Champion dancer sues over explicit video claims
THE governing body for competitive Irish dancing is being sued by a five-time world champion who claims he was blacklisted over false allegations he sent a sexually explicit video to two girls.
Dance instructor Jamie Hodges initiated defamation proceedings against An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha (CLRG), also known as the Irish Dancing Commission, at the High Court in Dublin last week.
Mr Hodges has taken issue with the organisation’s handling of the allegation, including a letter issued by one of its officials.
The legal action comes two months after Mr Hodges (32) began separate defamation proceedings in New York against a dancing teachers’ organisation and several figures involved in Irish dancing in the US.
Both legal disputes have their roots in an email allegedly sent by a rival Irish dancing instructor in November 2019.
THE governing body for competitive Irish dancing is being sued by a five-time world champion who claims he was blacklisted over false allegations he sent a sexually explicit video to two girls.
Dance instructor Jamie Hodges initiated defamation proceedings against An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha (CLRG), also known as the Irish Dancing Commission, at the High Court in Dublin last week.
Mr Hodges has taken issue with the organisation’s handling of the allegation, including a letter issued by one of its officials.
The legal action comes two months after Mr Hodges (32) began separate defamation proceedings in New York against a dancing teachers organisation and several figures involved in Irish dancing in the US.
Both legal disputes have their roots in an email allegedly sent by a rival Irish dancing instructor in November 2019.
Bristol-based Mr Hodges, who runs the On The Move Irish dance company, says he had a lucrative business teaching children around the world and had been planning to run a summer camp in Pennsylvania last summer.
But he claims his career and reputation have been destroyed as a result of a false allegation contained in the email.
In a US legal filing, Mr Hodges claimed Molly Lutwin, who runs the Francis Academy of Irish Dance in Syracuse, New York, alleged in an email that he or On The Move had sent a sexually explicit video involving a naked woman to two girls.
The two girls were said to have run an Irish dancing account on Instagram and agreed to upload a promotional On The Move video when they allegedly received the explicit video instead.
According to the filing, the camp had been approved by the Irish Dancing Teachers Association of North America – Mid-Atlantic Region.
But the allegation was later read out at a meeting of that association last year. Mr Hodges said parents subsequently began withdrawing their children from the camp and he was forced to cancel it.
He maintains no such video was ever sent and that the allegation was “outrageous” and “completely false”.
Ms Lutwin and other defendants in the New York action have yet to file a response to the lawsuit.
The Irish proceedings against the CLRG, seeking damages for defamation, were initiated last Wednesday.
Papers have yet to be filed with the High Court, but one of the issues being raised by Mr Hodges is his belief the CLRG did not adequately investigate the matter.
He has also taken issue with a letter from a CLRG official to Ms Lutwin, details of which were outlined in the US proceedings.
The letter stated CLRG’s ethics committee could take steps to ensure any camps run by On The Move are not approved by the governing body.
It also stated the ethics committee could “flag” the CLRG’s examinations authority should Mr Hodges or his brother Mitchell seek to be certified as affiliated dance teachers.
The Irish Independent contacted the CLRG for comment, but no spokesperson was put forward.
However, it is understood the CLRG maintains the matter was not investigated because those involved with the On The Move camp were not registered as teachers with the governing body.
It is also understood it maintains the “flag” reference was made in the context of its rules, which require teachers participating in camps to be fully vetted.
According to Mr Hodges, he has been subject to background checks in the UK, where he lives, and is fully vetted to work with children.
Mr Hodges said parents began withdrawing children