Dance

A Not-So-Typical Little Dancer

In many ways, Aine McGill is a typical 10-year-old. She has a favorite subject in school (geography), sings in the church choir, and is a recent devotee of singer Taylor Swift.

But the fourth grader from Ardara, County Donegal, is also a musical multiple threat: She plays piano, accordian, banjo, and tin whistle, and is one of only nine dancers from Ulster Province who qualified to compete in the World Irish Dance Championships which start on Sunday, April 5, in Philadelphia.

And, like most accomplished typical 10-year-olds, Aine has a proud mom, Bernie, who is quick to point out that her achievement is all the more remarkable because “Ulster has the best dancers,” regularly placing in the top three in the All-Irelands.

Aine and her family—Bernie, dad Padraig, and sister, Maired, 19, a Trinity College student—flew to the United States last week and are staying in Chestnut Hill with Padraig’s brother, Jim McGill, and his family. She’s been practicing for an hour and a half every day at the Irish Center (where the New Zealand competitors also went through their routines this week).

Even at 10, Aine is the consummate professional. When we asked her if we could film her doing some steps, she was happy to do it, but reluctant to simply demonstrate the generic jigs and reels, rather than the flashier choreography created by her teachers, three former dancers from the show, “Riverdance.”

“No world class dancer would just do those steps,” she whispered to her sister, Mairead, a former dancer who jokes that she’s Aine’s “personal trainer.”

But her routine, like that of her fellow competitors, is a closely guarded secret. Videoing a dancer’s proprietary steps carries stiff penalties, as anyone who has been set upon by angry feis judges or parents threatening to snatch the camera out of their hands knows well. “I had someone threaten to take mine even though I was just focusing on Aine,” says Mairead.

Aine, who started dancing at age 5, has had a swift rise to the top, propelling through four levels in two years of competition to achieve championship status. But, going into the World’s, she’s anything but overconfident. Wish her luck, but don’t tell her she’s sure to win. If you do, her eyes widen and she shakes her head. “Oh, noooo,” she says.

She’s definitely a typical 10-year-old. What does she like most about dancing? It’s all about the friendships. “I like the competitions,” she answers. “Because I like to make friends with the other competitors.”

UPDATE: 04/06.09

Aine placed ninth in the world in her age group during competition on Sunday, April 5.

Aine demonstrated a few steps for us. Check out the video.

April 2, 2009 by
Dance

McDade School Sends Seven to the World Irish Dance Championships

One dancer-a-leaping: Bridget Egan.

One dancer-a-leaping: Bridget Egan.

For a few of them it was “Riverdance.” For others, an older sibling who was taking lessons. But for all seven dancers from the McDade School of Dance in Broomall competing as soloists next week at the World Irish Dance Championships in Philadelphia, Irish dance was love at first leap. In fact, the leaps—which make Michael Jordan look earthbound—is one of the things about Irish dance they love the most.

“It feels like you’re flying,” says Fiona Egan, 16, of Malvern. “It feels like you’re in the right place.”

Fiona’s sisters, Sinead, 13, and Bridget, 11, are also world qualifiers. They’ll be joined on the competition stages at the Kimmel Center and the Downtown Marriott by fellow McDade dancers Alex Reichl, 16; Fiona Fey, 10; Siobhan Doughtery, 14, and Ali Doughty, 15. I met with them a couple of weeks ago just before one of their practice sessions.

For some, it’s not their first Worlds, as the international competition is usually called. It’s Alex’s third, in fact. And while it’s a great honor to have the dance championships in Philadelphia—the first time they’re in the US—for the local dancers, it’s the only disappointment: No trip to Ireland this year. “I liked it when it was further away,” says Sinead. “Last time I got to go to Belfast.”

Fiona Fey, who’ll be attending her first Worlds, the experience is “a little nerve-wracking.” But she says it’s always that way before any competition “until you get up on the stage.”

“It is when you’re waiting in line,” offers Ali, “and the night before.”

But the dancers don’t have much time to think about let alone have nerves. They practice several hours a day, after school and on the weekends. For many, it’s all part of a very full schedule that includes school and community sports (and for 10-year-old Fiona, the paper route she inherited from her brother).

And the truth is, they don’t really see the competition as particularly competitive. “It’s not cut-throat,” says Fiona Egan.

