During a practice at Fitness Corner November 18, the six member Under 10 team Celtic Dance Academy perform their gold medal dance from the Eastern Canada Regional Oireachtas 2017, Irish Dance Championships that took place earlier this month.

Hub Staff

Celtic Academy Canada’s Under 10 brought home gold from a world qualifier at a recent regional Oireachtas in Toronto.

Teams from across eastern Canada took part including Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Newfoundland and Ontario.

“That’s a lot of competition,” said Mary Foley, Academy Director, adding that competition at the national level can be upwards of 200 teams, a top 3 ranking taking the team to the worlds the following year.

The team included two Saugeen Shores dancers, Cindy Lu from Port Elgin and Carys Meneely from Southampton. Other dancers come from Chepstow, Cargill, Guelph, Walkerton, Owen Sound, Meaford and Collingwood.

“I'm just over the moon and elated because it’s the first ever for Irish dance to be at this level in Bruce County. I have six different locations that I train weekly,” said Foley.

“We’ve done five years of training, we’re in year six,” said Foley, adding that teams as well as soloists prepare for national competition in Florida next July.

“As well as the teams, so they'll go to Florida nationals in July, we also have then, out of all our soloists, I think we have about 13 entered as well for full solo rounds and championships and they all did well either with medals or podium places in premier championships.” Foley added that Walkerton’s Madalynn McGregor qualified to represent Canada at the Under 11 world championships solo girls in Glasgow, Scotland in March, 2018.

Standing with Coach Mary Foley, Madalynn McGregor of Walkerton received a Gold medal at the Oireachtas which qualified her for the Worlds in Scotland in March, 2018.

The six member Under 10 team was all smiles during their practise at Fitness Corner November 18. From left, Avery McGregor of Walkerton, Sadie Bester of Cargill, Madalynn McGregor of Walkerton, Kate Bester of Chepstow (back right) Elena Dobson of Walkerton and Kiara Harris of Guelph.

Coach Mary Foley said she was “over the moon” with her dancers’ performance.

Proudly holding the Canadian flag were Under 8 dancers, from left, Declyn Meneely of Southampton, Gabriella Frank of Walkerton, Essery Silk of Meaford, and Jorja Shannon or Port Elgin. From left, the Under 10 girls, Kate Bester, Elena Dobson, Kiara Harris, Avery McGregor, Sadie Bester, and Madalynn McGregor; with Under 12 Carys Meneely (left) of Southampton and Cindy Lu of Port Elgin bookending Coach Mary Foley, November 18.

Editor's Note: The original publication of this article had Declyn Meneely listed as being from Inverhuron and Gabriella Frank listed as being from Paisley. We have corrected the information above.