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The native Irish dance tradition is usually linked to solo step dances and country group dances and dancers rarely use objects to complement their routines. However, there is a strong pantomimic dance tradition in Ireland, and there, Irish dancers use props to complement their actions. Initially, Irish pantomimes lacked end goals, and the dancers used everyday hand tools, to imitate spiritual, occupational, and warlike actions. Sample tools included flails, sticks and swords. By the eighteenth century, the narrative behind the Irish pantomimes had become more complex and it evolved into the solving of life issues. Now, the pantomimic dancers used hand props as signifiers - of Irish folklore, customs, and themes. Sample props included dead birds, religious crosses, and dolls. Finally, in the twentieth century, Irish pantomimes occurred in formal theatrical settings and an unexpected event was likely to occur, at the end of the tale. While dancers continued to use hand props, they also graduated to using set props and stage scenery as objects of expression. Relevant dance troupes included Siamsa Tíre, the National Folk Theatre of Ireland, and modern Irish dance stage shows, like “Riverdance,” “Lord of the Dance and “Feet of Flames”.

Sharon Phelan lectures in Dance and Cultural Theory at graduate and post-graduate levels in the Munster Technological University, Ireland. She has also danced professionally with Siamsa Tíre, the National Folk Theatre of Ireland, worked as National Facilitator in Dance with the Department of Education and she was Artistic Director of the Ionad Culturtha in Ballyvourney, County Cork. Sharon has delivered and published internationally on dance for over twenty-five years. Current areas of interest include, a second book based on folklore and performing arts, the setting up of a dance theatre for inclusive dance and the use of distance learning in the teaching of dance in third level.