March is a very busy time for Irish dancers and Saint Patrick’s Day is the busiest day of the year. Kathy Dalcourt of Plainsboro spends many hours a week coordinating the schedules of her two daughters, Paige and Tori, both dancers on the Irish dancing circuit.##M:[more]##
The girls have performed in various shows, parades and cultural festivals including Irish Night at the Trenton Thunder, Trenton St. Patrick’s Day parade, West Orange Parade, Plainsboro Traditions Festival, several appearances at local churches, private parties, appearances with the Union County Police and Fire Fife and Drums, Edison Mayor’s Flag Raising Ceremony on St. Patrick’s Day, nursing homes, and schools.
Kathy and her husband, Al, moved to Plainsboro in 1993. Tori, 13, is in seventh grade at Community Middle School, where she is on the track team and involved in PRISM projects. Paige, 11, is a fifth grade student at Millstone River School, and plays softball with the Cranbury-Plainsboro Little League. Rick, 8, is in second grade at Wicoff School.
“Although the family has roots from several nations, Irish and Scottish are prevalent on both sides,” says Kathy. “Our three fair skinned, red-headed children certainly look the part.”
Both daughters started ballet and tap in preschool with the Princeton YWCA and later trained with the Princeton Ballet School. “After seeing Michael Flatley’s production of Riverdance on PBS, the girls asked to try it,” Kathy says. “I found a school based in north Jersey and commuted there and to its other locations year-round for the past six years.” The girls are currently students of the Peter Smith School of Irish Dance and take two to three classes a week in South Amboy.
“After they had been dancing for about a year their school suggested we bring them to a feis (pronounced fesh) at Seton Hall University to compete in three softshoe dances,” says Kathy. “We were shocked by the enormous amount of competitors and spectators.
With more than 1,”000 competitors in various age groups and levels that day, Paige earned a first, second, and third place. Tori earned a third. “That was it, we were all hooked,” says Kathy. “We’ve been going to feiseanna (pronounced fesh-anna, Gaelic for competition) about once a month ever since.”
In addition to their regular training, the girls attended workshops in the summer and fall of 2006 with Martin Percival, the former principal lead dancer of Lord of the Dance and Riverdance. The level of dance currently in competition is high energy and high impact with many leaps, jumps, and complicated rhythms and combinations. Irish step dances are performed with very straight posture and with arms held straight down and tight by their sides.
Having progressed through the levels of beginner, advanced beginner, novice, and prizewinner, Tori now dances in the preliminary champion level. Paige is focusing on earning one more first place finish this year to move her to the final level of amateur competition, open championship.
According to their mother, Tori and Paige have accumulated many trophies, plaques, medals, sashes, and lots of great memories! “Through Irish dance, the girls have made many friends in other dance schools and other states that they visit and correspond with,” she says. “Sometimes they talk about starting their own school together one day.”
