Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne

Irish Dancing World Championships Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne
A team competes at Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne 2010 in Glasgow, Scotland
Date(s)	Holy Week
Frequency	Annually
Participants	5,000
Attendance	25,000
Area	International
Activity	Irish stepdance
Organised by	An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha

Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne (English: The Irish Dancing World Championships; often simply the Worlds) is an annual Irish stepdance competition run by An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha (the Irish Dancing Commission). The Worlds include competitions for solo stepdance, organised by gender and age; and for certain traditional and original ceili dances, also divided by age group and team gender composition. All dances, Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne is the top competition of the hierarchical system operated by An Coimisiún, and dancers must qualify at major Irish stepdance events across the world in order to compete.

The first Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne was run in 1970, and the event is now one of six oireachtais under different organisations to be called the World Championships. Of these, Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne, sometimes called the "Olympics of Irish dance", is the largest, attracting some 5,000 competitors and 25,000 spectators each year from over 30 countries. It has played a role in the globalisation of Irish stepdance and Irish stepdance generally, and, in the 21st century, has been held in both the British Isles outside of Ireland and in North America.

The Worlds traditionally run across Holy Week, and have at times extended to various cultural events outside of dancing. The development of the Championships formed a significant part of the Irish nationalist agenda of An Coimisiún and the Gaelic League towards the end of the 20th century.

An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha was established between 1927 and 1930 by the Gaelic League, which had for some years beforehand been consolidating control over Irish dancing as a means of promoting the Irish nationalist movement. An Coimisiún's original stated objectives, laid down at the Congress of the Gaelic League in 1931, were to "protect and promote Irish dancing" and to "direct and control all Irish Dancing competitions throughout Ireland". Among the earliest events developed by the new organisation was Oireachtas Rince na hÉireann (the All-Ireland Championships), which was first established as an independent event in 1929. It had previously been a component of the Gaelic League's annual Oireachtas cultural festival. A second major event, the Great Britain Championships, developed in the 1950s to meet increasing demand for Irish stepdance competitions in London and surrounds.