Students participate through dancing at Celtic Night
USU offers a variety of dance classes, and one of these is the Irish Dance class, which directly ties into the Inishfre Irish Dance Company.
Director Julie Zufelt began the Inishfre Irish Dance Company in 2002 and later put together Celtic Night, which has now become an annual event. She said at first Celtic Night was expected to be a small, informal event at the Whittier Center, but tickets sold out and the standing room in the back filled up. Now the event takes place every St. Patrick’s Day weekend in the Ellen Eccles Theatre.
There are about 40 students who take part in the Irish Dance class and 12 students who take part in Celtic Night, Zufelt said. Inishfre Dance Company specializes in a “riverdance” style of dance and during Celtic Night they perform to the live music of the band Leaping Lulu. The company invited An Tus Nua Academy of Irish Dance, another local dance group, to join in the event this year.
“Inishfre Irish Dance offers classes for students of all ages and all levels,” said Katelin Madsen, a senior studying biological science education and executive director of Inishfre “Our current dancers range in age from 5 to 61. It is a great way to get to meet new people, get some exercise and have fun.”
At the end of the year, all of the students in the dance class get the chance to perform.
The group performs in a variety of settings throughout the year, including events like Celtic Night, festivals, and fairs. The company also has the chance to dance in performing arts center all over Utah, Idaho and Wyoming.
Marilize Van der Walt, a junior studying cellular and molecular biology, said being a part of the company has literally been a whirlwind of excitement.
“One year … the wind picked up in the middle of our show and I thought the tent would blow away,” Van der Walt said. “The wind knocked over the speakers and blew off all the hats on one of the dances. It was crazy, but it was a pretty cool experience at the same time.”
Meghan Lachmar, a graduate student in the marriage and family therapy program, said the group has a laid-back environment and makes it easy for students to balance practice times with their school work.
“It is a lot easier to balance with school (than other forms of dance) because it is more laid-back, and they understand we are all working with crazy busy schedules,” Lachmar said. “We all love it, but it’s not our life.”
Van der Walt said the group has become like a “giant dance family.”
“We work hard together, sweat together, laugh together,” she said. “We support each other through injury and even problems outside of dance.”
– katie.whitmore@aggiemail.usu.edu