Male Irish Dancers Inspire Young Dancer to Keep Dancing!

During the best of times, social pressure can make it hard for a young boy dancer to pursue dancing; it is even more challenging to maintain this commitment during the pandemic.

The teachers at Rising Tide Academy in Nova Scotia saw that one of their dancers, 10-year-old Jack, was starting to resist practicing at home, especially practicing the slip jig. He was starting to push back and question things being for girls versus boys. Normally TCs Becky Chapman and Laura Hopper would have just had a chat with Jack off to the side during class, but because classes were being held over Zoom during COVID-19, this was not viable.

Becky shared that “Jack's a terrific young dancer and he really, really loves it. This was our first glimpse of that love being tested because of girl-versus-boy-beliefs and we wanted to make sure we acted so he could keep on loving it and being the great dancer he is.” After much thought they decided to see if others could help them deliver the message. Thinking that hearing from male dancers would be exciting for Jack and might provide the needed motivation & confidence, “We went out on a whim and essentially sent some cold call direct messages to male dancers and teachers. Some were people we knew and others we asked our champ dancers for recommendations on,” Becky explained.

The response was stunning. Ronan Kelly, Noel Spillane, Macaulay Selwood, Casey Costello, Robert McAleese, Patrick Grant, David Geaney, Lochlan Howard, Jamie Hodges, Scott Doherty, Michael and Matthew Gardiner, and our Rising Tide’s coach, Connor Russell all pitched in with incredible messages for young Jack.

Scott told Jack that "It's not dancing that is girly – it's how you do it. You can do those moves and make them your own. Even Michael Flatley did moves that were traditionally done by females, such as rocks, yet made them manly."

Moving Irish Dancing Forward

"Collab" Showcases Irish Dance in Unique Way

The USA Irish Dance Alliance (USAIDA) has a vision for their dancers which includes a balance of performing and competitive opportunities. When Irish Dancing competitions came to a grinding halt, the group wanted to offer something unique to their dancers to keep them inspired and excited about dance.

After discussing with their board, the USAIDA enlisted the assistance of Hammerstep's dance troupe, whose roots are firmly based in the Irish Dancing genre, to create something very new and different for the dance community to enjoy.

Hammerstep is known for exploring ways to push the Irish Dancing genre forward by combining Irish Dance with elements from other dance forms such as hip hop, tap, stepping and others.

Hammerstep founders, Jason Oremus and Garrett Coleman agreed to take on this ambitious project to teach dancers a new performing style along with the goal of creating a video to showcase the results of the collaboration. Due to the global pandemic, the ambitious project was all done remotely.

During the month of June, 100 dancers from various schools across multiple states attended two zoom workshop classes each week. Filming took place the first week in July. The dancers submitted their footage for consideration and within two weeks a striking, music-dance video was edited and published online.

The music-dance video was choreographed and directed around a specific concept and synchronized to a music track, both in the dancing and the editing.

Summer Fun in San Francisco

Innovative Dance Teacher Creates Unique Experience for Children

Michael Dillon recently hit a roadblock when planning his annual dance summer camp in San Francisco due to city-wide restrictions put in place where week-long indoor camps were prohibited. Known for his "out-of-the-box" thinking, Michael worked around these restrictions while keeping his dancers engaged with a week-long, outdoor scavenger hunt!

During the scavenger hunt, participants discovered more about the beautiful city of San Francisco. The children learned about many of the unique aspects of the Irish culture including dance, history, and Irish sports. Irish Dance steps were incorporated into each day in a fun and engaging way for the children.