Students kick start St. Patrick’s Day festivities with Irish dancing, culture

Irish eyes were smiling Thursday afternoon as Palm Crest Elementary School GATE students learned about all things Irish in a special after-school event held just in time for St. Patrick’s Day.

About 50 students and parents gathered in the cafeteria to watch a demonstration from students of Cleary Irish Dance, which teaches reels and jigs to adult and youths in five schools throughout Greater Los Angeles. They also learned more about the Emerald Isle.

Hilary Gregg, La Cañada Unified School District’s elementary school GATE teacher, organized the day to share her love of Irish dance and culture. In addition to being the mother of a world-class Irish dancer, she herself has danced on an adult team.

Gregg’s students sat transfixed by the dancers’ raucous shoe stomping (courtesy of fiberglass-lined soles) and gravity-defying leaps and kicks. Instructor Margaret Cleary shared insights on the costumes, dance steps and the dancers themselves.

“You don’t have to be Irish to do Irish dancing,” Cleary said. “It’s for all nationalities.”

One star of the stage was Jonathan Shirley, a La Cañada Elementary School fourth-grader and Western Regional Champion who’s been dancing since age 5.

Shirley said his passion for Irish dance was the result of happenstance. Sick with the flu in preschool, and finding himself with nothing to do, he and his mom watched his grandmother’s copy of “Riverdance” over and over again.

“I pestered my mom for a year because I wanted to do it,” explained 9-year-old Shirley, who now practices his passion about six to eight hours each week.

After the demonstration, the audience tried out some basic moves. Kids tried to keep time to the music with toe taps and giggled hysterically when their efforts fell short.

They also learned how Ireland’s once-endangered Gaelic tongue has undergone a rebirth as more young people aim to preserve their heritage. Students practiced a common greeting, “Dia dhuit” (JEE-uh gwitch), as well as the response “Dia is Muire dhuit” (JEE-uh iss MWIR-uh gwitch), which roughly means “God be with you.”

Afterward, the students enjoyed Irish soda bread and jam. Isabel Kim, 7, practiced toe tapping while waiting for snacks. She’d come to pick up her sister Lauren, 10, but really threw herself into the jig. Isabel said the dancing was her favorite part, though she confessed not knowing too much about the nation of Ireland.

On the other end of the spectrum was sixth-grader Ali Kuszyk, who fell in love with Ireland after doing a report on the country and worked with Gregg after the class to perfect some dance moves.

“I love everything to do with Ireland,” said Ali, who thinks she is a little Irish, on her dad’s side. “A few years back, I tried some Irish stew and saw some Irish dancing, and I really liked it.”

As she left the cafeteria with a bag of soda bread, Ali doubled back to grab a flier for Cleary’s studio, just in case her mom might want to know more about lessons.