When people hear the term 'jig', they don't necessarily associate it with dancing. For those people that don't know, a 'jig' is actually a form of folk dance which is lively in nature. The name itself, 'jig', is really derived from 'giguer', which is a French term which means 'to jump', hence, the lively nature of the dance.

This form of dance is usually associated with Scottish and Irish dance music, but it actually originated from England in the sixteenth century. The dance was actually performed in 2/4 times. Subsequently, it has taken different forms and adaptation in a variety of time signatures. The 'jig' is actually split into different forms, all of which would be discussed on this page.

Light Jig

Among all the various types of jigs, the light jig is considered to be the fastest as it is performed in 6/8 times. In this form of jig, your feet are hardly ever off the ground for a long period of time. That is so because the steps in this dance are relatively fast, at substantially more than 116 speeds at feiseanna.

Each light jig step can vary with each dance school and with each teacher, but a number of standard steps or movements which you can use in almost all forms of light jigs, and that step is referred to as the rise and grind, or rising step. Everything you do to perform this step is essentially place your weight on your first foot, then raise the second foot off the floor, when you have done this, you simply perform two hops on the first foot, or for the foot that is still on the floor.

As soon as you take your second hop, you then drop your second foot and provide it at the back of your first foot, or the foot that did both the hops. Once you have done this, you just need to shift your weight from your first foot to your second foot while letting the first foot remain in the air after the second hop. There is often a small delay during the hop and also the hop back.

Single Jigs

In the fastest form of jig, supermarket proceed to the least common one. The single jigs considered to be the least common among the jig dances because it uses a not too common time signature, that is 12/8 at times, while normally it uses 6/8. That is so because this type of jig follows a musical pattern of an eighth note following a quarter note.

Slip Jig

The slip jigs is recognized as a bit longer than the light jig since it uses a longer time signature compared to light jig. The time signature how the slip jig uses is in fact 9/8 time, although the dance is carried out with a music that has basically similar number of bars to a light jig. This form of jig is considered by some as 'the ballet of jigs' as the dancers often perform this dance when they're high up on their toes.

Treble Jigs

Treble jigs will be the only form of jigs which might be performed wherein the performer is wearing hard shoes, allowing the performer to perform certain moves and steps, such as clicks, stomps, and trebles. Beginners usually do that dance in a traditional speed, while higher performers perform the slow, non-traditional treble jig.

Hop Jigs

Hop jigs is most likely one of the more problematic forms of jigs to spell it out, as a lot of people often confuse it with forms of jigs, such as slip jig, or single jig. Some basically identify this kind of jig through it's once again time signature, which is 9/8 time.