\n<\/p>\n
Under the multicolored lights of a Brooklyn pub on a recent Monday night, a small crowd skipped and swung in circles, scrambling to keep up with the tempo of an Irish reel. Some were seasoned professionals; others were dipping a toe into Irish social dancing for the first time.<\/p>\n
People came close to colliding as they advanced and retreated in rows of four, hands linked, or spun with partners in the tightly packed space. A formation that was supposed to resemble a square, with one couple stationed neatly on each side, wound up looking more like a wavy half-circle. Faces were flushed with confusion and joy.<\/p>\n
In Irish dance, a form known for its upright posture and exacting rhythmic footwork \u2014 as well as its culture of high-pressure competition \u2014 precision is prized. But perfection is beside the point at Gayli, a series of L.G.B.T.Q.-friendly ceili classes in March at Mary\u2019s Bar,<\/a> a queer Irish pub on the border of Greenpoint and East Williamsburg. (The Irish word \u201cceili,\u201d pronounced KAY-lee, refers to a social gathering with dance and music; Gayli is an affectionate play on words.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt\u2019s pure chaos, in the best way possible,\u201d said Rocco Lujan, a bartender at Mary\u2019s who can be found bopping along to the music while pulling a pint. \u201cIt brings a lot of goodness to the space.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Hosted by Brooklyn Irish Dance Company, a women-led troupe founded in 2018, Gayli is open to anyone who wants to join; picking up the steps is secondary to mingling and having a good time. At recent sessions, the demographic skewed young, the room full of people in their 20s and 30s who had answered the event flyer\u2019s call: \u201cAll Levels & All Bodies Welcome!<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n In a tradition with stringent rules and customs, including many that reinforce a gender binary, Gayli offers more than just fun. It offers a kind of freedom, an invitation to show up as your full self, that\u2019s not always guaranteed in Irish dance, especially for L.G.B.T.Q. dancers.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s absolutely no judgment of body, sexuality, gender, anything,\u201d said KJ Campbell, 22, a transgender member of Brooklyn Irish Dance and a Gayli regular. \u201cEveryone is here because they love to dance and hang out with other people.\u201d<\/p>\n While traditional ceili dancing has clear-cut roles for \u201cladies\u201d and \u201cgents,\u201d the hosts of Gayli use gender-neutral language as they teach and call out the steps. They might refer to the roles as \u201cXs and Os,\u201d \u201cthe tall and the small\u201d or \u201cthe one twirling and the one being twirled.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Ceilis can be done socially or in Irish dance competitions, a tightly regulated world<\/a> where dancers compete in categories for girls and boys, ladies and men, with corresponding expectations for costuming (far more elaborate for the ladies and girls). The Irish Dancing Commission, or An Coimisiun Le Rinci Gaelacha \u2014 the main governing body of competitive Irish dance \u2014 has an inclusive policy for transgender dancers, who may compete in the category consistent with their gender identity, although this position has not gone unchallenged.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The first Gayli<\/a>, in October, came about when Brendan Donohoe, a co-owner of Mary\u2019s, was looking to program more live events. A sister establishment to Ginger\u2019s in Park Slope \u2014 a lesbian bar that\u2019s been around for more than 20 years \u2014 Mary\u2019s opened in April 2023 with the intention of embracing \u201cwhat a pub really is meant to be: a public house, a house for the public,\u201d said Donohoe.<\/p>\n Having grown up in Ireland at a time when he didn\u2019t feel comfortable coming out \u2014 \u201cthe Catholic Church and all the rest of it,\u201d he said \u2014 Donohoe also wanted to highlight the country\u2019s progress on issues of L.G.B.T.Q. equality, like its referendum to legalize same-sex marriage in 2015. Mary\u2019s is a celebration, he said, of \u201chow far Ireland has come.\u201d<\/p>\n Brooklyn Irish Dance had done some St. Patrick\u2019s Day gigs at Ginger\u2019s, where they proved popular, so Donohoe asked the dancers if they had ideas for an event at Mary\u2019s. Alexandra Owensby \u2014 a founder of the company, along with Erin O\u2019Donnell, Mallory Silliere and Stacey Cox \u2014 thought back to the monthly ceilis she had attended growing up in Portland, Ore.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIn high school we would choose<\/em> to go Irish dance on a Friday night because we had that much fun,\u201d she said. \u201cI wanted to share that and create that space for my queer community.\u201d (Outside of Brooklyn Irish Dance, Owensby performs in drag under the name Pete Zaparty<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Not all Irish dancers have such positive ceili associations. Campbell trained at a demanding school in the Midwest, where his teachers made transphobic jokes and pressured him into maintaining a waiflike physique, he said. He grew up competing in the girls\u2019 categories and, as a teenager, was part of two \u201csenior ladies\u201d teams in figure dancing (similar to ceili dancing) that won the world championships.<\/p>\n Those wins were \u201camazing accomplishments,\u201d Campbell said, \u201cbut it was like dancing in a body that wasn\u2019t yours, because it was senior ladies, and I have never felt like a lady.\u201d<\/p>\n In solo dancing, too, Campbell found the gender conventions restrictive, especially when it came to the slip jig, a dance required only in the girls\u2019 or ladies\u2019 competitions. Known for its lilting grace, it didn\u2019t appeal to Campbell. \u201cI never want to do a slip jig again,\u201d he said, laughing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Gender in Irish dance has been in the public spotlight lately. In December, at the southern regional Irish dancing championships in Dallas, a 14-year-old transgender girl competed in the girls\u2019 category and won, qualifying for the world championships. She faced a wave of ridicule online. A petition from a group called Concerned Irish Dance Teachers, Adjudicators, Parents and Dancers began to circulate, as did a counter-petition, led by the dancer Gabrielle Siegel, each gathering thousands of signatures. In response, the Irish Dancing Commission ruled that it would uphold its inclusive policy on transgender competitors.<\/p>\n \u201cSeeing this, it only reinforced what\u2019s important for us as a company,\u201d said O\u2019Donnell, a founder of Brooklyn Irish Dance who also runs her own school. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to create a safe space not only for something like Gayli, but also in our main stage productions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Her students sometimes lead the way. While learning ceilis in class, she said: \u201cThey\u2019re like, \u2018Why? Why does it have to be a gent and a lady?\u2019 And we\u2019re like, \u2018You know? It doesn\u2019t. You\u2019re right.\u2019 These little Brooklyn kids are so much cooler than us.\u201d<\/p>\n While Gayli appears to be the only Irish dance event of its kind in New York City, it\u2019s part of a growing constellation of gender-inclusive folk dance gatherings around the world.<\/p>\n \u201cQueer folk dance events have been on the rise for a long while,\u201d Nic Gareiss, a dancer and dance researcher who studies traditional arts, said in an email, citing gender-neutral ceilis in Limerick, Ireland, and queer square dances hosted by the Detroit Square Dance Society. (There are also the line-dancing and two-stepping parties of Stud Country,<\/a> which calls itself \u201cThe Queer Church of Line Dance,\u201d in California and New York.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In a phone conversation, Gareiss noted that L.G.B.T.Q. people have been Irish dancing for a long time but haven\u2019t always been so visible or supported. \u201cThis is a moment where overt queer-affirming messages are being sent in Irish dance,\u201d he said, \u201cand that hasn\u2019t historically been the case.\u201d<\/p>\n At Gayli, those messages are drawing new people into an often insular world.<\/p>\n \u201cMostly what brought me here is a queer group of people and just having fun dancing,\u201d said Kyra Miles, 23, who attended a recent session with friends. \u201cNone of us really know what we\u2019re doing, so we\u2019re basically goofing around and having a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n