Steps in Time: The History of Irish Dance in Chicago (2nd Ed.)
“Kathleen Flanagan’s book is meaningful, insightful, and a significant contribution to the field of Irish dance history. No other city, either in Ireland or North America, has been so well documented. It is a valuable resource for dance enthusiasts and researchers alike. The Irish dance community is fortunate to have such a wonderful work.”
—Dr. John Cullinane, Irish Dance Historian
“Kathleen Flanagan has long been a teacher and advocate of Irish dance, and one of the most important voices to share the history of Chicago’s role in the development of this beautiful art form.”
—Mark Howard, Founder and Director, Trinity Academy of Irish Dance
“Flanagan has constructed one of the few local histories ever written on any form of dance in diaspora. This fusion of the global and the local is of relevance not only to those interested in Irish dance, but also to Dance History and Performance Studies in general.”
—Dr. Moe Meyer. University of New South Wales, Sydney
Click here to read a review of Steps in Time from the New Hibernia Review 14.4 (2010)
In this first detailed history of Irish dance in the diaspora, Flanagan gives a fascinating account of the art form in one of its most important urban centers of practice — Chicago. Beginning with its appearance at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 to the emergence of world-renowned Chicago performers/choreographers such as Michael Flatley and Mark Howard, she describes the teachers, schools, and performances that contributed to making the city an international center of Irish dance.
From John McNamara and Pat Roche in the first half of the twentieth century to Dennis Dennehy and the Trinity Academy of Irish Dance in the second, Flanagan takes us on a journey that is distinctly Irish yet unmistakably American. Within the multicultural melting pot of America, Irish dance came of age in Chicago. Surrounded by and intersecting with a unique and complex set of cultural and political influences, Irish-Americans in Chicago took the lead in innovations within the dance form that eventually led to such groundbreaking productions as Riverdance and Lord of the Dance.
Kathleen M. Flanagan is Associate Professor of Theatre at St. Mary's University, Minnesota. She is a registered Irish dance teacher (T.C.R.G.) with the Irish Dancing Commission, Dublin.
January 2011
175pp. 6x9
85 b/w photos
ISBN 978-0-9814924-6-9 Paper $22.95
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