Celtic-Ireland pavilion serving up delicious dance, eats

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This article was published 04/08/2015 (3747 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s easy being green.

With folklorama now in full swing, the Celtic-Ireland pavilion is once again entertaining audiences in southeast Winnipeg. The pavilion is located at Fort Garry Curling Club (696 Archibald St.) and will run until Sat., Aug. 8. 

 
The pavilion’s co-ordinators are Philip Brady, owner and director of the Brady Academy of Irish Dance (in Winnipeg and Saskatoon) and Angie Baran. Adult ambassadors are Alexanndria Lillies and Karen Lynn Miller, and youth ambassadors are Eve Baran and Devlin Brady. The pavilion is sponsored by the Brady Academy Parents Association.

Now in his 12th year running the pavilion, Brady said one of the highlights is still the magical feeling of watching the kids from his dance school perform.

“It’s all about getting the dancers to perform onstage. We look forward to it from the time the dance season starts in September. It’s a lot of work, so much so that people think I’m crazy half the time, but it’s all about the kids,” Brady, 47, said.

For the second year, the pavilion will also showcase the talents of Ian Gott, who won the World Irish Dance Championships in April.

“He’s been a good friend of mine since he was a young boy, when I’d give him mental coaching. He’s a big part of the show,” Brady said.

The Osborne Village resident said the footwork and choreography in the show is inspired by the Irish dancing phenomenon that swept the world in the mid-1990s and was inspired by shows such as Riverdance and Lord of the Dance. Brady appeared in the latter show alongside Irish dance legend Michael Flatley.

“Nobody really knew what Irish dance was before Michael Flatley, if you weren’t Irish,” he said.

Brady praised the passion and commitment of the pavilion’s numerous volunteers and said members of the Brady Academy Parents Association take great pride in being part of the team in the run-up to and during the week of the pavilion — regardless of their nationality.

“Most of them are not Irish, but they really embrace (the idea of) being an honorary Irish person during Folklorama. They really get a kick out of it,” Brady said.

And visitors with an appetite for more than just fleet-footed entertainment can round-out their cultural adventure by sampling a selection of traditional Irish fare, whether it be bangers and mash, potato and leek soup, soda bread or apple crisp crumble, which can be washed down with a pint of Guinness, or any number of imported beers, Irish whiskies, or an Irish coffee.

Despite all the work it takes to planning and organize the pavilion and get it up and running, Brady said it’s worth every second.

“The venue is bigger than many of the Folklorama locations, with a capacity of 500 or 600, which means the stage production becomes the real focal point of the show. The dancing is the really the centerpiece and we know 90 per cent of the people come for the show,” he said.

“Visitors are getting a high-energy show at a fraction of the cost of Riverdance or Lord of the Dance, so there’s no losing out in any way.”

For more information, visit Facebook and search for Celtic Ireland Pavilion.   

simon.fuller@canstarnews.com

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