| The British National Championships
By John Egan
Two major national Irish dancing competitions held in England each year
are the British National Championships, organised by the North West Teachers
and Adjudicators Association, and the Great Britain Championships, organised
by the Southern England Council for Irish Dancing. These alternate as
qualifying events for the World Championships held the following year.
This year it is the turn of the British Nationals to send eligible British
contenders forward to compete in the World Championships in Belfast next
Easter.
The prestigious Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester’s
sprawling university land was once again the venue for the British Nationals.
This leading international music conservatoire, the only one in England
to be given the award of Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning,
where 700 students from 50 countries are studying for professional careers
in music, might be regarded as an incongruous venue for the gregarious
and bustling throng of Irish dancers who descended on these hallowed halls
for four days at the end of July. But the college’s staff were nonplussed
by the inevitable hubbub that Irish dancing championships bring with them
and their experience in dealing with the needs of large audiences across
the spectrum of music and the performing arts was clearly evident.
Although a world qualifying event for dancers in Britain only, it also
attracts a large international field of competitors who value the experience
of competing with their peers among the world’s top dancers. Indeed
some of the championship honours were snatched away by overseas dancers,
not unsurprisingly from Ireland.
There was a certain buzz of excitement about this year’s championships
which I feel sure will linger in people’s memories and carry over
into next year’s event even though it will not then be designated
as a world qualifier. Everyone I spoke to confirmed my view that this
was the slickest and most enjoyable British Nationals in recent years
and one which the North West Teachers and Adjudicators Association should
be rightly proud. |