“I’ve met such nice people and made some really good friends,” adds Ali. “It’s one of the things I like best about it.”

You can see these and about 6,000 other Irish dancers at the World Irish Dance Championships at The Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. Opening ceremonies are scheduled for Sunday, April 5, at 5 p.m. for what is the largest ever Worlds, now in its 39th year. Mayor Michael Nutter and a Mummers group are scheduled to appear. See the details at the official website.

One of the highlights of the event will be an appearance by famed Irish dancer and choreographer Michael Flatley of Riverdance fame, who may have launched many of these kids on their dance careers.

Check out some practice steps from the McDade Dancers:

April 2, 2009 by
People

Giving It Up for GiveWay

Fiona in a pensive moment. (Photo by Gwyneth MacArthur)

Fiona in a pensive moment. (Photo by Gwyneth MacArthur)

One local fan of the Scottish band GiveWay, hearing advance word about our Irish Center concert last Saturday night, predicted the audience would be in for a treat.

You were so right, George.

The four talented sisters who make up the band—Fiona, Kirsty, Amy and Mairi—didn’t disappoint. In fact, their energetic performance and their audience rapport all but guaranteed them a standing ovation from the packed house.

From sweet slow airs to blazing reels, the girls kept the customers satisfied and crying out for more.

We have a ton of photos of the whole exciting night from Denise Foley and Gwyneth MacArthur.
Check out the videos from Lori Lander Murphy too:

April 2, 2009 by
News

As the Parade (Still!) Passes By

The Emerald Pipe Band marches up the Parkway.

The Emerald Pipe Band marches up the Parkway.

We stumbled upon the New York Police Department Pipe Band as the pipers were warming up on JFK Boulevard, before the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day parade had started. They were making such a great noise, we just had to snag some video.

And that was just the beginning.

As the parade marched on, we found lots more reasons to haul out the videocam. For example, that Cloughaneely Marching Band from Donegal was pretty darn cute and irresistable. The Philadelphia Emerald Pipe Band looked so sharp in green tunics and saffron kilts. And dancers … hey, we just had to squeeze off a few frames of dancers. And what’s a parade in Philadelphia without a couple of blocks worth of music from a string band?

Relive the day with our video memories:

April 1, 2009 by
Music

Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day With Solas

Two noteworthy changes to Solas as they appeared at World Café Live on St. Patrick’s Day.

First, vocalist Máiréad Phelan seems now more comfortably and confidently integrated into the band. Máiréad replaced Deirdre Scanlon last year. We first saw Máiréad at World Café not long after the release of the band’s latest, “For Love and Laughter.” She sang well, but her time on stage was limited to her vocal performance and she seemed, to me, a bit shy.

In her St. Pat’s performance, she seemed much more confident, and she spent more time on stage. When she wasn’t singing, she added piano accompaniment. Overall, a more complete performance. It’s easy to underestimate her vocal power, but it really came through in this show.

The second noteworthy change: box player Mick McAuley has lost his signature ponytail.

Other than that, it was just another Solas performance—an amazing display of musical virtuosity. If Solas ever has an “off” performance, I haven’t heard it. Whether roaring through a blast of reels or delivering a soulful rendition of the traditional “Mollai Na GCuach Ni Chuilleanain (Curly Haired Molly),” Solas—even with all the changes to the lineup over a decade—is still one of the most creative and dynamic Irish bands going.

In their most recent home town performance, Solas performed many tunes off the most recent CD, including Ricky Lee Jones’s “Sailor Song” and “Seven Curses” (with tight harmonies by McAuley and guitarist Eamon McElholm on the latter). McAuley also paid tribute to the late songwriter John Martyn with his moving rendition of “Spencer the Rover.”

Noting that “the banjo is an occasionally maligned instrument,” leader Seamus Egan went on to set things right with a blistering performance of “Vital Mental Medicine.” And the bow-shredding fiddler Winifred Horan, when she wasn’t setting new land speed records on assorted jigs and reels, offered more laid-back displays of her talent such as her lovely and sad “My Dream of You.” (“We’re not actually that depressed,” she insisted.)

Nor were we.

