Slip jig

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Slip jig refers to both a style of Irish music and of Irish dance; the dance is danced to music in slip-jig time. The slip jig is in 9/8 time, traditionally with accents on 5 beats - two pairs of quarter-note/eighth-note followed by a dotted quarter note.

The slip jig is one the four most common Irish stepdances - the others being the reel, the jig and the hornpipe. It is a 9/8 time dance in soft shoes, formerly danced by women only, though today many male stepdancers dance slip jigs. This dance is graceful and controlled, often called the “ballet” of Irish dance.^{[citation needed]}

There are also traditional Irish céilí dances which are slip jigs, though these are much less common than reels and double jigs.

Because of its timing, the slip jig is longer than the reel for the same number of bars of music. In stepdance competition, the speed is the same tempo, 113 beats per minute, as other dances. Stepdance judges prefer sliding motions with the feet, and graceful movements that seem to slip across the floor.

Other dances in 9/8 time are the Scottish Lilt in Highland dancing and the karsilama of Turkish dance.