Top performers visit Toronto
Valley sees success as five Irish dancers compete on national stage
This year, five of the Valley’s best competitive Irish dancers experienced Remembrance Day a little differently from normal.
Rebecca Moore, of Falmouth, Eva and Micah de Putter, of Canning, and Kenzie Melanson and Macie McCulloch, of Port Williams, found themselves at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Centre in Toronto for the 2017 Eastern Canadian Irish Dance Championships, more commonly known in Gaelic as the “Oireachtas.”
This event brings together hundreds of elite dancers from across Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, who compete to be the best in the region.
Dancers “place” in much the same way as competitors would in any world championship and the five dancers from Kentville’s Tir na nOg Dance Academy, all left with something to be proud of.
The Oireachtas (pronounced Awrock-tas) regularly coincides with Remembrance Day and the organizers always make sure to give it the utmost respect. The event is so large that it normally commandeers an entire level of the conference centre it takes place in. Competitions take place constantly all day on two separate stages over three days starting at 8 a.m. Friday morning and ending on Sunday afternoon. Elsewhere there are large rehearsal rooms, food services and a huge gathering of vendors. Added to this is the constant sound of fiddles, accordions and pianos being played and the almost deafening hum of the multitude of dancers, teachers and parents chatting excitedly and encouraging, congratulating or at times even consoling, the participants.
And then everything stops. There are few places where a minute’s silence has such a profound effect, but the Oireachtas has to be one of them. For this short moment, everyone’s focus shifts from the mental and physical preparation the competition demands to joining with the rest of the Canada, and indeed the Free World, in remembering something much greater.
Even after the competition resumes, it takes a while for it to become fully alive again.
The five dancers from Kentville’s Tir na nOg Dance Academy each had the chance to compete in two separate competitions. The first judges a dancer in both soft shoe and hard shoe dancing and places them overall. The second is for one dance only: the treble reel, which most of us are very familiar with thanks to Riverdance.
Rebecca Moore came sixth in the under-13 championship treble reel. Eva de Putter placed 13th overall in grades level while her sister, Micah, achieved a personal best in soft shoe dancing. Macie McCulloch got third place treble reel in grades level.
Probably the most exciting moment came when Kenzie Melanson placed fifth overall, in grades, earning her a place on the podium.
Having returned home, the five have enjoyed returning to the studio and retelling the glory stories of their trip.
A small part of their success likely lies with the custom-built studio they now enjoy, which officially opened two months ago in the Cornwallis Inn, Kentville.
Interest in Irish dance has steadily grown since Tir na nOg opened its doors in September and Niamh Webster, the academy director, is in the process of opening up new class times which will start in January.