March 27, 2009 by
Music, News

The St. Patrick’s Day Challenge

It’s often said that everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, and if you were in Philadelphia this March 17, you could have been Irish from dawn till midnight. So many ways to celebrate, so little time…here’s just a little sampling from four of the finest events the city had to offer:

Brittingham’s Irish Pub & Restaurant in Lafayette Hill opened the day with songs from County Derry born singer, Oliver McElhone. Favorite tunes like “The Fields of Athenry”and “Dirty Old town” had the folks in the crowded bar and dining room singing and dancing along, and really starting to feel Irish.

Downtown, at The Kimmel Center, the Frank McCourt play “The Irish…and How They Got That Way” was demonstrating through songs and skits that “It isn’t easy being Irish.” Indeed, the five member cast, in the intimate setting of the Innovation Studio, brought the history of the Irish people’s suffering and survival to the stage with enthusiasm and earnestness. Deftly blending traditional songs like “Skibereen” and “Danny Boy” with history lessons (Did you know that the first witch hanged in America was Irish?), and humor (Did you know that the English conquered the world to escape their own cooking?), this is an entertaining way to pass an afternoon or evening. It’s playing through March 29th, and tickets can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999.

In the midst of all the revelry, the fallen police officers of the city were not forgotten; at popular downtown pub & restaurant Tir na Nog, the local Irish band BarleyJuice donated their amazing musical talents to the cause. All money raised at the door went to a fund for families of Philadelphia’s fallen officers. This is a group that knows how to kick it up for the cause; check out video clips of their rousing version of “Monto,” and a medley that includes “Ring of Fire” and “Whiskey in the Jar.”

Finally, there is no finer way to round out a St. Patrick’s Day than with a performance from Irish-American supergroup Solas at the World Café. Their set list included songs from their latest cd, “For Love and Laughter” as well as a lovely tribute to the late John Martyn with his “Spencer the Rover.” But Seamus Egan, Mick McAuley, Eamon McElholm, Chico Huff, phiddle phenom Winifred Horan, and singer Mairead Phelan enthralled a crowd beyond just the one gathered tableside in Philly. The band didn’t know it at the time, but from the audience, a United States airman was Skyping the show to a deployed unit overseas, and when Mairead Phelan sang “Mollai na Gcuach ni Chuilleanain,” a Gaelic-speaking military captain stationed somewhere in a more dangerous part of the world, cried. It was as it should be on March 17, everyone the world over got to share in the Irish spirit. Make sure you watch the video of  “Spencer the Rover.”

March 27, 2009 by
Music, People

The Chieftains Deliver the Goods Again

It was a stripped-down version of the Chieftains playing in Verizon Hall for this year’s St. Patrick’s Day concert—they were missing fiddler Sean Keane, said to be averse to making long flights at this stage of his career. Canadian fiddler Jon Pilatzke stepped in to fill the breach and—with help from Nashville bluegrass fiddler Deanie Richardson, singer/guitarist Jeff White and harper Triona Marshall—the Chieftains had no problem dazzling a Philadelphia audience once again.

Chieftains leader Paddy Moloney probably has lost count of the number of St. Patrick’s Day concerts the band has played in Philadelphia, but it’s enough so that a Chieftains concert has become an essential and expected part of the annual Delaware Valley celebrations.

If you saw last year’s Kimmel Center concert, this year’s version was virtually a carbon copy of last year’s. If anyone noticed, they didn’t seem to mind. By this point, the Chieftains have their act down to a science. The band played selections highlighting the various stages of their career, from the traditional jigs and reels to tunes from “Down the Old Plank Road,” one of their forays into American bluegrass and country.

But the Chieftains always have a “next” project going, and they offered a preview. The next recording heads down Mexico way for a musical commemoration of the San Patricios, a band of Irishmen who fought on the side of Mexico in the Mexican-American war. “They were shooting Catholics down there in Mexico,” said Moloney in an unusually succinct summary of the Irish volunteers’ involvement, “and they didn’t like that.”

For this selection, the Chieftains were joined on stage by a group of pipers and drummers from City of Washington Pipe Band, one of just three grade 1 competition pipe bands in the United States. Together they played a “March to the Battle,” filling Verizon Hall with the droning sound of pipes, leading into a stirring lament, featuring Moloney on uilleann pipes.

