Slip jig

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Slip jig refers to both a style of Irish music, and the Irish dance 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 danced in soft shoes, formerly by women only, though today many males dance slip jigs. This dance is graceful and controlled, with heels very high, often called “the ballet of Irish dance”. 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 tempo of 113 beats per minute is the same as other dances, but as each bar is longer, instead of dancing to 48 bars of music the dancer is only required to dance 40 bars of music (each of 2 1/2 steps). Stepdance judges prefer sliding motions with the feet and graceful movements that seem to slip across the floor.

Slip jig timing is also used for 'strip the willow' dances in céilidh folk dance. The tunes are fast-paced and lively in contrast to the slower Irish stepdance tunes.

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