Bravo network will be airing "Emerald Shoes" this Thursday night, I believe at 8 pm ET. Someone loaned me the video recently - it's a fairly accurate rendering of Irish dance history.

And here is an article on the subject:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><B>History of Irish dance is murky</B><P>Sandra Cox, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette<P>Irish dance as we see it today is a bit mysterious in that historians aren't sure exactly how far back it dates, though it did manage to survive the early 1700s when England enacted the Penal Laws prohibiting Roman Catholic education.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.ardemgaz.com/today/fea/E1stepdancerside28.html" TARGET=_blank><B>More</B></A>

And a related article:<P><A HREF="http://www.ardemgaz.com/today/fea/E1stepdancer28.html" TARGET=_blank><B>Toe-to-toe WITH THE IRISH</B></A><BR>SANDRA COX, ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE