Celtic Thunder Academy of Irish Music & Dance

That very question made me reflect on the journey that has led us to where we currently are. The following is SO TRUE!

"You can’t talk about your purpose without talking about your pain. It’s tempting to focus only on the light of our callings and offerings - but that’s only half the truth. The other half - and in many cases, far more than half - is the relationship between our painful life experiences and the purposes that they forged.

There’s a reason why people who had it easier, often find it difficult to find their true path. Without something to overcome, they lack the resilience necessary to find their purpose in a distracting world. Working through and overcoming our traumas ignites our resilience, and lights a fire of sacred purpose deep within our souls. When we see how hurtful the world can be, we also see the many ways that we can make a difference.

In the heart of our suffering, is the calling to heal this bloodied planet. Let's get to work."

-Jeff Brown

And yes - I would concur with Jeff - the seemingly massive and daunting hurdles & walls have indeed been points of incubation for our own school’s philosophy, development and growth.

Although my dad's family was steeped in Irish cultural traditions (sean nós dance, social dance, playing the pipes, fiddle & various other instruments, my dad called dances, and my aunts did oral recitations) my children and I were introduced - by coincidence - to Irish Dance in 2000 when we moved to Fergus. I’d learnt Canadian Step Dance as a kid. So as a young working mom with four children I was looking for a Canadian Step Dance school. But the thought to driving to Orangeville, especially during the inevitable winter snowstorms, kept me from going that route. A colleague suggested we try Irish dance. Not eager to do so I agreed to let them “try it out”.

It was like striking gold!

We quickly noted a similarity - yet differences - to Canadian Step Dance. And we easily fell into the Irish Dance orbit.

Irish Dance was exciting! It was high energy. It was thrilling. It had more variations than did Canadian step in that it used both hard and soft shoes. There were Jigs and Reels. And Hornpipes, and Treble Jigs, and Slip Jigs. There was fiddle music and great steps! It had steps done individually. And steps done collectively as a group. It promoted team work and physical activity. As a family - it kept us engaged and hopping. And as our children became more adapt - we also became entrenched in the Feis (competition) circuit. That meant fancy clothes. Embroidering every spare minute of the day & night. And wearing of tiaras and white bubble socks with bling in them. In fact, it meant bling. Everywhere. It meant sleeping with curlers in their hair (until the advent of dance wigs .. and then it meant Dolly Parton wigs!) and early Saturday morning starts to drives around the province to attend events. We loved our teacher. Our days and weeks revolved around dance class and competitions.

Through it all we were introduced to a style of dance that is both captivating and magical. We were physically active, involved in the arts, and surrounded by music. It was exciting, and hectic, and thrilling, and musical. It was our life.

And then one day our teacher broke the news that she was moving.

Our children were inconsolable. Now - after existing in the world of Irish Dance for most of a decade we were faced with looking for a replacement school or in worst case scenario, a replacement activity.

Not finding a replacement school, and not clicking with the teacher that replaced our revered leader we turned to the internet. Scouring it - an interesting yet strange thing began to show up. Elsewhere. In other countries. People were talking about “Open Platform Irish Dance”. So we began to ask questions. And as the questions were asked the cracks in the facade began to grow until the day we were expelled with the comment, “Even if you are considering another organization you can not be part of ours!”

And with that - the house of cards fell. Gone were the lessons. And the friends. And the weekly routine. The performances. The competitions. The everything!

Following this tumultuous exit - we began in earnest looking for another Irish Dance school. This time armed with a list of what we wanted in that school. Surprise, surprise. No such school existed in Ontario. And we quickly deduced that we had entered a new era - either it was time to move on from Irish Dance or our time had come to “hang out a shingle”.

And Celtic Thunder Academy of Irish Music & Dance was born as one of Canada’s first Open Platform Irish Dance schools.

Emotionally it was very tough leaving "The Big" closed platform Irish dance organization. It was all that we had ever known of Irish dance. Socially it felt like we were being pushed off a cliff! Thus in our subsequent "Free-fall-turning-into-a-soaring-flight Period" I was eager to find others with whom we could connect. It was not long before I realized that I had been gifted a very unique opportunity - the mantle of being able to encourage & empower others who were also leaving "the monopoly" that there are LOADS of Irish dance opportunities outside of its control! So, over the past 11 (11!) years I have done a lot of "cold calling" and bold invitations to others who might be interested in Open Platform.

“Open platform” refers to the philosophy that anyone from any organizational affiliation, or no organizational affiliation is eligible to participate. Conversely, “closed platform” refers to organizations that operate from an exclusionary perspective. Closed organizations restrict their members’ activities, granting permission to them to only participate in their own organizational or sanctioned events, while closing their events to others outside their organization. (Sometimes - if your experience is like ours - dancers may not even know they are involved in an closed platform organization until they begin to ask questions, which in turn expose the perimeters of the organization.)

Skip forward. Shortly after our leaving I’d registered as a teacher with WIDA - a fledgling Open Platform organization based in mainland Europe. This was quickly followed with me beginning their Irish Dance Teacher Certification which I completed in 2014 (scoring 100% on my final TMRF exam!). Simultaneously I earned my Dance Part 2 certification for teaching dance in the Ontario School systems.

Then in Jan 2015 we chose for Celtic Thunder to move totally independent. Although fully ensconced in the Open Platform philosophy, we felt that to provide for the ever-expanding opportunities that we wished to include in our school that we needed to operate independently of any Irish Dance organization.

I could never have predicted what I would be doing today during those early days/years of being excommunicated from CLRG. In hind site though - leaving them (not the way we left, but the fact that we did leave) has probably been one of the best things ever as it propelled me into a deeper and wider experience of what Irish Dance can mean, and helped define how we would operate as a dance and music school!

Today - 12 years into our existence - we are known for promoting Irish culture, creativity & craic.

At Celtic Thunder, we believe that Irish Dance and Music can teach fundamentals that cross over into all aspects of yours and your child's life. It provides an environment for developing friendships and teamwork, instills discipline, increases athleticism and coordination, grows confidence, assists with cognitive and muscle memory, and builds a positive foundation for the future.

At Celtic Thunder the students come to class as eager to learn new things as do their teachers. Watching them apply that enthusiasm to their work, acknowledging that there are bumps and mountaintops in the road to learning, is so worth it! In this delightful adventure different students are drawn to different styles of Irish dance & music. It is truly amazing. Students and teachers alike take ownership in their learning; coming to class not just physically ready for what is asked of them but also mentally ready with ideas they have found or formed during the week. Celtic Thunder applauds both teachers and students learning from and alongside each other!

We work from the basis that encouraging ongoing Irish cultural development needs to be both affordable and fun! Thus, in an effort to make classes accessible to anybody who wishes to participate (financially, technically, intellectually, and physically) we provide a shoe rental program and have sufficient Irish instruments for students to use in class. In addition, a modest annual family membership fee covers the costs of all recital & performance wear, and for families for whom participating would not be an option without assistance - we offer tuition scholarships. For the larger community our performances are done without charge, as is our annual Recital/Ceili.

We offer a wide array of lessons, workshops, camps and performance opportunities. Every youth lesson includes both Irish music and dance. Along with learning different Irish dance genres [Munster style jigs, reels, slip jigs, single jigs, hornpipes treble jigs & reels, Festival style slip jigs & trad sets, Canadian Step, Sean nós, Appalachian Clogging, Maypole, Longsword, Old Style solo sets, Solo Trad Munster sets, Class generated choreography, Traditional group sets, Ribbons, Ceili, Barrel & Brush dancing, Performance dance where the students do live musical performance & dance together, to name a few] ... our students also study penny whistle and are given hands-on weekly instruction on the harp, concertina, bodhran and uilleann pipes.

Seven years ago Celtic Thunder hosted Canada’s inaugural Open Platform Feis. This feis has blossomed into an annual Irish cultural festival drawing participants from thousands of km away. At our first Spring Rain Weekend a visiting independent Irish dance school confided that they had been waiting 16 years for the opportunity for their dancers to be eligible to compete. The Spring Rain Feis offers competition classes in all of the Irish dance styles and music our school teaches. Since its inception, we have brought in world Irish dance, music, art and language experts from across NA and from overseas - thus becoming the cutting edge of introducing Sean nós dance, Festival dance and Open Platform to Canada! Spring Rain Weekend remains to be bold and strong. The 2021 Spring Rain offers an open platform feis, a teacher’s TCRG preparatory workshop, a kitchen party - east coast style, and a community ceili.

We are thrilled when individual dancers and whole schools look back and see a direct co-relation between taking workshops and participating at Spring Rain or with Celtic Thunder and a change in the direction or an expansion of what they now offer for their classes and schools.

We encourage all the students to participate in as many Irish dance, music, language and cultural opportunities as possible. Anywhere. Anytime. They needn’t require our endorsement nor our permission. We believe in empowering & accepting all Irish experiences. We recognize that Celtic Thunder is only but one part of their families’ existence, and the wider their Irish experience can be - the deeper and more meaningful it will become for them!

And above all else . . . We. Have. Fun.

So it should come as no surprise that, after performing onstage at the Grand Theatre, the M.C. proclaimed that “Celtic Thunder is indeed Centre Wellington’s Best Kept Secret!”