Aibreán Irish Music & April Dance Association 2021 The mission of the Irish Music and Dance Association is to support and promote Irish music, dance, and other cultural traditions to insure their continuation. Go Raibh Míle Maith Agaibh – Thank You Transitioning IMDA’s St. Patrick’s Day Irish Celebration and Day of Irish Dance festivities from Landmark Center, our home since 1983, to Facebook and YouTube was a leap of faith. IMDA is so very grateful to all the performers who stepped up to be part of the celebration. It was a genuine team effort, supported by incredible production support from Pete McCauley of McCauley Media and Michelle McGregor of AVolution Productions L.L.C. as well as the support of the IMDA Board. Hats off to Gemma Forbush, who created the St. Patrick’s Day Dance Along, and to Maureen Engelhardt for the Decade of Dance Recognition. Making our St. Patrick’s Day Pajama Party a free, virtual event meant that, for the second year, IMDA would not have admissions from our Landmark festivities to offset the expenses of the celebration and help fund the remainder of our work during the year. We are so very grateful for the outpouring of support from our wonderful community over the last few weeks to help us offset those losses. Our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who contributed their time, talent and treasure to help ensure that IMDA could move forward with our 2021 Educational Grant Program and be confident in planning for next year. Our deepest appreciation to our Sponsors: Dubliner Pub Celtic Junction Arts Center Landmark Center Our sincere appreciation to our Community Partners: The Brian Boru Irish Pipe Band Finnegan’s Brew Co. The Center for Irish Music Irish Fair of Minnesota The Eoin McKiernan Library Irish on Grand Our heartfelt appreciation to our donors: Matthew Beckler Paul McCluskey Jim Curran Pat and Dan Blaskowski Teresa McCormick Mary Farquhar James Burns Maggie McEneny Michael Foster Norah Carroll Deborah Meade Carole Maclean Sally Evans Myla Meier Jill McCollum Kristi Even Alisa Pritchett Althea Willette Molly Gallahue Julia Rogers Mary Glazer Diane Richter Lora Harper Thomas Scott Hudson Irish Dance Academy LLC Adam Taylor Ross Huelster Anastasia Verdoljak Mary Pat Kleven Robert Waltz Timothy Marrin Catherine Wilson Stephen Wilson www.IMDA-MN.org Irish Music & 2 Dance Association The IMDA Board is: President: Julia Rogers IMDA Educational Grant Deadline Nears Vice President: Jan Casey Treasurer: Maureen Engelhardt This year’s application deadline is April 15, 2021 Secretary: Cindy Ladany Board Members: Kathie Luby Amber Ladany The Irish Music and Dance Association (IMDA) has been Gemma Forbush pleased to make funds available for students of all ages to Editor: Kathie Luby continue their study of the traditional arts of Ireland. Over the IMDA Board Meetings are open to the membership. The Board meets regularly on the second Tuesday of each month at 6:00 pm at the years, grant recipients included musicians, dancers, a costume Dubliner Pub, St. Paul. Members are encouraged to verify the time and location designer, an Irish language teacher and Irish language students, shortly before, as meeting times and locations can change. but the program is open to students of other arts as well. As . they continue to learn and grow, they add to the vitality of our Contact Information community and help to preserve these traditions for future E-mail: [email protected] generations. Newsletter Submissions We welcome our readers to submit articles of interest, news, and notices of events Do you know a dedicated student of Irish dance or music or to be published in the newsletter. The deadline is the 18th of the preceding month. the Irish language who would like to expand their skills with a Send to: [email protected] master class or workshop? Please pass along the information about this opportunity! IMDA Educational Grants are small grants – typically $300 to $500 – designed to give a dedicated student the help they need to move to the next level. Grants are available for students of any age and for study of any of the traditional arts of Ireland. We ask for a letter of recommendation from a teacher or community elder who is familiar with their work. And the applicant’s involvement with our community is a big part of the selection process. Afterwards, IMDA will ask the recipient to bring their new skills to an IMDA event. Previous grant recipients represent a wide range of interests. Here’s what last year’s grant recipients were able to do because of help from IMDA: Musician John Anderson, a student at the Center for Irish Music, used his grant to help with the purchase of an Anglo concertina. Musician Chris McGreevy studies with the