Words: Dray Morgan
Throughout Irish history, dance halls have shaped intimate relationships like no other social gathering. Go back a few generations and almost everyone’s grandparents courted in the local function halls in an almost ritualistic manner. Alongside the mass emigration of Irish folk in the late 19th and early 20th century, these dance halls became one of the country’s biggest cultural exports.
To the backing of traditional Irish instrumentals, men and women would gather in town halls, people’s houses or in rural areas even at crossroads. Filled with anticipation to find a suitor, this would have been the first introduction to the opposite sex for most young adults. Until 1935, dance halls were a more liberal place, where drinking and dancing went hand in hand.
Nowadays, we may begrudgingly download a dating app to assist us with our search for a soulmate. However for almost a century, a suitor would pick from a pool of his local community, request a dance and hope for the best.
Public Dance Halls Act 1935
With oversight of The Catholic Church, the Irish Government regulated dance halls in 1935 which meant that any event would require a license. This removed the ability to dance in groups a home or on the streets as once done before. This ban also coincided with a raise in the age of consent and a ban on contraception in Ireland in an attempt to combat “juvenile delinquency”. However, this also formalised the dance halls and gave us our traditional idea of the public gatherings we have today.
“A friend remembers that the parish priest of Killarney would come out to nearby Ross’s Castle during dances there. He’d walk up and down the lanes shining his bright bicycle lamp into the ditches shouting at the courting couples.” said Jean Farrell for the Irish Central.
1950s – 1970s
By the 1960s, dance halls were the most popular pastime of young adults in Ireland. In a way to circumvent the Public Dance Halls Act 1935 food would be served to enable the sale of alcohol. This saw a boom of marriages in this time being commandeered by the fate of the dance halls. At this point there were over 450 ballrooms in Ireland, employing over 10,000 people.
As well as being economically essential to local communities, these dance halls were crucial to men and women coupling. Both genders would walk, cycle or share cars to congregate. In this era, it was legal for pub landlords to refuse entry to women. Most third spaces were built specifically for men or for women, leaving these dance halls as one of the only places in small communities where it was socially acceptable to mix.
“Female patrons could attend a dance in relative safety. Fewer Irish women drove or owned cars in those times. It seems difficult to believe that many women – perhaps most – got a lift to the dance in the knowledge they were going to meet a partner – temporary or long term – who would deliver them safely home. Those really were different times.” said Irish heritage blogger, P.J Francis.
1980s – 1990s
By the late 1980s, the Irish dance hall had began to see a demise, partly due to the rise of the disco and alcohol licensing laws favouring hotels and nightlife venues. As dance halls became more popular, they became purpose built. Most of them were built “in the middle of nowhere”. This meant that when they decreased in popularity, most of these buildings served no further use to their communities and were left derelict. This decline gave way to mainstream clubbing that we are familiar with today.
The Underage Disco
Probably one of the most formative and controversial cultural institutions that exists in modern Ireland is the underage disco. The first foray for many young people into sexuality, the aesthetics and energy of these events are far from the dance hall days. Whilst questions surrounding safeguarding of children do remain, it is undeniable that for many the disco is a crucial part of adolescence.
Even with the rapid evolution of dating tendencies, we still see the remnants of bygone traditions. There are undeniable similarities between the classic dance halls and today’s teenage discos. In a country which has the highest rate of single-sex schools in Europe, we once again see the dance as one of the only avenues able to be explored when it comes to interacting with the opposite sex.