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Tappy Hour: Festival Style Dance Workshop with Kate Spanos!

Friday, 03/03/2023 | 07:30PM-08:30PM

Kate S. DIDA Tenleytown
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! Join us for a special community event to learn Festival style Irish step dance! We will work on some of the movements and techniques that are typical of this style’s “slow” slip jig and learn a short piece of performance choreography. Festival style Irish dance is from the Belfast area of Northern Ireland and was developed by Patricia Mulholland (or "Miss Mulholland") in the 1950s to draw the focus of Irish dance away from the "pageantry" of feis style and more towards individual expression. The costumes are simpler and dancers do not wear wigs. Festival slip jigs and set dances are much slower than their feis style counterparts, and dancers pay particular attention to expressing "light and shade" in the music. Grace, elegance, and control are key features of Festival style, and one of its distinctive motifs is the "burl" or turn/spin. Kate Spanos is a dancer and dance scholar from Washington, DC with a Ph.D. in dance and performance studies from the University of Maryland and an M.A. in traditional Irish dance performance from the University of Limerick (UL). She first learned Festival style from Ruth Long of the Royal Tara Dance Academy in Carrickfergus and Larne while studying at UL. She currently studies Festival style under Lauren Smyth from County Down through her online academy @laurensmythacademy. For more about Kate, visit www.thekatespanos.com. This event is open to everyone, including dancers from any Irish dance school or style. Attire: Soft shoes, socks, or light/non-stick sneakers

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This event occurred on 03/03/2023

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