Please join us on Sunday, May 19th, 2013 for the 14th Annual Year End Performance by the Nora Pickett Irish Dance Academy! OUR CELTIC CELEBRATION will begin with our traditional Slideshow: A Year in Review, at 1:40 p.m., followed by Class Performances at 2:00 p.m. This year’s show features Shona Le Mottée – fiddling sensation from Lord of the Dance.
Top: North Vancouver NPIDA Dancers
Bottom: Richmond NPIDA Dancers
North Van & Richmond - NPIDA Qualifiers for the 2012 Nationals
Nora Pickett has 31 dancers heading to Chicago next week to compete in the 2012 North American Irish Dance Championships! Upwards of 3000 dancers from all over the world come to compete in hopes of qualifying for the World Championships.
Want to just “keep on dancin’ ” into the summer? Don’t want to forget all those steps you’ve worked so hard to learn? Well, here’s your chance! Every August, NPIDA offers TWO summer dance camps. The first camp will be held in Richmond, at the Grand Ballroom for the week of August 7th – August 10th, 2012. North Vancouver’s camp will be held at the Studio on Bowser Ave. for the week of August 13th – August 17th, 2012. Be sure to register soon! Any dancer, Pre-Beginner to Open Championship, can find a class to match their level. Registration Forms are available in “Dancer Info” or:
NPIDA Summer Camp Registration Form 2012
Please join us at Centennial Theatre on May 13, 2012 to enjoy this year’s “Our Celtic Celebration”! You will be entertained by the Nora Pickett Irish Dance Academy as each class performs in this dazzling Year End Show. All of the dancers, some as young as 3 years old, are excited to showcase their progress, talent, and enthusiasm for Irish dance! We are also thrilled to have the North Shore Celtic Ensemble as part of our show!
Our first “Ceili” and NPIDA Year End Show was held in 1999 with only 30 dancers. This year, we will have over 180 dancers performing on stage! Hard work, determination, and teamwork between the dancers and teachers over many months, produces a truly inspiring and entertaining show! Our 40 Eire Born Irish Dancers (Show Troupe) also get to showcase their best performances.
Our Celtic Celebration is a public event and it is also a Fundraising Event for the Eire Born Irish Dance Society (EBIDS). Tickets can be purchased at Centennial Theatre’s Box Office, by phone (604-984-4484), online (www.centennialtheatre.com), or NPIDA Studio (call778-340-5323).
Come join the family fun!
1st Place for our U10 8-Hand Ceili Team!
This year’s Oireachtas was held in Edmonton, Alberta on Friday, Nov. 4th and Saturday, Nov. 5th at the River Cree Resort. NPIDA had 38 dancers and their families making the trip for this annual competition. The Oireachtas determines the qualifiers for the World Championships and North American Championships (aka Nationals). The World Championships will be held in Belfast, Ireland next March 31 – April 8, 2012 and we have 9 dancers who have qualified for Worlds – Macaela, Jessie, Camryn, Tomas, Shannon, Mackenzie, Ellen, Michael and Stephanie! These same 9 dancers have automatically qualified for the North American Championships being held in Chicago, U.S.A. July 3 – 7, 2012. Also qualifying for the Nationals at our Oireachtas are 19 other NPIDA dancers who also “recalled” at the Oireachtas in their solo competitions – Laurel, Emma B., Catalina, Mikaela, Cara, Raven, Gemma, Olivia, Anna, Emma H., Jayne, Julia, Morgan, Caitlin, Mckenna, Jadyn, Sarah, Megan and Kyla.
Caitlin placed 1st in U9 and Tomas placed 1st (his first Oireachtas) in U12 Boys category. Our 8-Hand Ceili Team in the Under 10 age group also won 1st place. Team members included: Jadyn, Morgan, Julia, Thea, Pixie, Megan, Sarah, and Caitlin.
This was a very exciting Oireachtas for the NPIDA dancers and their families. All these dancers worked so hard to prepare themselves for this qualifying event and it definitely paid off. Congratulations to ALL dancers! You ALL danced so beautifully at this year’s Oireachtas!! We are so proud of you!! Thanks to Nora and Courtney!!
The Western Canadian Regional Oireachtas 2010 not only had record breaking NPIDA Dancers attend but it produced 18 North American Qualifiers and 6 World Qualifiers for NPIDA!
