Steps in Time: The History of Irish Dance in Chicago

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 the Dennehy School 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.