Center for Irish Music. Chris had hoped to travel to Ireland to study Tenor Banjo with Paraic Mac Donnchadha. He refocused his plans to use his grant for video and Skype lessons instead. Dancer siblings Caidence O’Rourke and Cullen O’Rourke, who dance with the Hudson Academy, used their grants for additional dance classes in preparation for Nationals and Oireachtas. Dancer Heidi Reichenbach, who dances and teaches with Rince na Chroi, used her grant to help with travel to Ireland for the Fusion Fighter’s Fusion Dance Fest in Limerick. Musician Claire Vanorny used her grant to continue her on-line fiddle lessons with Gaelic Storm’s Katie Grennan. In total, 6 members of our community received Educational Grants in 2020. Funding for the program will depend heavily on the generous support of the community through donations, since IMDA had to cancel our biggest events of the year. This year’s application deadline is April 15, 2021. Applications are available the IMDA website: www.IMDA-MN.org, www.IMDA-MN.org Irish Music & 3 Dance Association IMDA Recognizes Dedicated Dancers By Jan Casey The Decade of Dance Award is IMDA’s way of recognizing the very special commitment that some stu- dents make to Irish dance. The dancers who receive this award have studied Irish dance for at least 10 years; for most, it represents the major portion of their young lives. They have shared a unique element of Irish culture with audiences in all kinds of settings from community festivals and concert halls to nursing homes and schools. Along the way, they delight audiences, have fun, make friends, travel the world and serve as very visible and engaging ambassadors for Irish culture to the greater community. Usually, these awards are presented on the Main Stage before an enthusiastic audience at IMDA’s Day of Irish Dance. The dancers would receive a certificate and a special Decade of Dance medal. Unfortunately, the impact of Covid-19 means that IMDA could not present these awards in the usual way this year. Instead, these dancers received their certificates and medals in the mail and were showcased with photos and video as part of IMDA’s St. Patrick’s Day Pajama Party! Just what does 10 years of Irish dance mean? At least 1,500 hours of class and rehearsal time At least 1,000 hours of individual practice outside of class 10 pairs of soft-soled dance shoes, replaced partly because they wear them out. 5 – 6 pair of hard soled dance shoes 4 solo costumes For the girls, hundreds of pairs of poodle socks and bottles of sock glue and 8 – 10 wigs Why do they do it? Because it’s fun, athletic, creative. They love the focus on teamwork and being a part of a community. They love the sense of belonging – family, community – you will hear the dancers talk about “my Irish dance family.” Where have they danced? Irish Fair, IMDA’s St. Patrick’s Day and Day of Irish Dance, Community Festivals, Concerts, Nursing Homes, Schools, Dance competitions (feis), private parties and weddings. And with The Chieftains, Katie McMahon, Gaelic Storm, Cherish the Ladies, We Banjo 3 and more. And, of course, the untold miles of driving to all of these. These are this year’s recipients, and some of their favorite memories of Irish dance: Freya Eberman ~ Rince na Chroi “When I was dancing at Irish Fair in the heat with my velvet dress on. I had been miserable leading up to the dance, but when I got on stage I felt confident and happy.” Sophie Ford ~ North Star Irish Dance “Dancing at the Scattering at Irish Fair with my best friend.” Decade of Dance Awards continued on page 4 www.IMDA-MN.org Irish Music & 4 Dance Association Decade Decade of Dance Awards continued: Margaret Ludlow ~ North Star Irish Dance “I love being with my friends and performing at nursing homes.” Carmen Pasquerella ~ O’Shea Irish Dance “Winning the nationals mixed U16 competition with my team.” Lola Quinn ~ Rince na Chroi “My favorite Irish dance memory is performing with the Wild Colonial Bhoys on the main stage of Min- nesota Irish Fair in August 2019. It was very rainy and had already performed once that day, but we all pulled through and had a lot of fun!” Emma Roeder ~ Rince Nua Irish Dance “My favorite memory of Irish dance is performing with the Ring of Kerry band for their holiday shows. It made the bond with my dance friends so much stronger and I wouldn’t trade it for the world!” Allie Schmitzer ~ O’Shea Irish Dance “Winning at Oireachtas with my ceili team, and doing performances with some of my closest friends.” Maura Walsh ~ O’Shea Irish Dance “My favorite memory of Irish dance is dancing a Irish Fair on Harriet Island each year.” This is the sixteenth year that this award has been presented; in that time, IMDA has recognized a total of 235 dancers.