GO TO ANY club, any dinner dance, any wedding, any kitchen in Ireland, and you will see girls doing variations on these ten dance moves. Without fail.
1. The Single Ladies choreography
Even the most dance-averse of Irish ladies won’t be able to resist flicking her hand when Single Ladies comes on.
One of your more confident friends might attempt to parlay that into this move:
It will never go well.
2. The I WHIP MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH
Always pulled out when you need to get sassy for Proud Mary/Aretha Franklin’s Respect/I Wanna Dance With Somebody.
3. The ‘slutdrop’
SHAWTY HAD THEM APPLE BOTTOM JEANS, BOOTS WITH THE FUR…
It seems like a great idea at the time (Squats! Sure it’s almost like exercise!) but your knees will hate you the next morning.
5. Twerking
There was a time, in 2013, when every girl bent over and tried to twerk. Maybe in public, maybe in the privacy of her own home. Just to see if she could. (She couldn’t.)
6. The Dirty Dancing lift
It always goes like this:
- Hear “Now I’ve… had… the time of my liiiiiife…”
- Make eye contact with a friend across the dance floor
- Shoo everyone else out of the way
- At the final chorus, feel the energy rushing through your body and realise that this is the moment you will finally succeed at the Dirty Dancing lift
- Run at said friend, and fall miserably into a heap on the ground
7. The point’n'groove
Perfected by Irish mams of all ages, this move simply involves pointing a finger (or two fingers) in time to the music, and moving your body to match. Fail-safe.
8. “Aaaand a one-two-three, and a two-two-three”
The most basic of all Irish dancing steps, usually whipped out during the diddley-idle-dee bit in C’est La Vie by B*Witched, – the ultimate tribute to our culture.
9. The Saturday Night dance
All it takes is the rallying cry of “DEEDEENANANA!” and they’re off, flapping their hands and jumping from side to side with wild abandon.
10. And finally, the Jingle Bell Rock dance from Mean Girls
What you think you look like:
What you actually look like:
