A bouncy Irish solo dance in 6/8 time, performed in soft shoes and judged on rhythm, lift and the lightness of the footwork.
The light jig is a solo Irish dance in 6/8 time, danced in soft shoes. The tune has a lilting, rocking feel, two beats to the bar with each beat split into three, and the steps are built to match: springy, rounded movements with plenty of lift, hops and small leaps, the arms held still and straight at the sides as in the other light-shoe dances. Where the reel is long and flowing, the light jig is bright and bouncy, and a dancer who treats it like a reel loses the character of the tune.
A round is run in the same compact way as the other solo items. Dancers of the same age are called to the stage in small groups, usually two or three at a time, and each group dances the prepared steps in turn while a panel of adjudicators watches from the front. The organiser sets the tempo and the number of bars, so every dancer is judged against identical music and the panel can compare like with like.
In the feis format reproduced in this template, the light jig is an Individual item open to boys and girls together, with separate age groups from Under 6 up to Under 19 plus a Senior group. A dancer competes in their own age group, which is separate from the competitive grade they have reached. Each adjudicator marks the dancer out of 100.
Organisers run the light jig alongside the reel because it is a dancer’s first look at a different rhythm. It is usually the second item learned in soft shoes, it is short enough to run many age groups in a row, and it quickly shows whether a dancer can change feel between a driving 4/4 tune and a lilting 6/8 one.
Where Light Jig is run
The light jig is run at Irish dancing competitions called feiseanna, and in this template it comes from a feis syllabus built around age groups and competitive grades, where it sits beside the reel in the soft-shoe section of the programme. Beyond feiseanna, the dance appears at Irish cultural festivals, school and community dance shows and diaspora events where a dance school enters its pupils.
- Ireland
- Irish dance communities worldwide
Key facts
- Individual item, boys and girls together
- Age groups from Under 6 to Under 19, plus a Senior group
- Danced in 6/8 time in soft shoes, with a prepared sequence of steps
- Marked out of 100 by each adjudicator
- Competitive grade is separate from age: dancers move up by results, not birthdays
- Not to be confused with the slip jig (9/8) or the hard-shoe single and treble jigs
On eTalenter, Light Jig is filed under On Stage and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 1 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.
Across the templates that use it, Light Jig is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 10 minutes where a limit is set.
What judges look at in Light Jig
What a Light Jig panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Rhythm and the 6/8 feel: steps must rock with the tune, with the lift on the right beats; a flat, even delivery reads as a reel danced to the wrong music.
- Timing: each step starts and finishes with the musical phrase, and dancers who drift from the beat lose marks quickly.
- Lift and elevation: hops and springs should rise off the floor and land softly, not thud, and the knees stay turned out and the toes pointed in the air.
- Posture and carriage: an upright, lifted body with still, straight arms; swinging or tense arms are among the most visible faults.
- Footwork precision: clean, crossed and pointed feet with a quiet, light touch on the floor.
- Stage use and finish: covering the space evenly, dancing to the front and ending cleanly on the last beat.
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Light Jig under Scoring Setup, or start from the full folk dance judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for Light Jig
How entrants and their teachers usually get Light Jig right on the day:
- Count the 6/8 bar out loud, two big beats each split in three, until the rocking feel is automatic before adding steps.
- Drill hops and springs slowly to a metronome, raising tempo only once the landing is quiet and the timing stays clean.
- Practise in soft shoes on a hard floor so the landing weight matches competition day.
- Film each practice and check arm position, turnout and height of the hops; most faults are easier to see on video.
- Rehearse the exact step sequence and bar count the organiser sets, ending on the last beat instead of guessing the finish.
- Practise in a line of two or three dancers on a stage, since spacing and pace change when others are beside you.
Ready-made event templates that include Light Jig
Open any template to preview it in eTalenter and install it as a live, editable event.
| Template | Category | Score label | Competitions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feis – Irish Dancing (CLRG) | On Stage | Marks | 15 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Light Jig judged individually or as a team?
Across eTalenter’s templates it’s most often run as an Individual entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.
What time signature is a light jig?
The light jig is in 6/8 time. That is different from the reel, which is in 4/4, and from the slip jig, which is in 9/8.
Is the light jig danced in hard shoes or soft shoes?
Soft shoes. Hard shoes are used for items such as the hornpipe and set dances; the light jig is a light-shoe dance.
Is a light jig the same as a single jig?
No. They are separate items in the programme: the light jig is the soft-shoe jig, while the single jig is a hard-shoe item with its own steps.
Is the light jig judged individually or as a team?
Individually. Dancers may take the stage two or three at a time for practical reasons, but each is marked on their own performance out of 100.
Want the full judging picture? Read the full folk dance judging criteria guide, or browse every on stage competition item.
Try Light Jig in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs Light Jig, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.