{"id":251200,"date":"2017-02-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-10T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/dance-the-irish-way\/"},"modified":"2017-02-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-02-10T08:00:00","slug":"dance-the-irish-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/dance-the-irish-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Dance the Irish way"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Gina McGalliard<\/p>\n

Along Adams Avenue in Kensington, there\u2019s a dance studio that doesn\u2019t teach ballet, tap or even hip-hop.<\/p>\n

At Clan Rince School of Irish Dance \u2014 \u201cclan rince\u201d is Gaelic for \u201cdance family\u201d \u2014 they only do traditional Irish step dancing.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother was born in Ireland and she was so proud of being from Ireland,\u201d said Jeannie Thornton, who owns the dance studio. \u201cShe just wanted her children to be connected to Ireland and not forget where she was born and raised. So she always wanted to do Irish things but there wasn\u2019t a lot going on in San Diego \u2014 the [Irish] community was very small.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then one day, after Mass, it was announced that there would be Irish dance classes following the church service. As first, Thornton didn\u2019t want to attend because she figured she already knew how to Irish dance \u2014 her mother had taught her basic steps in their living room \u2014 but now it was time for her to have a proper class from a certified teacher, her mother said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I have to say I loved it,\u201d Thornton said of that first lesson in class. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve been doing it ever since \u2014 and that was 40 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soon she was participating in local competitions, known as a Feis, a mainstay of the Irish-dance world. Even though she won nothing at her first Feis, she vowed to keep trying rather than be discouraged. Sure enough, she got better results at her second competition, but the third time proved the charm: She got straight first places.<\/p>\n

\u201cI turned into a competitive person I didn\u2019t know I was,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

(l to r) Alisa Dosch and Jeannie Thornton (Courtesy of Clan Rince School of Irish Dance)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At age 15 she attended the North American championships, only expecting to enjoy the experience of it because the competition would be so stiff. Instead, she placed fifth.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just ignited something in me,\u201d Thornton said. \u201c[I was] like, \u2018I am going to win this. I\u2019m going to win this.\u2019 And so the following year I went back and got first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upon becoming an adult, Thornton wasn\u2019t ready to give up her passion. However, because Irish dance was such a niche activity, opening her own dance school didn\u2019t seem like a viable career option. But then in the 1990s, \u201cRiverdance\u201d exploded onto the world stage, creating massive interest and public exposure for this little-known dance form. And suddenly the demand was there.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were knocking on my door. \u2018Don\u2019t you do that Irish dance, like that \u2018Riverdance\u2019?\u2019\u201d Thornton recalled. \u201cSo I started a whole class in my garage and went from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRiverdance\u201d was also the catalyst for Alisa Dosch \u2014 who teaches alongside Thornton \u2014 to take up Irish dancing. Dosch, who had been involved in music and dance throughout her childhood, was introduced to the show via a videotape her mother rented. Entranced with Irish dance, which she had never seen before, she and her mother began taking lessons at a local dance school. After two years, she switched to Thornton\u2019s studio, where she also began helping her teach in exchange for paying for lessons as a struggling college student.<\/p>\n

\u201cPretty soon I was going with her every single day to teach,\u201d Dosch said. \u201cAnd then I was doing the newsletter, and then I was helping organize shows and St. Patrick\u2019s Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upon her college graduation, she contemplated getting a \u201creal job,\u201d but decided Irish dance was her calling. Dosch also flourished in the competitive arena, even taking second place one year at the regional championships and qualifying for the Worlds in Ireland. After retiring from competition, she took and passed her teacher certification, known as a TCRG, which is the abbreviation for the Gaelic Teagasc\u00f3ir Choimisi\u00fain le Rinci Gaelacha.<\/p>\n

For Thornton and Dosch, the community that their studio, which teaches small children through adults, is what makes their career so fulfilling. Best of all, many students find a home in the dance studio they don\u2019t have elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that in my life, my dance teachers, my dance friends, their parents, the Irish dance community, it was my community. Everyone has their community,\u201d Thornton said. \u201cAnd when I first started teaching I realized wow, I\u2019m at the other end now. Now I\u2019m teaching and mentoring kids and I see kids come in my studio door. And some \u2014they weren\u2019t the cool kid in school. But at Irish dance class they were accepted and they had friends and parents would tell me that, \u2018You know, my kid has blossomed so much since they\u2019ve come to Irish dance class.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThis should be their safe zone and their happy place. And that\u2019s what I wanted to create.\u201d<\/p>\n

Para m\u00e1s informaci\u00f3n visite irishdancesandiego.com<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Gina McGalliard es una escritora independiente que bloguea en ginamcgalliard.com\/mcgalliard-matters<\/a>. Env\u00edale un correo electr\u00f3nico a <\/em>ginamcgalliard@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Gina McGalliard Along Adams Avenue in Kensington, there\u2019s a dance studio that doesn\u2019t teach ballet, tap or even hip-hop. At Clan Rince School of Irish Dance \u2014 \u201cclan rince\u201d is Gaelic for \u201cdance family\u201d \u2014 they only do traditional Irish step dancing.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1144,"featured_media":251201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Dance the Irish way","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-251200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}