Moving Irish Dancing Forward

Video "Collab" Showcases Irish Dance in Very 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.

BACK to the Business of Dance!

As the stay at home order eases in many parts of the world, we are seeing competitions restart and dance schools re-opening while diligently adhering to recommended safety restrictions and guidelines. It's a new dance world, yet the return to dance is thrilling. Dancers could not be more excited to be BACK TO THE BUSINESS OF DANCE!

Competitions are Baacckkkk!!

Last weekend life took another step towards the pre-pandemic norm with several schools hosting full feiseanna. With full Covid-19 precautions in place, these competitions allowed dancers to once again publicly demonstrate the skills & steps that they have been working so hard to perfect.