Dancers from the award-winning Stillson School of Irish Dance, who will perform traditional Irish step dances in their sparkling, colorful costumes gather at the Dunaway Center, 23 School St. in Ogunquit.
OGUNQUIT — To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, Ogunquit Performing Arts welcomes the return of Stepdancers from the Stillson School of Irish Dance on Saturday, March 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the Dunaway Center.
Irish Stepdancing continues to be a wildly popular art form for performers and audiences alike. Ogunquit Performing Arts celebrates this unique style of dance at this most appropriate time of year, by presenting the renowned Stillson School of Irish Dance on March 9, at the Dunaway Center, 23 School St. in Ogunquit.
The award-winning Stillson dancers, returning to Ogunquit by popular demand, will perform a brilliant array of jigs and reels, dressed in a variety of dazzling, hand-made costumes.
The performance will consist of both the fluid soft shoe style as well as the rhythmic hard shoe popularized by shows such as Riverdance and Lord of the Dance.
At the end of the performance, the dancers will invite children and the young at heart to join them onstage to learn or try out some steps. A reception with refreshments will conclude the evening.
The Stillson School of Irish Dance / Performance Team is under the direction of Carlene Moran Stillson.
In existence for 25 years, the school is the only certified school of Irish dancing in the state of Maine. The school’s dancers compete all over New England and place in the New England Regional Irish Dancing Championships annually.
Dancers have placed in the North American Irish Dance Championships, as well as competed in the All Ireland Championships, The European Championships and The World Irish Dance Championships. Students of the Stillson School of Irish Dance are proud to have performed with Cherish the Ladies, Solas, The Trinity Irish Dance Company, Natalie MacMaster, and Eileen Ivers among many others.
In addition to the dance performance, Carlene Stillson will tell about the history of the dance and explain the reasons for the design of the many different costumes worn by the dancers. Traditional Irish dress is represented in the school dress which features embroidery designs taken from the Book of Kells.
Stillson began dancing at the age of four for her aunt, Patricia K. Lenihan, in Connecticut. She is now the director of the Stillson School of Irish Dance, which remains the only certified school with An Coimisiun in the state of Maine.
In her 25 years of teaching, she has produced successful teams, figure choreographies, multiple New England Oireachtas Champions, top-ranking North American champion dancers, and World medal holders. Among these great achievements, Carlene is most proud of her four beautiful daughters. In the past 15 years, Carlene has adjudicated across North America and Australia, including the most recent North American Championships and Mid Atlantic Regional Oireachtas.
The curtain time for this event is 6:30 p.m. with the performance of the Stillson Stepdancers, followed by a reception to meet the dancers.
Admission is $5 and payable at the door, the evening of the performance. General seating, no advance sales. There’s plenty of free parking behind the Dunaway.
For more information please visit www.ogunquitperformingarts.org.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