NPIDA had 18 dancers recall (get into finals) and qualify for the North American Championships which will take place in July 2011 in Nashville Tennessee. Of these dancers, 6 qualified for the World Championships which will take place in Dublin, Ireland in April 2011.
Our Under 13 dancers started things off with amazing determination and focus, which in turn produced some fantastic results! We had 16 U13 dancers compete and 11 of them recalled and qualified for the North American Championships! Of those 11 dancers, 3 qualified for the World Championships! Congratulations!!
Our U13 dancers that recalled and qualified for the North American Championships and Worlds are as follows:
Caitlin B. - U9 2nd place
Jadyn Mc. - U9 5th place
Julia M. -U9 10th place
Morgan G. – U9 12th place
Macaela B. - U10 2nd place (World Qualifier)
Jessie H.- U10 5th place (World Qualifier)
Camryn C.- U10 6th place (World Qualifier)
Shannon G.- U11 8th place
Olivia A. -U11 11th place
Maya B. - U12 15th place
Cara J.-U12 14th place
NPIDA had 25 Over 13 dancers and 7 of them recalled this year at the WCRO! Their amazing dedication and committment to their training showed us that they have a true passion and love for dance.
Our O13 dancers that recalled and qualified for the North American Championships and Worlds are as follows:
O13 Recallers
Mackenzie C.- U14 6th place (World Qualifier)
Catalina G. -U14 18th place
Ellen D. -U16 7th place (World Qualifier)
Jessie B.-U16 13th place
Natalie S. – U17 20th place
Kelly D.- Ladies O20 11th place
Michael Y.- Mens U19 1st. place (World Qualifier)
It is also with great admiration that Hanna S, Lisa Y, Natalie L, Jessica H. and Stephanie M. have also qualified to attend and participate in the 2011 North American Championships as Open Championship dancers.
The NPIDA dancers that qualified for the World Championships and will be competing in Dublin are Michael Y., Mackenzie C., Camryn C., Ellen D., Jessie H. and Macaela B. Good luck dancers!
We would also like to announce that Shannon G. will be travelling to the All–Irelands Competition which will be held in Killarney Ireland in February 2011! Good luck Shannon!
We are all very proud of our NPIDA Dancers and families for their commitment and dedication to Irish Dance. We know how hard the dancers have trained to achieve these amazing goals!
Best of luck to all our NPIDA Dancers competing at the All-Irelands, Worlds and North American Championships in 2011 !
The Western Canadian Regional Oireachtas (WCRO) is coming to Vancouver…………November 12,13 & 14, 2010!
It is being held at the Westin Bayshore Hotel in Vancouver near our historic Stanley Park! The panoramic views of the North Shore around the Bayshore Hotel will surely be enjoyed by many dancers and their families this weekend!
NPIDA will have 41 qualified dancers competing in the WCRO this year which makes our 2010 entry total another record breaking year for our dance school. Our dancers range in age from 8 to 24 years from both our Richmond and North Vancouver locations. Our WCRO competitors are training very hard to reach their goals by attending classes and extra workshops which started on September 25th and they will continue until the day of the Oireachtas.
Our NPIDA Dancers that are competing at the Orieachtas are the following:
Girls Under 9 - Caitlin , Jadyn, Morgan, Alannah and Julia
Girls Under 10 – Macaela, Camryn and Jessie H
Girls Under 11 – Anna, Olivia and Shannon
Girls Under 12 – Gemma, Maya, Cara and Raven
Girls Under 13 – Maria
Girls Under 14 – Mackenzie, Catalina, Laurel, Emma and Shelby
Girls Under 15 – Samantha
Girls Under 16 – Jessie B, Ellen, Keira and Nikki
Girls Under 17 – Alex W, Jessica, Natalie L, Natalie S and Paula
Ladies Under19 – Alex M and Hanna
Mens Under 19 – Michael
Under 20 Ladies -Rachel
Senior Ladies Over 20 – Kelly, Lisa, Margaret, Stephanie, Rebecca and Kate
If you would like to come and show your support for our wonderful dancers or any other competitors, please note that all groups that are Under 13 will compete on Friday, November 12th at 1:00pm and all the Over 13 groups will be competing on Saturday, November 13th from 8:30am onwards.