Of course, traditional Irish is what this St. Patrick’s crowd came for, and the Chieftains were only to happy to oblige. Just because a Chieftains performance has become a somewhat predictable commodity doesn’t overshadow the fact that they’re still masters of their art. They’ve been at it for 45 years, but they easily match the energy of much younger bands.

Joining Moloney, flutist Matt Molloy and Kevin Conneff, the Chieftains’ singer and bodhran player, was Scottish singer Alyth McCormack, who delivered a memorable version of “The Foggy Dew.”

As is the custom with Chieftains shows, dance also figured prominently, with frenetic performances by the Jon Pilatzke and brother Nathan, and Cara Butler. The highlight of their performance was a crazy legs little dance featuring all three seated in chairs.

Coming to the stage late in the show were members of the Ryan-Kilcoyne School of Irish Dance.

A standing O was also predictable—and richly deserved.

March 27, 2009 by
Columns, How to Be Irish in Philly

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

What, are you kidding, do I have to be Irish again this week? When will this blasted month be over?

Okay, we hear some of you out there, so we have a special treat. Instead of being Irish this weekend, you can be Scottish (Celts are Celts is our motto). The Scottish folk band, GiveWay, which won a coveted “Danny Award” at the international Celtic Connection Festival pretty much their first time on a big stage, will be performing Saturday night at the Irish Center, Carpenter and Emlen Streets in the Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia.

We’ve been listening to their last CD for weeks (that will be us mouthing the words and playing air accordian) and this unconventionally traditional band is sensational. There is not a chance in the world that your feet won’t be tapping. In fact, we’re going to encourage seat jigging, or, if you can find a vacant spot, hop on up and get your Irish—or Scottish—on.

The concert is being hosted by us, www.irishphiladelphia.com, and we hope you come out and join us. In preparation, you can read our interview with one of the lovely Johnson sisters (lead vocalist, Kirsty, who is 21) and listen to their latest single, “The Water is Wide,” produced by Phil Cunningham.

There are plenty of other things going on. On Saturday afternoon, the movie, “Hunger,” a stark, realistic portrayal of the lives and deaths of the Long Kesh hunger strikers (the lead actor, playing the ill-fated Bobby Sands, transforms into a near skeleton by the end, a tribute to his dedication to the role), will be screened at the Prince Theater as part of the Philadelphia Film Festival.

Also on Saturday afternoon, AOH and LAOH 87 will be holding a benefit for the family of Philadelphia Police Officer John Pawlowski, who was killed when responding to a 911 call. He left a wife who is carrying their child.

On Satuday night, the Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann will be holding its third annual Irish Buffet and House Party at the McSwiney Club in Jenkintown. We’re pretty sure that means great food, fabulous music, and a night of Irish dancing.

You probably read this week that Immaculata researchers found what they believe are the bones of 57 Irish immigrant railroad workers who were reported to have died in a cholera epidemic and buried in a mass grave near Malvern, in a place called locally, “Duffy’s Cut.” One of the those researchers, Professor William E. Watson, is scheduled to give a presentation on Duffy’s Cut on Sunday at the Celtic Heritage Foundation at 321 Cedar Street, Bristol. The event was scheduled before the discovery, so this is a great opportunity to find out what’s behind the headlines.

More exciting stuff: Riverdance begins its farewell performances at The Kimmel Center on Tuesday, March 31. Three of the original performers are still dancing with the show, which is credited with igniting an interest in all things Irish when it first debuted with Michael Flately on Broadway. If you check the ads we’re running, you’ll see they’re offering a 15% discount right now, so here’s your opportunity.

Speaking of igniting interest in the Irish, Gaelic Storm is scheduled to appear at The Colonial Theater in Phoenixville on Friday night. If you saw the movie, Titantic, and apparently everyone did, you saw and heard this former pub band turned international Celtic sensations in the famous scene where Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet joined in the below-decks merriment (where our people were making their voyage).

Lots more coming: Next week, two great musicians from Ireland are heading our way, the Hibernian Hunger Project is holding its giant “cook-in” at Aid for Friends in Northeast Philly (volunteers welcome), and the World Irish Dance Championships are kicking off (and kicking really high) their weeklong competition in Philadelphia, the first time the annual event is being held in the US. (And they picked us!)

Go visit our calendar for all the details. And don’t forget to support your local Irish business!

March 27, 2009 by