Making the floor talk: Irish social dance as cultural juncture

For over 15 years, an exuberant revival of a form of traditional social dance called "set dancing" has been under way in Ireland. These dances are strongly associated with particular localities in Ireland, and the set dances from County Clare where I did my research have been some of the most popular in the revival. The underlying goal of my research is to better understand how a local form of expressive culture accommodates an expanding range of cultural expectations. Why do people set dance? What is the form used for, by whom, and when? How do these considerations become manifest in the structural features of the dance form? Using the ethnographic methodology of participant observation, I came to understand that set dancing is not only a form of recreation but serves as an important expression of a community's consciousness of itself as a place with a particular identity. Being emblematic of both Irishness and specific geographical locations, the form moves at once between and among different levels of social and civic life.;My thesis contributes to current research in performance studies, the anthropology of human movement, and the ethnography of communication by illustrating the inseparability of speech and action systems. Ireland---known internationally for its verbal, dramatic and literary genius---is a perfect location for exploring this juncture of speech, human movement systems, and the conduct of social life. Findings from this research suggest that the revival is a literal moving commentary on Irish modernity, a commentary reflective of broader social and political directions. These currents seek to jettison the notion of an "Irishness" and preoccupations with Irish identity. Pluralism, diversity, estrangement, exile, transience, and translation express the complexities of today's Irishness, complexities that can also be found at set dance events and in the dance form itself.