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Paper short abstract:

Festival Irish dance is an exclusive dance style of Northern Ireland. COVID-19 made its habitual ways of preforming and socializing inaccessible, though the artform is becoming more global. Adapting proactively to the new realia it is starting to open to the international community and building it.

Paper long abstract:

Performing arts have always experienced instability, with dance and the fragility of the human body being even on a more susceptible end of the spectrum. This paper is focusing on a case study of a Festival Irish dance school located in Moscow (Russia) and finding new means of transmitting creative ideas, uniting the practitioners, and connecting to the audience.

Festival Irish dance is originated from Northern Ireland and up to the most recent years it has been practiced exclusively in that region. On a deeper level, being quite different from the mainstream competitive style of the south, it plays a significant role in the self-identification of the dancers. The idea of a different social body is expressed through a distinguishable look and specific dance vocabulary. Festival dance, as a social act, normally would take place in dance classes, festivals (competitions), and performances. Since the outbreak of the pandemic the normal creative and social life of dance practitioners has become inaccessible.

Meanwhile Festival Irish dance is becoming a more accessible artform to the international community in the COVID-19 times. Adapting proactively to the new realia Festival style (previously being more exclusive and segregated) is transforming the existing ways of teaching and transmitting the chorographical knowledge through the internet and online learning platforms. The dance form itself is changing and becoming more global, and the dancers may experience the sense of belonging to a supporting community which “helps us to keep going”.