in pubs and bars in the off-campus area.

“We hope, next year, to have more organized things, with either campus bars — Lucky’s was our go-to, but now that Lucky’s is gone, it’s hard to get, like, a slide-in spot somewhere to put a few steps on the floor,” Maggie Lavelle, a fourth-year in speech and hearing science and president of the club, said.?

Irish dance can serve as a link connecting Irish heritage, traditions and people through a small, close-knit community, Lavelle said.?

“Irish heritage, I feel like a lot of times, you think of closeness and connections. A lot of people are from either Cleveland or Cincinnati, and a lot of people either know of people who know people,” Lavelle said. “Going to Ohio State, which is such a big school, and then meeting people who you’ve actually never met before, but they know people who you know, and it makes the school feel a lot smaller.”