Weekly Email 10/9/23 – Cashel Academy of Irish Dance

Good Morning. Hope everyone is doing well.

Cashel Academy is Moving!!

Laura and I are excited to let you know that Cashel Academy is moving. We are staying in the same building, just moving down two stories. The move is for several reasons.

First, we wanted a space where we can be who we are. There shouldn’t be any more noise complaints for kids walking in the halls or door opening and closing.
Second, there will no longer be people below us so our hard shoes will not bother other tenants.
Third, we are moving to a level where the space is our own. We will have our own bathrooms, and the PBO and Studio will be combined creating a more cohesive feeling.
Fourth, the rent will be less which will help with the business as a whole.

We just signed the lease and we are hoping to move in around December. The landlords are starting construction any day. There will not be an elevator to the bottom floor, but we hope this will not be an issue for anyone in the dance school. The entrance will be the door directly to the right of the usual front entrance.

PBO Corner

Don’t forget to pay your Annual PBO Membership Fee
- The Cashel Academy Parent Booster Organization (PBO) is a non-profit organization run by and for Cashel parents and their dancers. We put on many fun activities like the Irish Fest pavilion gathering and St Pat’s day activities. We also host our own feis, and the proceeds host our parent lounge and support dancers by offsetting travel.
- Who should join? All families with a Cashel dancer…use this link (need to be logged in to Cashel Academy site) – PBO Information – Cashel Academy of Irish Dance – scroll to bottom and click Join
We had a great idea brought up at the annual meeting about pairing up experienced dancer families with younger/beginner families in order to create a line of contact for families to ask questions about/to…..what is feis’ing, how does Cashel work, what is next for my dancer, etc…. If you are either a beginner family and would like to be matched up with an experienced family or you are an experienced family and would like to be a helper to a younger family, please let either myself, Roric Griffith, or Emily Farrell know and we will get this working for you
While we are all still thinking about Oireachtas and Thanksgiving, Christmas is around the corner and we wanted to make you aware of WHY this year’s Christmas party will be special. We are going to have stations at the party for people to learn about what all the options to help at WinterFeis are so that we can ALL help make WinterFeis a great success. If you have any questions about the Feis prior to December, reach out to Kelly Mangan and she will help you out.

Feis Results

This weekend was the Pat Roche Feis and the Windy City Feis

We had a few dancers attend the Pat Roche Feis and here are the results.

Caoilainn Brennan- 4th Place in Open Championships

Catherine Delaney- 1st Place in Preliminary Championships

Evelyn Griffith- 1st Place Prizewinner Hornpipe

Ella Pace- 9th in Open Championships

Addie Thiel- 11th in Open Championships

Congratulations to Catherine Delaney on qualifying for Open Championships! We are so proud of your accomplishment, Catherine.

Congratulations to Caitlin O’Connor

Caitlin O’Connor earned her white coat this weekend in her Physical Therapy program at Carroll University. We are so excited for you as you embark on your first clinical in Tanzania. Please have a wonderful time and stay safe.

Class Schedule for this week

Monday 5-6 Novice Level

6-8 PC/OC

8-9 Adults

Tuesday 5-6 Beginners

6-7 Advanced Beginners

7-9 Prizewinner (open to PC for a third class or paid extra class)

Wednesday 5-6 Novice Level

6-8 PC/OC

8-9 Over 15 Oireachtas Teams 8-Hand and 4-Hand

Thursday 5-6 Oireachtas Ceili Teams U8 Mixed 4-Hand, U10 Mixed 8-Hand

6-7 Oireacchtas Teams U10 Girls 4-Hand, Under 15 Mixed and Girls 4-Hand

7-9 Prizewinner (open to PC for a third class or a paid extra class)

Sunday 11-12 All Oireachtas Ceili Teams

12-2:30 All Oireachtas Soloists and PC/OC

Fall Feis Season-

Here is the list of the Mid American Feissana for the fall. If you see one that interests you please google the feis and find out if you need to enter on Quickfeis, Feisworx, or E-Feis.

** Please remember that ceili team members can not miss team practice because of a feis. It is necessary for those dancers to be at team practice on Sundays.

10/21 Beglan Feis – OC, PC, and Future Champs – Registration Closes October 9

10/22 Beglan Feis – Teams and Grades – Registration Closes October 9

10/28 Mullane Godley Halloween Feis (wear halloween costumes)

10/29 Mullane Godley Fall Feis (Blackout feis)

11/4 Dillon Gavin Championship Feis (Ceili teams will compete at this feis)

11/11 Minnesota State Championships

11/12 St. Paul Autumn Feis

What we accomplished last week

Beginners- We continued to work on the 1st and 2nd step of the jig. Some of our beginners tried to dance the two steps together at full speed. Two of them were able to dance those two steps and that means they will be ready to compete in the jig at the Wisconsin WinterFeis in January. I will be handing out certificates once your dancer is ready to compete at their first competition.

Advanced Beginners- We are really focusing on paying attention to detail and getting the steps correct. We have spent our second week working on the advanced jig second step. We will learn the third step this week. We are continuing to work on the beginner reel steps and getting all of the mistakes out of those steps. We continued to work on the slip jig as well for the girls.

Novice- We tried performing the new reel step to full speed. I hope to start the second step soon. We reviewed the slip jig. In hard shoes- I finished teaching the St. Patrick’s day set, and we continue to work on the advanced hornpipe. I will be starting the second step treble jig this week.

Prizewinner, PC/OC- All of the material has been taught at this point. Now it is just a matter of perfecting the steps as well as improving stamina.

Looking Ahead
October 31st No Classes this Evening- Halloween