Here they are, the McAleer "Ghillies."
Many of the dance schools that competed in the Mid-Atlantic Oireachtas down at the Center City Marriott created custom T-shirts for their teams. One set of tees stood out above the rest—those worn by the McAleer School out of Claymont, Delaware.
You might have to be a dancer to get the joke, but emblazoned in baseball script across the McAleer pinstriped jerseys was the word “Ghillies.” (Ghillies, for you non-dancers, are dance shoes.)
To Tricia Beichner, who designed the shirt, it was a no-brainer: “”The Phillies won the World Series, and that’s why we did it.”
The shirts proved so popular that not only the bewigged dancers were wearing them. (And that’s a look, let me tell you.) “It’s beyond the team,” said Beichner. “The dads and the moms bought the shirt, too.”
You’ll find more pictures from this year’s Oireachtas, a huge competition for Irish dancers throughout the mid-Atlantic states, in our photo essay.
