Colleen and Noreen soak up the applause after their duet.
Before the show started, Kathleen Madigan, dressed in her dark green velvet Irish dance costume, made the announcement. The audience had to be patient. Some of the dancers needed a little extra time to get into place.
The audience was more than patient as the Divine Providence Village Rainbow Irish Dancers, a group of developmentally disabled women at the Catholic Charities-supported community, joined with the Irish Stars Parker School of Irish Dance from Hellertown for their first Christmas recital. They were enthralled–and maybe, at some points, a little bit teary eyed.
The dancers performed a dozen numbers, this little group that started less than two years ago, the offshoot of an every-other-Saturday Irish dance class that Madigan was teaching. The troupe was born when Madigan, former nutritionist at Divine Providence and a student at the Parker School, realized that some of the women were pretty good dancers–and terrific performers. Their first recital followed their first-ever appearance at the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day parade last March, where they earned the Mary Theresa Dougherty Award for the outstanding organization dedicated to serving God’s people in the community. The women also performed on the field during Irish Heritage Night at the Phillies in June. They’ve learned many more dances since then, says Madigan. Enough to have a holiday recital.
The Christmas Show was held at the Cardinal Krol Center in Springfield, Montgomery County, on Sunday, December 2. Proceeds from the show will go toward buying the dancers logo jackets to wear at the parade.
