When we started dancing with the Maura Shanahan school of Dancing, we were all around 5 years old. Our dancing teacher set up a class in Clonaslee and we all started to go. We all won trophies and medals in different competitions. We go all around the country dancing in Feiseanna. The boys wear a blue kilt and a navy jacket and girls wear blue costumes and a bit of bright colours. We dance our light dances in pomps and our heavy dances in treble shoes. The boys change to boys reel shoes at the age of 11 years of age.

FINLAND

We went on trips to Finland, Poland, and Italy with our teacher and parents. Mrs Shanahan has set up a dancing class in Bratislava and  represents Ireland with her Folk Group every year at different festivals. 

We went to Finland on a plane and it was a long flight. We flew to Helsinki airport. It never got dark at night and they were one hour ahead of Ireland. We went for two weeks. The first week we stayed in a school and the second week in a hotel in Rovamimi next to Lapland in north Finland. We had many shows every day. It was very hot in Finland. We did some workshops with the Finland people. We went to see Santa and we got a photo with him. We went on buses to every festival. This year there is a trip to France for the youngest children and a trip to America and Japan for the older people.

POLAND

On Thursday 30 July, my Mammy and my big sister went to Poland for 17 days. My dancing teacher was to bring a group of dancers to dance at two different folklore festivals. They went up to Dublin airport and got a plane to Gatwick, then Krakow They danced on stages outdoors, and everybody liked them. While they were there, they visited the famous places including Auschwitz Concentration camp. On the way, home they had to go on a seven-hour bus journey to the airport. There they got a plane to Gatwick and then to Dublin. They had a great trip to Poland.

My sister Kelly went to Italy and all of the shows were on a stage outside. There were no houses in Italy just flats or apartments. They stayed in an eight-story building, a level for each Country. A lounge and shop on the main level, a cafeteria level and the bottom level was a gym where we practised and held meetings, played volleyball and soccer and had mens and women showers.

Our guides were also dancers. Their names were Pierre and Luca. Many people in Italy have scooters, even fourteen years olds A supermarket was a five-minute walk away and the telephone was five minutes in the other direction. We had the same bus every time we trave1ed but we had to share with the Indians. We made many friends and enjoyed their company.

We had pasta and fruit and water for lunch and dinner every day. We had to drink lots and lots of water because it was so hot. It was nearly 30 degrees every day. They never drank cold milk always hot. Therefore, we had to order cold milk for breakfast. We stayed two weeks in Italy. We got a bus to Rome and waited seven hours for a plane.

By John, Angelina, Margaret, Aine, Mairead, Leanne, Kelly and Pauline

Gemma used to teach us set dancing. There were three groups. We learned many dances from Gemma such as -The Kerry set, the High Call cap and the Walls of Limerick. Every year near Christmas Gemma would bring us to a pantomime in Dublin. We have seen Jack and the beanstalk, Cinderella and Mother Goose.

One year one of our groups danced on the T.V. on Live at Three Then we went to Wexford to dance in a semi-final and we won but we lost the final, We danced for some old people and they thought that we were very entertaining. Every year at Christmas Gemma holds a party for us and sometimes we get presents. We do some dancing for the adults as well. We had a great time dancing for Gemma.

By Maria, Elizabeth, Mary and Niamh

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