Melissa McCarthy defeats Paige Turilli for 2011 NAIDC girls under 15 title

Melissa McCarthy from Harney Academy (MA)2011 North American Irish Dancing Champion

Girls under 15B

Melissa McCarthy of the Harney Academy from Massachusetts clinched the Girls under 15B North American Irish Dancing Championship after coming in second behind 2010 and 2011 World Champion Ann Paige Turilli from Inishfree New York. McCarthy also placed second behind Turilli at the All-Ireland Championships.

Top Five in the Girls under 15B event:

2 – Ann Paige Turilli from Inishfree (NY)
3 – Mackenzie Mahler from Blakey (Western Canada)
4 – Kelsey Parry from Pender-Keady (CT)
5 – Breanna Ahern from Gilleoghan (CT)

Top Five in the Girls under 15A event:

1 – Aisling Reinhardt from Elaine Kavanagh (Ireland)
2 – Heather Monaghan from Mulvihill-Lynch (NY)
3 – Meaghan Kenfield from Trinity (IL/WI)
4 – Collette Harling from Cashel Dennehy (WI)
5 – Kellyn Berrigan from Pender-Keady (CT)


Feis America has been expressly prohibited from publishing real-time results or live commentary, but will post information once results are publicly available. For full results and updates in real-time, visit www.nanationals.net/2011.

Subscribe today to Feis America, North America’s favorite Irish dancing magazine!

Photo courtesy of www.dance.net from 2011 Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne

Gabriella Wood from Petri wins sixth North American title

Gabriella Wood from Petri School (NY)
2011 North American Irish Dancing Champion
Ladies under 19

Congratulations to 2011 North American Irish Dancing Champion for Ladies under 19 Gabriella Wood from the Petri School in New York. This is Wood’s SIXTH North American National Irish Dancing Championship (2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010). She is also a two-time World Irish Dancing Champion (2005 and 2009), having won 2nd place in 2011 and 3rd place in 2010. An undefeated Mid-Atlantic Region Champion since she started competing in 2003, Wood also holds the 2007 Great Britain title and the 2005 All Britain championship titles.

Congratulations to the following ladies on their Top Five placement in the Under 19 event Saturday:

2 – Maura Jennings from Broesler (MD/NJ)
3 – Kinsey Brimhall from Comerford (Western U.S.)
4 – Catie Foley from Drake (Southern U.S.)
5 – Ashley Tuccinardi from Lynn (CT)

Feis America has been expressly prohibited from publishing real-time results or live commentary, but will post information once results are publicly available. For full results and updates in real-time, visit www.nanationals.net/2011.

Subscribe today to Feis America, North America’s favorite Irish dancing magazine! Follow us on FaceBook and Twitter and post your photos, congratulations and best wishes every day!

photo courtesy www.dance.net

Photos from North American Irish Dancing Champs Saturday

Saturday at the North American Irish Dancing Championships in Nashville, Tennessee! Dancers and teachers practicing, mingling and making great memories at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel.

Boland School unifies with great purple tees!
Waiting on awards!

Grandmother Jean Mullane with Orla, Sinead and Grace Godley

from Mullane-Healy-Godley (IL)

Kathleen Ryan Natter TCRG with her mother "CeCe"

Ryan Academy (NY)

Emily and Brianna from Goggin-Carroll (Eastern Canada) watching sets.

Mary Kate Chaney, Ceara Sweetser, Hannah Lewis and Colleen Chaney

from Murray (NH)

More photos to come! Stay tuned to Go Feis! The Irish Dance Blog and follow the #NAIDC2011 Twitter feed for shout-outs, congrats and updates on all the competitions.

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Nadine Martin from Doherty wins North American Irish Dance Title Ladies under 20

Nadine Martin from Doherty (England/Wales)

2011 North American Irish Dancing Champion

Ladies under 20

Greetings from Nashville and the Irish Dance Teacher's Association of North America's flagship event, the North American Irish Dancing Championships! Saturday’s competitions for titles in six age groups culminated in an exciting celebration last evening in the Delta Ballroom.

Congratulations to 2011 North American Irish Dancing Champion for Ladies under 20 Nadine Martin from Doherty Academy (England/Wales). Martin’s coup follows a 4th placement at the World Irish Dancing Championships and 2nd placement at the All-Ireland Championships this year.

2 - Cassidy Luebbers from Broesler (MD/NJ)
3 - Caitlin Richardson from Mayer (Mid America)
4 - Candice Corrigan from Penk O'Donnell (Western Canada)
5 - Chelsea Holloway from Rince Nia (WI)

For Ladies under 20, Feis America is thrilled to have featured TWO of the TOP FIVE in the July/August issue's feature article by Patricia McNamara, "Sorority of Seniority". Cassidy Luebbers from Broesler (MD/NJ) took 2nd place, following a 7th placement at Worlds and 16th at All –Irelands. Candice Corrigan from Penk O’Donnell (Western Canada) took 4th place following an 11th placement at Worlds.

