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Irish Dance Shoes and Accessories
Hard Shoes One shoe is called the hard shoe. It is also known as the “heavy shoe or jig shoe”. Hard shoe is often mistaken for a tap shoe. A hard shoe’s sole is made of wood, fiberglass, or resin. The first hard shoe had wooden tips with metal nails. In the 17th and 18th century they would hammer nails in the soles of the shoes. Dancers used the nails in the shoes to make the rhythms of the hard shoe dancing. There are a couple of dances in hard shoe. One is the hard jig, and the other is the hornpipe.
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Soft Shoes The second shoe is called the soft shoe, also known as “gillies or ghillies”. They are worn by women when they dance. Soft shoes are like ballet shoes but soft shoes are made of black leather, with soft leather sole and the shoe is very flexible. The soft shoe is used for three dance steps. One is the reel, next is the jig, and lastly the slip jig.
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Reel Shoes The third shoe is a soft shoe worn by male dancers; the shoe is called “Reel Shoes” and are similar to oxford or jazz shoes in black leather, with fiberglass heels that the dancers can click together. The men’s steps are different than the girls’ in order to take advantage of the heels.
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Wigs During competition dancers wear wigs that are a ringlet curl style.
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Tiaras A crown that matches their costume is usually worn. Sometimes dancers wear rhinestone tiaras.
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Socks Irish dancers wear Poodle Socks. |
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