The Mini-Feis will take place on Sunday, November 14th for all of our other NPIDA dancers that range from Pre-beginner to Prizewinner. The Mini-Feis will start at 9:00am.
We would like to wish all the dancers taking part in the Orieachtas and Mini-Feis this year the best of luck! We know that all your hard work and dedication to your Irish dancing will make us all so very proud!
What a month for NPIDA ….we were featured in the Richmond Review Newspaper and not one but two Irish Dance Magazines. The Richmond Review’s September 18th 2010 issue is celebrating the Arts & Culture from coast to coast from Septmember 24-26. The issue featured five of our U11 Nationals Dancers on the front page! An article titled “Deep commitment, big rewards in Irish dance” recognizes NPIDA and how most dancers are introduced to Irish Dancing and the time committment some dancers have made to Irish Dance. It also features quotes from three of our Championships Dancers, Shannon Game and Macaela and Caitlin. Finally it talks about the birth of NPIDA in an interview with Nora. The article was well researched and put together, making this a very proud NPIDA moment for everyone. Please note that the end of the article includes 2 major print errors stating: ”Ultimately, Pickett says she would like to host a world championship.” and “I’d like to apply for the North American competition. Nora would like to one day host a World or National Championship.” This section should read: “Nora plans to host a local Irish dance competition but has no plan or goal to host anything larger.”
If you are interested in reading the Atricle you can view it online at www.bclocalnews.com/richmond_southdelta/richmondreview/ in the entertainment section or you can read a copy of it at our North Vancouver dance studio.
Irish Dance Magazine and Feis America are the two leading Irish Dance Magazines available to the Irish dance community. We have a number of photographs of our dancers featured in the latest issues of both these magazines which were taken at the North American Championships in July 2010. Feis America is already well know to NPIDA since this is the magazine where Cheryl Galdert and Moira S. (NPIDA dance parents) have had their beautiful photographs featured. Cheryl has had her photographs featured from last years Western Canadian Oireachtas and both Moira and Cheryl’s photographs of Eire Born were featured from our Vancouver 2010 Olympics. We look forward to more magazine and newspaper issues featuring our NPIDA and Eire Born Dancers thanks to Cheryl and Moira’s hard work and many tireless hours taking photographs and supporting our dancers.
We hope you all enjoy the articles!
What a Sensational Summer.….30+ Eire Born Shows including the Steveston Docks Shows and the new Lonsdale Quay Shows!
We had some fantastic opportunites to perform at more than 30 shows this Summer …Steveston Salmon Festival Parade, Lions Club Gala for Richmond Hospital, Kitsilano Showboat, Point Roberts Arts & Music Festival, Vancouver Chinatown Festival, Bantam Girls Provincial Championships at the Richmond Oval and our 2 shows at the 100th PNE Celebration. As you can see it took a strong level of commitment from our Eire Born Dancers and Guest Dancers to make this Summer a huge success.
Our Amazing Steveston Docks Shows…..the weather cooperated every Sunday for us. How lucky were we?!? We had an amazing turnout from all of our Eire Born Dancers and parents not to mention some of our up and coming little guest dancers.
The entertainment factor was high as usual which kept a constrant crowd of onlookers on their toes throughout every performance. New friendships were formed and old ones strengthened as amazing teamwork continued to developed between our parent volunteers every week with our stage preparations.
As always our summer Steveston dock shows are the highlight of August for so many of our dancers and families. Thank you to everyone who got involved and participated in making our 2010 Steveston dock shows such a great success!
Eire Born Set the Stage on Fire at the Lonsdale Quay…..a new tradition started this Summer, Eire Born performed on alternate Saturdays giving the North Shore some new excitement!
The backdrop was so amazing with the ocean and downtown Vancouver! It highlighted our fabulous dancers perfectly. Ever Saturday was a great day and a great way to feature our Eire Born Dancers at the Lonsdale Quay. Our dancers were able to spend time together making new memories that they will remember always.
Thank you to all the dancers and parents for making the Quay shows such a huge success and a new Eire Born tradition!
Summer 2010…..what a great Summer it was….look for our new photos in the Gallery highlighting these memorable Shows!