Fifth place winner Chelsea Holloway from Rince Nia Academy (Sean Beglan TCRG, Wisconsin) also placed 19th at Worlds.

Feis America has been expressly prohibited from publishing real-time results or live commentary, but will post information once results are publicly available. For full results and updates in real-time, visit www.nanationals.net/2011.

Subscribe today to Feis America, North America’s favorite Irish dancing magazine! 100% North American news in every full-color issue... guaranteed!

North American Irish Dancing Championships Trinity Cheer Posters

One of the best parts about going to a major Irish dancing competition is watching the old friends meet up - families AND dancers. My personal favorite pastime (after watching the amazing dancing of course!) is scouting the room hallways to see the creative display of posters made by dancers for other dancers. Enjoy these sweet cheer signs made by and for Trinity Irish Dancers (IL/WI) that Feis America scouted out at Gaylord Opryland Hotel today in Nashville. Remember, friends last forever (trophies end up in a box in your attic!)... have fun and make memories to last your lifetime and enjoy the glory of having qualified to compete here at North America's Irish Dancing Championships.

North American Irish Dancing Championships Saturday Photos

Welcome to Nashville, home of the 2011 North American Irish Dancing Championships! Here meet some of Feis America's friends and fans for life as they check in and start to explore the amazing Gaylord Opryland Hotel! Good luck to all of you on qualifying to dance here at NAN... it's a great achievement!

Caitlin Gash and Katie Lawler from Sheila Tully (IL)

Breanne and Nora from O'Grady-Quinlan (PA) and their awesome handmade tees!

Harney Academy (MA) pile up at check-in!

Feis America founding publisher poses with Nevin Academy (MA) NAIDC qualifiers: Molly Andrade, Colleen Edwards, Morgan Mello, Deveney Andrade, Kate Spitler and Rohini Gajaraj.

Cassidy Brown and Cameron Rohan from Griffith Academy (CT)
with Megan Ward from Pender Keady Academy (CT)

Kate and Meagan from Coyle (PA)

Kate, Victoria and Kristen from Proto-Casano (MA)

Stay tuned for many more photos of your Irish dancing friends at the North American Irish Dancing Championships!

All photos Feis America LLC

North American Irish Dancing Championships 2011

National qualifiers from the Harney Academy of Irish Dance in Massachusetts
checking in after the flight to Nashville from Providence!
photo Feis America LLC

Hello from Nashville, Tennessee and the Gaylord Opryland Hotel where the 2011 North American Irish Dancing Championships (NAIDC) have started today! Hosted by the Irish Dance Teachers Association of North America (IDTANA), this year's event honors past presidents of the organization.

Each year, competitive dancers from the seven regions of the IDTANA who have either achieved Open Champion status or qualified through a regional championship ("Oireachtas") vie for coveted North American titles, along with a number of competitors from abroad. Each dancer in every age group (age as of January 1, 2011) will each dance two rounds - a light shoe and a heavy shoe - before five adjudicators from Canada, Great Britain, Ireland and the United States. Girls and boys dance in separate competitions, and some large solo competitions are divided by birthdate.

Dancers are accompanied by live music performed side-stage by renowned feis musicians from around the world. After each round has been danced and scored, results are tabulated and those dancers scoring in the top fifty percent of each group will be recalled. Each of these immediately then dances a third and final round, known as a contemporary set. This is a dance performed in heavy shoes and the steps and timing vary by dancer. The final round scores are then incorporated with the first two rounds' scores, and overall placement is determined for each of the recalled dancers.

At awards each evening, all of the recalled dancers in each group are called on-stage to receive a placement. The small percentage who have qualified to compete at the 2012 Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne (World Irish Dancing Championships) are acknowledged first, but the top placements are withheld until all of the placements for all of the recalled dancers are acknowledged, in reverse order. After all of the day's solo competitions have been awarded, the audience is treated to the traditional Parade of Champions when each new North American Champion performs a step on the stage.

Today's competitions are Ladies under 19, Ladies under 20, Girls under 10, Girls under 15 (a and b), Men under 20 and Senior Men 20 & Over.

This evening's awards will include the presentation of the IDTANA 2011 Scholarship Winners. The July/August issue of Feis America, North America's favorite Irish dancing magazine, features our traditional spread with photos, achievements and college programs for each of the scholars. We look forward to honoring these amazing scholar athletes on future blog posts here on Go Feis! The Irish Dance Blog.

While Feis America has been expressly prohibited from posting live commentary and real-time results, we will celebrate all of the IDTANA dancers, teachers and families throughout the next six days with photo galleries and interviews. We invite our friends to Tweet good wishes and congratulations using #NAIDC2011 and @FeisAmerica on Twitter, which feed posts here to Feis America on Irish Central.

Be sure to find me for a free t-shirt, or wait and visit the Feis America on Irish Central table on Monday, July 4th at NAN for photos, video ops, t-shirt giveaways and a chance to win a trip to Ireland!

Subscribe to Feis America magazine TODAY for full print NAIDC coverage in the September/October issue!