Irish dance is a tradition steeped in tradition. Everyone’s path through it will be different, and every school will give you a different experience as well. Here’s some of what you can expect to find at Cashel Academy.
Cashel Academy has been serving the Milwaukee area for over forty years and is showing no signs of slowing down.
When you join us, many start as a Summer Sampler. This is a six-week program we offer that teaches your dancer a few steps, and then has them up on stage at Irishfest, on the very same stages that music legends have been playing for decades.
No experience is necessary, only energy and a willingness to learn and experience what dance has to offer.
After Irishfest, the Irish dance year begins! Your dancer will then be considered a “beginner” and have class once a week where they will start to make lifelong friends from the area and get ready to compete. Yes, Irish dance has competitions. We call one a Feis, with a plural of Feiseanna.
A Feis is normally hosted by an Irish dance school, we call ours Winterfeis and takes place every January. Dancers compete with other dancers that are not only their same age, but also their same level, to progress to the higher levels your dancer will often need to compete to show what they are capable of, but if competition is not something you are interested in, showing proficiency in the steps is enough to progress past the early levels.
The first time your dancer competes, we call that a First Feis. Here they will be registered with a competition number for the day and dance in front of a judge, who evaluates everyone in the group to rank them. The First Feis is a very low stress event, just to introduce you to what happens. Here we see one of our recent beginners posing after her first feis.
The costume she is wearing has what are called guillies (or soft shoes), poodle socks, a skirt, a shirt and a blue bow in her hair. At this age we do not use wigs just yet.
Once the First Feis is over, they are then able to compete in Advanced Beginner.
Advanced Beginner is where things start to happen. During the year they will have the opportunity to register and compete in different feiseanna as your dancer learns more about Irish dance.
To move from an Advanced Beginner to a Novice dancer, they will compete and earn a 1st, 2nd or a 3rd in each of the dances. The feeling of achievement they get is priceless. This is why we encourage, but don’t require, all our dancers to regularly compete.
Not long after Winterfeis we hold our Beginner Debut. This is the first real performance your dancer participates in. There are no judges or ranks, just friends, families and grandparents cheering on the dancers as they show what they can do, and dancers from different levels join for a full show.
Following Beginner Debut is our biggest show of the year we call Rhapsody in Blue. This is a major production, and the dancers love it. On the left you can see what’s referred to as the “Blackout Dance”. The story behind it talks about a fairies, monsters and soldiers through dance, and it’s every young dancer’s dream to one day develop enough to join this stunning dance.
As the year progresses your dancer may catch on right away, or it may take some time. Don’t panic! All kids start at different points, and given time, patience and persistence, they will all get where they are going. Cashel is renowned for helping dancers reach their destination with confidence and style.
Cashel also participates regularly in Milwaukee activities. You can join us around St Patrick’s day with performances in area schools, in the parade, as well as performing in the Shamrock Club, where we have the honor of originating over forty years ago. Cashel Academy has very deep family ties to all things Milwaukee, including the founders of Irishfest.
As time goes on and your dancer competes more, they will eventually win a competition for a dance at the Novice level. This is where the fancy costumes happen.
Once you get that 1st in a soft or hard shoe dance, you have earned the right to wear a solo costume for competition. This is where the focus shifts away from the uniformed school look to focus more on the individual dancer.
When it comes time for this, the teachers will guide you to a costume that will look great and compliment your dancer as well. Solo costumes need teacher approval, so don’t skip their advice.
Almost every feis has a used dress sale, there are facebook groups as well as designers who create new dresses to meet your own desires!
When you are a novice level dancer, this is where many get interested in the ceili teams. Every year Cashel assembles teams based on age and ability and creates teams of either 4 or 8 dancers to for what’s called a ceili team. These teams travel to an event that always happens at Thanksgiving called Oireachtas. There are three of them in the US, we attend the Mid-America Oireachtas. The location of Oireachtas changes every year, the 2025 and 2026 events for our region will be right here in Milwaukee at the Baird center!
When a team “recalls” this means they did exceptionally well, normally in the top half of the competition, and can earn the right to then dance on the national stage.
Oireachtas also offers solo competition, where each dancer competes in two dances judged by multiple adjudicators, and if they are found to be in the top half, they are recalled or called back to dance a third dance. Those that recall here are also invited to attend the national competition.
NAIDC is the North American Irish Dance Championships, or Nationals as they are often referred. in 2024 this was in Austin Texas, and 2025 will be Washington DC.
Achieving this step is a major milestone for most dancers as they compete against the best in the country. Cashel Academy regularly sends both solo dancers and ceili teams to Nationals, with some of them regularly making it to the world stage.
The World competition is normally held in Ireland, but some years it does travel around. This is the highest level of competition you can face, and our teachers are always right there with the dancers every step of the way. Cashel is proud to say we have had a long run of dancers who have been regularly placed in the top 20, and even the top 10 in the world!
When all is said and done, our dancers always come back home and enjoy spending time together. Cashel Academy is proud of our history of not only teaching World Class Dancers, but also fostering World Class friendships that last a lifetime.
