Article

Dance Enskilment and the Dynamics of Participation in the Irish Country Music Social Scene

Hannah Gibson

Published in: Ethnomusicology Ireland 10 (2025)

Pages: 58-73 | Published Online: 30 June 2025

https://doi.org/10.64208/KOHB8552

Abstract

This research identifies and examines participatory features of dance in Irish country music. Originally emerging in the 1960s and a ubiquitous presence in certain parts of rural Ireland, this music and dance scene has witnessed a considerable rise in popularity among young people in the last fifteen years. Through analyses of fieldwork carried out in the western counties of Ulster in 2018 and 2019, this article provides an ethnographic analysis of the typical approaches to acquiring dance skills, predominantly through class-based methods, while also considering visual learning practices. It differentiates learning at a class and acquiring skill through just dancing while examining the importance of enskilment in both these processes, arguing that enskilment cannot be separated from different learning processes or from the dichotomy of formal and informal learning.

Keywords: dance, enskilment, Irish country music, gender dynamics

Author: Hannah Gibson | ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6410-160X

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