Welcome back to the Westport Local Press’ Westport Arts Advisory Committee’s “Culture Corner.” Each month, the WAAC will scour our 33.45 square miles and highlight one of the many artists – visual, written, performance, and other – who call Westport home. The spectrum of color artists create shines over town like the rainbows often seen over the Saugatuck, so we have made “color” our theme. Our profiles will feature art that, however tightly or tenuously, connects to a color.

Prepared by Diane Lowman, Westport Poet Laureate, WAAC Member

March is, of course, green! So we travel virtually by way of some very talented young dancers to the Emerald Isle for a look at how Westport represents the centuries-old art of Irish step dancing. According to Celtic Steps, “Although the exact roots and origins of early Irish dancing are lost in time, there is evidence to suggest a linkage between early forms of Celtic dance and that of modern Irish dance.” (https://www.celticsteps.ie/our-story/the-history-of-irish-song-music-dance/). While those roots reach as far back as 1413, Irish step dancing likely evolved into the form that we see today in the late 1600s/early 1700s. Just like with cuisine, each region of Eire has its own particular flavor and style of dance.

Fortunately for us, America has embraced and imported this tradition with the same gusto as we have for Guinness. And Westport, specifically, is as full of Irish Dancers as a pint of that dark ale pulled by a barkeep in Temple Bar, Dublin. I had the pleasure of speaking with four of them, learning more about this traditional art form and the different ways in which they practice it. I present brief portraits of them in order from youngest to oldest:

Maggie Menninger began dancing at the ripe old age of three, having watched both her mother and older sister dance, so that at age eight now, she has five years of experience. While her sister no longer dances, she has performed alongside her mother in Music in Schools month at her school. She trains at the Lenihan School of Irish Dance, where a mother/daughter team have taught generations of Connecticut steppers. She currently dances in the softer leather “ghillies” shoes, as dancers must earn the right to dance in the fiberglass toe-and-heeled hard shoes. But even at her young age, she will not be far from that achievement because she started at a young age and devotes at least 90 minutes per week to her practice even though she also participates in tennis, soccer, and basketball. She recently did a wonderful 14-page research project (which I had the pleasure to see over FaceTime) for a nonfiction assignment in school detailing the art form. For our interview, she graciously donned the black turtleneck and pink sash costume specific to the Lenihan School for her age group. She pays homage to her Irish heritage (Connemarra) with every step she dances and hopes to visit the one day. 

Camryn Harris, now 14, learned more than her alphabet from Sesame Street. At age four, she saw a segment on Irish dancing on that iconic show and begged her mother to get her lessons. She persisted, and her mom relented and shifted her from gymnastics to Irish dance when she was five. Although there is some Irish heritage in her family, there was no dance tradition, so Camryn blazed this trail on her own. She attends the Doherty Petri School of Irish Dance in Bethel three to four days a week for two to three hours. As an Open Championship Level Dancer and Worlds Qualifier, she has competed and performed at the highest levels in her age group. Were it not for COVID-19, she’d have traveled to the 50th anniversary World Irish Dancing Championships (Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne) in Dublin in April last year. She’s scheduled to compete at the North American Irish Dance Championships in Phoenix in July, 2021, and hopes to follow her dream to the Worlds, provided the pandemic abates and they proceed. She sources her elaborate costumes directly from Ireland, at the Belfast-based Eire Designs, where one of her teachers, Gavin Doherty, helps to design them. Camryn really enjoys the camaraderie with the other students at the school and with the broader Irish dance community. She has earned the right to wear the hard, or “jig” shoes, and loves the sound created with the intricate steps. And speaking of hard, she has learned some hard lessons as a result of two serious injuries which she worked hard to recuperate from. She has learned so much beyond the steps from her dancing experience, and has no plans to retire any time soon, hoping to dance through college and beyond.

Keeva Boyle was born in Ireland and has returned there almost each of her fifteen years. Although her entire family hails from the Emerald Isle, they did not pressure her to dance; she saw a segment on television and wanted to try it. She, too, attends the Lenihan School. In doing so, she has made her whole clan proud – her relatives, who hail from Monaghan and Donegal, have often seen her perform virtually. It has proven a meaningful link for all of them to their heritage, and she hopes one day to dance for them in person in Ireland. Keeva and I discussed the physical rigors of the art – needing to keep muscles tense, posture erect, arms still, while allowing the ankles to be loose and fluid. She works hard to protect herself from injury with yoga and Pilates, helping to keep her flexible while keeping a strong core and back. She practices twice weekly but has attended intensive two-week camps prior to school starting and performances. She, like many of the other dancers, performs locally with the Gaelic-American Club (Fairfield). If the pandemic allows, we can see her and her classmates dance at the Pequot Library for St. Patrick’s Day.

Abby Turner literally followed in her father’s footsteps. He and his four siblings grew up dancing – they hail from Cork and Ballynahinch. She began in kindergarten, taking lessons and competing, but stopped in eighth grade to allow time for other activities. Happily, though, she returned to dancing at Boston College, where she is currently a junior and a member of the Irish Dancing team. She learned of the activity at a college club fair and thought it a good way to meet friends and renew her interest in the art form. She and her team perform at several large shows both within the school and regionally. She, too, noted that many don’t appreciate the demanding physicality of the dance because good dancers make it look so effortless. She explained that vendors attend competitions and performances to sell costumes and shoes. She has found that often it’s best to buy used hard shoes because they are already broken in. While she has visited Ireland, she has not yet, but hopes to, go see the steps performed in the country from which they- and she – originated.

I learned so much from these lovely young women. I still cannot properly pronounce the names of the various competitions: A feis (pronounced fesh) is a more local-level Irish dance competition. An Oireachtas (pronounced o-rock-tus) is a larger, regional competition. In the photos, you’ll see the intricate costumes, wigs, and makeup the girls wear for these events. They’ve worked hard to maintain their training despite the pandemic, first through Zoom, and then in socially-distanced, masked classes. I was impressed with their dedication both to the cultural and physical aspects of this sport/art form. They share something in common in their love of this ages-old tradition, but they each make it their own with their unique styles and approaches. I thank them each for taking the time to speak with me and share these hidden Westport shamrocks – Erin Go Bragh!          

Westport Arts Advisory Committee seeks  to enhance the visibility of the arts in our community. Visit http://www.westportarts.org