All Ireland Championships

The All Ireland championships, presented by An Coimisiun le Rince Gaelacha, brings in dancers from all over the World. This year that included competitors from Denmark, Norway, Russia and Italy as well as Canada, the United States, England, Scotland and Ireland.

Each solo competition consists of three rounds - hardshoe(treble jig or hornpipe), softshoe (reel or slipjig) and a final round (set dance-hardshoe).  There are five judges on each round and the highest combined scores from the first two rounds go on to the finals.  The All Irelands' also has recalls for dancers in the first and second round to further showcase their talents in front of one of the judges.

Tierney and Martine, made their first trip overseas to dance in this international competition.  In the under 12 division, against a field of 125 dancers, Tierney and Martine participated  in the first two rounds - hardshoe and softshoe.  Tierney made the recall in the hardshoe round and Martine made the recall in the softshoe round.  Although they did not make the final round, Tierney and Martine made us proud with their performances.  Tierney's and Martine's next international competition will be the North American Championships in Orlando, Florida in July.

Emily represented us in the Senior Ladies division - 100 dancers from around the world.  Emily placed 2nd in the hardshoe recall and 4th in the softshoe.  She advanced to the final round and finished 8th overall.  Emily was the top Canadian and will go on to the World Championships held in Glasgow, Scotland in April.

Congratulations to our girls and best of luck in your future competitions.

Competition Season Opens....

The 2010 competition season has started with the Mary Woodgate Feis, held February 20th. Our girls and boys, representing York Region, brought home awards in all the divisions in which they participated. Congratulations to : Beginner Division: Grace - Bronze in the Reel and Light Jig - FIRST FEIS!!!!!Great Job! Open Division: U11 - Gillian - Gold in Reel and Traditional set; Silver in Hornpipe; Bronze in Slipjig and Treble Jig. Kaylee - Silver in Reel; Bronze in Treble Jig and Hornpipe. Alexis - Gold in Slip Jig; Silver in Traditional Set. Sydney - Silver in Slip Jig; Bronze in Reel and Hornpipe. Ashley - Silver in Reel and Hornpipe; Bronze in Traditional Set. U15 - Katie - Gold in Traditional Set; Bronze in Reel and Treble Jig. Preliminary Championships: u10 - Kiera - Gold in Solo; Gold in Set. u12 - Liam - Bronze in Solo. Championship: u16 - Lindsay - 5th place finish in combined. Great work Ladies and Gents!!