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.^[1] 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 (championship competitions) under different organisations to be called the World Championships.^[2] 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.^[3][4][a] It has played a role in the globalisation of Irish stepdance and Irish dance generally, and, since the beginning of the 21st century, has been held in locations across the British Isles and in North America.

The Worlds traditionally run across Holy Week,^[b] and have at times extended to various cultural events outside of dancing.

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