Hen party themes · Irish Dancing
Irish Dancing Hen Party Dance Class Sheffield
An Irish dancing hen party dance class is the loudest ninety minutes you can book in Sheffield and, oddly, the least fussy: the arms stay put, the feet do all the work, and either the line lands on the beat together or everybody hears that it didn't. We run it privately at a studio we hire in the city centre. £175 flat for the ninety-minute workshop, £150 for the hour, the party counted once rather than head by head.
Check your date
Send a date and we'll sort the floor.
The room matters more for this theme than for most, because a decent sprung floor is what makes the footwork feel good — worth asking early if your weekend is a busy one. A rough month and a rough number brings back availability, the studio and the total together.
Sevens, threes and a great deal of noiseWhere the class happens
Two rooms we hire in Sheffield city centre, or we come to you.
- Bailey Street, S1 4EHHired studio near West Street and the Devonshire Quarter
- Surrey Street, S1 2LGHired room beside the Peace Gardens and the Crucible
- Your own venueHouse, cottage or hotel space across Sheffield and the Peaks — clear the floor and we travel to you
Why hens book it
Percussion you play with your feet.
That is really what this is, and it is why it works so well for a party. There is nothing to remember with your arms, no partner to negotiate with and no interpretation required: you either land with everyone else or you don't, and when twenty people land together the noise does the celebrating on your behalf. It sits at the more energetic end of our hen party dance class list, although energetic here means bouncy rather than athletic — nothing goes above knee height and nobody is asked to be flexible.
The teaching order seldom varies by much. Sevens come first, travelling one way and then the other until the room stops staring at its own feet; a threes step follows; the two get stitched together so the line can move as a unit; and once that feels comfortable the tempo creeps up and a break gets added where everybody stamps at the same moment and hears it land. Reels and jigs are the default soundtrack because the rhythm sits so plainly on top of them, though a modern arrangement can carry the last run if that suits your group better — decided with you, never fixed beforehand. Parties drawn to the idea of a line moving as one often look at line dancing too, and anyone who wants percussive feet with a different accent altogether usually lands on flamenco.
Practicalities: trainers or soft pumps, and that is the lot. Hard shoes make the famous sound but we don't supply them — or costumes, or anything else — and every step in the session works in whatever footwear the group already owns. Sheffield suits this theme, with the studio walkable for whoever arrives by train and the bars around Division Street waiting for afterwards, and the class travels out to accommodation on the Peak District side if the party would rather stay put. If a hen catches the bug, our weekly dance classes in the city centre run all year.
What the fee covers
What £175 covers for the whole line.
Most parties choose the ninety minutes here, since footwork wants a bit longer to bed in than arm-led themes do. Venue hire is the one thing on top, quoted and confirmed before you commit.
What's included
- Professional dance instructor
- Irish Dancing choreography built for your group
- All music and sound equipment
- Warm-up and cool-down
- Beginner-friendly instruction
- Photo and video opportunities
- Help picking the theme and the song
- Group coordination beforehand
- A spotlight moment for the bride
What you'll experience
- A step sequence pitched at whatever the room can manage by minute ten
- Footwork pulled apart slowly, then wound back up to tempo
- A break in the routine where the entire line stamps on the same beat
- Music agreed with you on the day — reels, jigs or something more recent
- A spot at the front for the bride, and cover for her if she declines it
- A closing run at full speed with the phones up and the volume higher
Perfect for
- A bride who would rather sweat than pose
- Groups with somebody's Irish grandmother watching from the side
- Hen weekends after a theme none of the guest list has tried
- Very competitive sisters, in-laws and cousins
- Anyone who has watched a famous line of dancers on telly and wondered
- Daytime bookings with a heavy night to work off
How the time splits
Ninety minutes of irish dancing.
Shoes on, music up, and the opening stretch goes on the bounce — getting the weight forward onto the balls of the feet, which is the single thing that makes everything afterwards look right. Sevens arrive next, travelling one direction and then the other, demonstrated slowly and repeated until the group can do them while holding a conversation. It gets noisy almost immediately, which helps enormously: you can hear when the line is together, so nobody has to be told.
The middle adds a second step and joins the pair of them, and the final stretch is about performing it — a run at proper tempo, a stamp everybody hits at once, and the bride positioned wherever she is happiest. Ninety minutes leaves room to go again for the cameras and still catch a breath, which this theme genuinely needs. Precisely how the time divides depends on what your group takes to on the day, so the outline above is the usual shape of a session rather than a running order we are promising in advance.
Once the stamping stopped
What the line said afterwards.
We chose Irish dancing because nobody had done it and we fully expected chaos. By the end the fourteen of us were landing the same step at the same moment and the sound in that room was ridiculous.
Hardest we have laughed in years. My auntie, who develops a bad knee whenever the hoovering appears, did the entire ninety minutes without sitting down.
Calves ruined. Entirely worth it.
The bride's mum had been threatening to judge us all day and ended up at the front demonstrating. Easily the best-spent part of the weekend budget.
Before you commit
Irish Dancing questions we get asked.
1Do we need hard shoes for the Irish dancing class?
No, and they aren't something we supply. Trainers or soft pumps are ideal because they let you move quickly without the weight of a hard shoe. If one or two of the group already own a pair and want the noise, bring them along by all means.
2Is Irish dancing too difficult for absolute beginners?
It looks considerably harder than the beginner version actually is. We teach two steps rather than twenty, slowly, and only lift the tempo once the room is ready for it. Keeping the arms still removes half of what people normally find awkward.
3How fit does the group need to be for Irish dancing?
This is the bouncier end of what we teach, so expect warm faces and a bit of puffing. Everything can be taken at half tempo and sitting a run out costs nobody anything — just flag any knees or hips that need working around when you enquire.
4Can Irish dancing be set to modern music instead?
Plenty of groups ask for exactly that. Traditional reels and jigs are the default because the pulse sits so clearly underneath them, but a pop track at the right tempo can carry the final run if your party would prefer. Say so on the day and the choreographer will make it work.
5What does an Irish dancing hen class cost our group?
£175 for the ninety-minute workshop or £150 for the hour, flat for the party, with venue hire on top. Twelve of you or twenty-six of you makes no difference to the fee — only to the size of room we need to book.
6Where does the Irish dancing session actually take place?
In a studio we hire in Sheffield city centre, near enough to walk in from the station or the Winter Garden, with the address sent over as soon as the booking is confirmed. The room will be one of two we hire — Bailey Street, S1 4EH, or Surrey Street, S1 2LG — and we tell you which as soon as the date is locked. Would you rather not move everybody? We will travel to your accommodation instead, cottages out on the Peak District side included, provided the floor is solid enough to dance on.