Sarah Gaughran Leinster Champion 2015 under 13 girls and World qualifier.

Sarah is a 2nd year student in Mount Anville secondary school. She started dancing with the Fegan Academy in Mount Anville Junior school at the age of three and moved on to the advanced classes within no time. Sarah was a fabulous child to teach and won all her grades beautifully. Winning the under 14 girls Leinster championships this year has certainly put Sarah on a pedestal. Sarah has a beautiful style of dance and worked extremely hard this year to nail her title. Sarah’s performance at the Leinster’s was one of the best we have ever had. After all the footwork placings,fitness and step improvement everything was practised and ready. Sarah took to the stage like an angle and delivered exactly what was needed to put her in the top Leinster spot this year.

Sarah took 2nd in 2013,3rd place in 2014 and understood this year what work was needed to get back on top. Sarah is over the moon with her win.

We are so delighted for Sarah and it was a very well deserved win. We are very proud of her and delighted to have yet another Leinster Champion in our school. We would like to wish Sarah the very best of luck with all the hard work ahead as she now prepares for the World Championships in Glasgow with the amazing title of Leinster Champion on her back. Well done to her mum Jane for working so hard alongside Sarah, bringing Sarah to all the classes and Feiseanna. Congratulations mum and dad on such a beautiful, elegant young lady.

Victoria Nevin under 15 girls. 4th place Leinster Championships  and World qualifier 2015.

A truly deserved award for Victoria, another one of our dancers of the month.  Victoria is a 3rd year student at Loreto Convent Bray and started dancing with our school in Bray from the young age of four. She has followed our classes around the country ever since.  Victoria works extremely hard. Victoria took the under 15 girls Leinster Championships by storm in November and took a well deserved fourth place. It was a truly amazing performance.

Victoria has worked very very hard this year. She has made a massive improvement and transformed into a beautiful young lady with a lovely strong style of dance.  At times during our difficult training sessions we realise teenagers want to strangle us.  However we made it through alive and so did Victoria. Ha ha! We knew she had it in her to succeed and there is more to come.

We congratulate Victoria on her great success this year.  She should be very very proud of herself, especially her achievement of qualifying for the world championships at the nationals back in May. Congratulations to her mum who is a great support to Victoria and especially her gran and grandad who are wonderful people and who have made all this possible for Victoria.

 

Amber Curran under 11 girls.  2nd place Leinster Championships and World qualifier.

We would like to express a dancer of the month award to Amber Curran. What an amazing performance in this year’s Leinster Championships November 2015.  Amber started dancing with the Fegan Academy in Mount Anville Montessori school at the age of 3. Sooooooo cute. We taught her sister Lauren years previous and were delighted to see Amber join class.  Amber enjoyed and loved her classes. Amber moved to Taney classes and then advanced classes in Bray. She worked very hard and won all her grades and placed 3rd in the open Leinster Championships under 8 which was an amazing achievement.  Amber then had a terrible injury on a trampoline, so please be careful girls warm up and be safe. This laid Amber off for some time and most of all knocked her confidence. We have worked with Amber and visa versa of course to find our confident little Amber again. This term we found her. Not so little as she is now under 11, but we but all the pieces back together.  It has taken a lot of time and hard work from Amber and her mum Linda.  Amber successfully took second place in this year’s open Leinster championships under 11 and also qualified for the World Championships in Glasgow Easter 2016. Congratulations Amber on your success. You truly deserve it. You should be very very proud of yourself for always getting back up and not giving up. Giving up would have been the easy way out and you took the hard route.  Amazing.  Full credit to Amber’s mum Linda for always listening to us.  It can be hard to see your child go through hard times but you stuck with it and took our advice and look how far it has all come.  You are a fantastic parent. Congratulations mum and dad on a very successful, ambitious young lady. You both should be very proud.

