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Irish Dancing - A year of achievement for Irish dance family
with JOHN EGAN
For the Maguire family from Seven Kings in Ilford in Essex, 2004 has been a year of achievement for every member of the family in one way or another.
Certainly parents Mike (originally from Cavan) and Kathleen, who head up the Maguire O’Shea Academy of Irish Dancing, had good reason to be cock-a-hoop when I saw them in Belfast earlier this year. Their daughter Ellie had just been awarded the world championship trophy in Irish dancing for ladies under-18. Ellie’s teachers who are parents Mike and Kathleen and older sister Katie, briefly shared the podium to tearfully celebrate her victory and joy.
A particularly nice touch and a major surprise for Ellie was that her brother Seán had unexpectedly jetted in from Los Angeles and was just in time to celebrate his sister’s victory. Seán (28), a youthful but veteran actor of several BBC TV series including ‘Grange Hill’ and ‘East Enders’, is now making waves in Hollywood with a number of films and sit-coms under his belt.
His Belfast stay was brief before leaving for Cannes where he was promoting his next film ‘The Third Wish’ which he has just started filming in Hollywood.
On his return to Hollywood he invited his parents to LA for a lifetime experience where they met actor Tom Hanks and various other actors with whom their son was appearing in a Shakespearean stage production at the Geffen Playhouse, a theatre dedicated to the works of the Stratford bard.
This is the third year that Seán has been involved with Tom Hanks in the annual Shakespeare festival at the Geffen. When Seán was first invited to do Shakespeare in LA in 2002 he leapt at the opportunity to extend his acting range, but particularly in such distinguished acting company.
This is Ellie’s second world championship title. In all she has accumulated 15 major titles — four North American, three European, two All-Ireland, two Great Britain, one British National, one All-Scotland and two World Championships. Indeed she has just returned from Spain where she won yet another European title. But is it any wonder that Ellie should yet again reach the pinnacle of competitive Irish dancing when she has such a wealth of family experience around her.
Parents Mike and Kathleen have been involved in Irish dancing all of their lives. Kathleen is a three times world champion, winning titles in 1971, 1972 and 1973. She and Mike run the Maguire O’Shea Academy of Irish Dance which has nurtured the talents of many All-Ireland and World champions, and they still find time to organise their own well-known annual open feis, which this year will be held on July 10/11.
A measure of their dance academy’s success is that apart from Ellie’s recent European victory their ‘stable’ has brought back three other championships titles from Spain.
For other members of the family, Katie (25) and Darren (29), 2004 is also bound to be remembered. They were both awarded their teachers certificates (TCRG) in Irish dancing by An Coimisiún chairman Seamus O’Sé at a special ceremony at the Europa Hotel in Belfast. Darren unfortunately, was unable to be present as he was in Germany appearing as principal dancer in Riverdance, with his brother Michael (24). Katie, who was North American champion twice, has just headed off for Norway where she too is appearing in a Riverdance show that seems likely to run and run.
Finally, Kieran who is the baby son of the family — 23 this week — is in Tahiti where he is playing the lead in Celtic Legend to ecstatic audiences. He is about to return home for a break but with a stopover in LA to visit brother Seán on the film set.
Coming as I do from a family of 13, I know only too well of the difficulty of arranging a family re-union of siblings and parents separated only by the Irish Sea. How much more difficult it must be for the Maguires separated by continents and work schedules where it is left to serendipity to allow a family get together.
So all in all, 2004 is a year which the Maguires will have good reason to remember.
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