- Target:
- An Coimisiun le Rinci Gaelacha
- Region:
- GLOBAL
- Website:
- www.freewebs.com
As of May 21st 2008 the black tights petition has been closed folowing a successful campaign to overturn the pending ruling.
Congratulations to everyone who signed and supported our campaign. We can take heart in knowing that indeed, An Coimisiun does have ears and does listen to its dancers, as long as they clearly and collectively state what they want.
Thanks must also be given to IDTANA, Mike Mullane and Mary Sweeney who all supported our campaign and were integral in the overturning of the rule.
Our senior dancers now have a choice of what they choose to wear on their feet!
The text of the ruling from the IDTANA website is as follows:
To registered teachers and dancers:
At the An Coimisiun le Rince Gaelacha's AGM meeting held in Dublin on May 18, 2008 - a motion was proposed by the Irish Dance Teacher's Association of North America to rescind the "tights rule" that was to become effective January 1, 2009 for all dancers aged 19 and older.
After a full discussion, it was voted upon and approved that the rule be rescinded effective immediately.
It should also be noted that An Coimisiun, through its appointed Costume Committee, will continue to monitor and pursue the enforcement of required costume lengths at all Feiseanna and Major Competitions.
Michael Mullane ADCRG
Thank you dancers, teachers, parents and friends. I am thrilled to announce this petition both finished and completely successful in its aims.
irishdancepetition
Why the Ruling Should Be Overturned:
We love our poodle socks and feel that they identify us as Irish Dancers. We don't want to have to be different just because we're older.
Our issue is that we have been singled out as a small group and have been given no choice, whilst everyone else can continue as they wish. We feel that this is unfair and that we should be able to choose what suits us best.
We also wish to point out:
Tights can be very hot and uncomfortable especially in warmer climates, can cause irritation and rashes on some dancers and would often need to be pulled up, a very unflattering picture with our dress style.
For health reasons tights are not designed to be worn during exercise. In fact it can be very bad for a dancer's health due to infections
Poodle Socks allow for better definition of the movements of the dancer's feet and legs
Black tights simply do not go with most of our current dance costumes. Many of us senior dancers pay our own way through Irish dance, and being forced to buy a new costume whilst our current, perfectly good costumes will be unable to be sold could well be unaffordable for many.
Our shoes have been bought and stretched to fit with thick cotton socks. Dancers will need to replace shoes, another big and unnecessary cost to the senior dancer.
As senior Irish dancers we feel that we are being targeted as needing to become more 'modest.' We view this ruling as disrespectful towards our ability to make appropriate costuming choices by ourselves.
We also feel that singling out Under 18 and over as 'too old to wear socks' also translates on some levels as 'getting too old to dance so competitively.' Any ruling regarding costuming should only be imposed on under a certain age category rather than over a certain age category.
Wearing tights with hardshoes is utterly impractical. The sharp fiberglass would cause ladders and snags extremely easily which would look unprofessional and untidy. Changing costume would also be made very difficult.
Tights are also very slippery in hardshoes, and make the feet sweat more. There could be reason to suggest unfair advantage for younger dancers dancing against older dancers affected by the ruling.
Having to wear tights will mark senior dancers as 'senior' in multi-age competitions.
An Coimisiun should focus on enforcing skirt length rather than trying to take away the problem.
As Senior dancers we would hope that An Coimisiun would respect us enough to simply give us a choice of what we wear on our legs.
We, the undersigned, are very disappointed at the new ruling by An Coimisiun le Rinci Gaelacha (The Irish Dance Commission) that will make black tights mandatory for dancers in Under 18 or over as of January 2009.
Citing health, cost, comfort and freedom of choice reasons, we request An Coimisiun to overturn this ruling.
The Irish Dance Petition against the new black tights rule petition to An Coimisiun le Rinci Gaelacha was written by irishdancepetition and is in the category Arts & Entertainment at GoPetition.