Maintaining, redefining and challenging dance boundaries: Irish traditional dance within third level education

Ideological, cultural and historical factors impact on dance, or any culturally structured movement system, at specific points in its hi storicity. Dance in Ireland has hi storically traversed many conceptual crossroads in maintaining, redefining, challenging and shaping what constitutes Irish dance. And, although the notion of Irish dance is one that is currently almost taken-forgranted among Iri sh people in general, I would contend that it has achieved this doxaic status by passing through a number of conceptual, ideological and historic al crossroads. In so doing, it has elevated Irish dance onto the world stage and into domestic uni versities. This paper identifies and addresses these conceptual "crossroads" and explores how they have shaped our understanding or notions of Irish dance and how they ha ve had implications for Irish dance within current third level education.