Welcome to the Friends of McGahan Lees Irish Dance Academy website.
This site is intended for Irish dancers all over the world -- from pre-feis beginners to world championship contenders. Family and friends of dancers, and anyone thinking of starting Irish dancing lessons, should also find it of great interest -- especially the beginners area. Have a good look round!
Please note that this site is maintained by dancers' parents - NOT a qualified dance teacher (click 'read me!' on the top menu bar for more details).
We are often asked about class locations. Full details can be found on the Classes page but, briefly, McGahan Lees classes are held at locations across Essex and Kent, and currently include:
Did you know that Aer Lingus fly from London Southend Airport to Dublin?
Well you do now!
Around 40 McGahan Lees dancers took part in a 'flashmob' at the Lakeside Shopping Centre to publicise the new route, and were watched by hundreds of shoppers who took a break from their bank holiday shopping. The floor was a touch slippery and there wasn't much 'give' in it, but it got the message across and the audience was very appreciative!
Here are four McGahan Lees dancers who are jumping for joy following the recent World Championships in Belfast, and looking forward to a trip to the North American Irish Dancing Championships in Chicago, Illinois, in the summer.
There is now a new McGahan Lees class in Kent, to be held from 7 to 9pm on Friday evenings, at The Miskin Theatre, Oakfield Lane Dartford, Kent DA1 2JT (Streetmap link).
Any new dancers wishing to attend should contact Frances via the Contact page.
The McGahan Lees dancers are frequently asked to perform at corporate and private functions, and also appear on TV from time to time. It can be difficult to get hold of decent video footage of these shows, for copyright and technical reasons, but we've just added a couple of video clips to our 'displays' page - click the 'Exhibitions & TV' link.
If anybody has any decent footage of a McGahan Lees display, please contact the webmaster via the Contact Form.
As McGL parents, we had a fabulous time at our Open Feis this year - our new venue was a huge success and everything ran as smoothly as anyone could have wished for. It only remains to thank the people who make it all possible.
We must thank the distinguished adjudicators and fabulous musicians, and all those volunteers from McGahan Lees and other schools who helped with the feis, before, during and afterwards. Thanks also to our vendors, Melaine Murphy, FeisWear, FeisPix and Simon's Beads for serving our competitors and families.
This year we will again operate a Live Commentary service providing we can establish a reasonable mobile broadband signal. This will be operated by volunteers over the weekend, when they do not have other duties that take priority.
Please see our Open Feis 2012 page for links to the commentary. If you can't be with us in person, we hope you will join us online and add to our feis.
McGL Live Commentary Team
13 March 2012 -- Our final timetable is now available for download from this website or from www.sercweb.com. Please see our Open Feis 2012 page for details.
20 February 2012 -- Following publication of the draft timetable we have had several requests and suggestions to look at how we have timetabled the Under 6, 7, 8 and 9 graded competitions on the Saturday. In the light of this, we have issued a revised timetable that addresses those concerns, in particular such an early start for dancers so young and reducing the overall time dancers have to actually stay at the feis.
Please accept this as an oversight on our part and we look forward to receiving your entries.