Celtic Fire Irish Dance Company

In 1998 Pat Dennis formed the Celtic Fire Irish Dance Company.

She holds weekly classes in Springfield, Missouri. At this time teaching beginning hard and soft shoe Irish dancing. Currently there are about 30 dancers enrolled in Irish classes.

Pat started the group with limited materials. Teaching as she learned from videos, books and most importantly dancing with the Fayetteville Irish Dancers in Arkansas.

Today, Celtic Fire has a close relationship with St. Louis Irish Arts. Helen Gannon (SLIA), provides instruction for the students that want to compete.

The Springfield group made their first appearance by performing at the Celtic Gathering 1998 in Springfield. Since that first performance the Celtic Fire Dance Company have performed in several community events annually, such as Artsfest and the Multicultural Performance held on stage at the Juanita K. Hammons Hall of the Performing Arts.

Presently Celtic Fire is celebrating it's 10th year as of 2008. They have performed countless times for festivals and events, including performances with the Chieftains & Eileen Ivers. Members of the group have also performed in Japan in 2001, and have been invited back for the summer of 2008.

The group enjoys dances such as the "Siege of Ennis", "Siege of Carrick", Bonfire, The Fairy Reel, and The Walls Of Limerick. They also have several choreographed routines of their own. This company has lots of energy and fun. Ages range from 7 years old to 40 plus!

New members are taught 7's and 3's, as well as the Promenade step for Soft Shoe and Reel steps for Hard Shoe.

Members of the group attend all available performances to watch Irish Dance including River Dance in St. Louis, Trinity Irish Dancers in Springfield (3rd time in Springfield) and Lord of Dance in Branson (Feb 99).

The Celtic Fire Irish Dance Company has their own Irish musician and Storyteller - Nancy Daily Green.

Also we have a bagpiper, guitarist, whistle, and vocal musician. Beau Buffington provides us with great sounds, along with a few of the other students that have the same talent for Irish music.

To stop confusion to the reader, clogging is not Irish dance. Although you will find Irish influence within clogging. Clogging is a mixture of Irish, Scottish, English, Canadian, and many other influences, and is a rapid ever changing dance today. On the other hand, Irish dance is a "parental" dance coming direct from the Celtic culture, and the traditional part of Irish dance has virtually remained unchanged for centuries. While the onset of dance troupes, such as Riverdance and Lord of The Dance, it has somewhat altered some steps and the type of music, it's traditional version is still steady today as it has been in history. Through time and lost information, even the purest of dance will change some, naturally.

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