Sophie Nolan McGinley under 12 girls

Sophie came to the Fegan Academy in 2013. She is a first year student of Loreto Secondary school, Wexford.  Sophie danced with a few different organisations before coming to our school. It can be a very difficult task changing dance schools, learning new steps and styles. It is not easy to adjust as each teacher has a different way of teaching.  It takes a strong child to adjust and make it through and Sophie is just that.   I am glad to say Sophie has made the change over perfectly.  She was willing to work extremely hard and this made all the difference. Sophie attended all the classes she needed to and more.  With very hard work and determination Sophie has won all her grades in the last year.  Bun/Tus/Lar/and now putting the finishing touches to Mean grad. Also taken part many times in the Open grades, Nationals and Leinster Championships.  Sophie is an extremely talented dancer.   She recently had a great trophy win in Mean grad 2 weeks ago. Well deserved and she looked fabulous wearing her beautiful new costume. Sophie listens to every word her teachers say and follows instructions very well. This is very important.

Sophie has to travel a long  way to class and can sometimes come a few times a week.   She travels from the Enniscorthy area and always comes  in happy and ready for work. Sophie is now in secondary school and has managed to keep up classes very well. Congratulations Sophie. You are a wonderful child and you should be very proud of yourself. Congratulations to your mum and dad, Gran and Granddad on raising a lovely young lady and again a special thanks to your gran and grandad for all their hard work. They are wonderful.

Ciara Culbert under 8 girls

Ciara has just turned 8. She is a student in Taney National school,Dundrum.  Ciara dances with the Fegan Academy in the Taney Parish Centre, Dundrum and has recently started to attend the advanced class in Bray. We have choosing Ciara  for one of our dancer of the month awards as she has worked extremely hard in class this term.  Also instead of running from this hard work Ciara took on all the extra asked of her this term.  There was  a lot going on and Ciara kept up so well. Ciara has a beautiful style of dance and has great potential. Ciara was working on foot positioning and the memorising of many steps this term, however she never got mad and never lost her patience.  She worked through it all with a smile and never gave up.  

At a recent Feis 2 weeks ago Ciara won the trophy dance under eight against 60 other dancers.  This was her first trophy win and well deserved. She did not perform very well on her first dance that day but, after reminding her of a few things and preparing again she smashed it.  Ciara is an amazing child.  She has a lot of lovely qualities including her wonderful smile and heartfelt enjoyment for Irish dancing.  So innocent and so beautiful.  A credit to her mum and dad. You should be very proud of yourself Ciara. Congratulations.

 

Tara McGinley age 4

Tara has just turned 4 years old and is a student in Leaps and Bounds Montessori school in the Enniscorthy area.  Tara has danced with our academy since she was 2 and a half years old.  She  started in our Wicklow Town class and now also attends advanced classes in Bray. She is an amazing talented little girl. It is just unbelievable how you can teach a child at this age and more unbelievable how hard they can work. Tara was in a strenuous dance class when most children her age were been pushed around in prams. Children are capable of so much more than some people actually know.

Tara receives the dancer of the month award  for her hard work all year. Also for her amazing performance in the under 7’s Coimisiun Leinster Championships in November. Tara had a new costume made by Therese Rooney who did a fantastic job of making Tara look cuter, even though that seemed impossible as she is too cute for words. Another task on top of all this dancing is that Tara travels to her dancing class in Bray from the Ballagh, Enniscorthy, Co.Wexford. This is nearly a two hour drive and they can sometimes come a few times a week. If Tarahas to attend a Feis, usually in the Dublin area they have to leave home very early.  The time  they leave to reach Dublin is when we are all in the land of nod. Such a strong little girl.  A funny story from a recent Feis.  Tara danced her heart out at the Feis, but by the time she got to the trophy dance her poor little legs and her concentration was weary. Who would blame her after a few hours of travelling, 4 dances and then the trophy dance. However she still came out with a trophy.  Well done, you are a super girl.  A champion in the making.

Congratulations to your mum and dad on having such a fantastic dancing family.  A great big thanks to your Gran who loves to see you dance and is responsible for making sure you never miss class. Thank you Sarah.

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