Celts (modern) - Dance

Dance

To signal the coming of summer and the return of real warmth, on Beltane (Bel's Fire), the May Day festival time, dances such as the 'Obby 'Oss dance festival at Padstow in Cornwall are held with the maypole as its focus point. The celebrations are tied to the promotion of fertility and a fruitful growing season with the 'Obby 'Oss dancing to the music through streets decked out in flowers, and sycamore, ash and maple boughs. Shortly after on 8 May, the ancient rites of Spring are celebrated with the Furry Dance procession to an ancient tune made famous in the song "The Floral Dance" through the streets of nearby Helston together with the mystery play Hal an Tow. Fertility festivals like this used to be celebrated all over Britain.

In the early 1980s seven-time world champion step-dancer, Michael Flatley toured the world with The Chieftains and performed five solo dances (including a triple spin) at Carnegie Hall, New York, in a defining moment that led more than a decade later to a show at the Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin that soon developed into the Irish dance extravaganza the world came to know as Riverdance Jean Butler, one of the original leads, also worked with The Chieftains. Flatley later put up his own show, Lord of the Dance. The spectacular success of both shows can certainly take the credit for the revitalised Celtomania of the last half of the 1990s.