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Would you believe that the Irish Dance Experience has its roots in Argentina?
In 2012, after many years studying Irish step dancing, I found myself on tour with Riverdance in Buenos Aires.
Not content to stay still during our free time, the company headed to a local tango workshop to experience the local dance and culture. We tried a new style of dance without the pressure or commitment of joining a regular lesson.
And so the seeds of an idea were born.
Five years later, in 2017, I hosted the first-ever Irish Dance Experience workshop in Galway city.
We believe Irish dancing should be open to everyone, regardless of age or skill level.
I wanted to give visitors to Galway the chance to:
Since then, the experience has grown steadily, and I’ve added the talented Annemarie and Aoife to my teaching team. All three of us danced with the world-renowned Hession School of Dance in Galway and have appeared on the Riverdance stage.
We can’t wait to share our passion for Irish dance culture with you and get you dancing like the Irish.
Siobhán Manson began dancing at the age of 4 in her hometown of Galway with the world-renowned Hession School. For the next ten years Siobhan competed at local, national and international level winning numerous titles.
At the young age of seventeen she began her professional career touring with Celtic Legends in France and French Polynesia. In 2004 Siobhán was offered a full time position with the broadway phenomenon Riverdance and spent the next four years on the road with the European, American and Asian companies. After only a year with Riverdance Siobhán was asked to train for the lead role. She had her debut as principal dancer in Dublin at the Gaiety Theatre in 2005. In 2007 Siobhán took a break from dancing and returned to college to finish a degree in History and English and went on to complete a masters degree in history.
On completion of her studies Siobhan returned to the stage when she was asked to feature in an exciting new production Women of Ireland with whom she returned to the U.S. and Asia. In 2013 Siobhan was honoured to join Sky T.V’s Got to Dance winners, Prodijig, on their debut tour throughout Ireland and the U.K that ended with a stint on the West End in Sadler’s Well’s Peacock Theatre. Throughout her career Siobhán has performed in some of the world’s most prestigious venues; The Kremlin State Palace in Moscow, the Fox Theatre in Detroit and the Pantages Theatre in L.A, to name but a few.
She has had the honour of performing for Empress Michiko of Japan in Tokyo, the First Lady of America, Michelle Obama, and performing live for over a billion viewers at the Chinese 2009 New Year festival broadcast in Beijing. Siobhán also hared the stage with Bono and Bob Geldoff in an Electric Burma concert in honour of Aung San Suu Kyi on her visit to Dublin. Siobhan’s most recent dance project was a collaboration with a band called Project West. They have just finished a 100-date tour of the US. Siobhan is also a member of Breandain de Gallai’s dance company Éiru (@eriudance) who showcase throughout Ireland and abroad. Éiru are currently preparing for their summer performances of Salomé in An Taibhdearc Theatre at the Galway International Arts Festival 2019. Siobhán is currently undertaking an Arts Practice PhD through The World Academy of Music and Dance. She is residing in Galway and running The Irish Dance Experience.
AnneMarie is a Galway native, who started dancing at the age of four, following in the footsteps of her siblings Rachel, Fergal
and Cathal. She danced for the Hession School of Irish Dance in Galway.
In addition to winning three back-to-back Connacht titles, AnneMarie has achieved top rankings in all the major international competitions; placing 2nd in the British Nationals, 2nd in the Irish Nationals, 3rd in the European Championships and 5th in the North American Nationals. She has also won numerous All Ireland and World medals. She also competed in teams and has won the Connachts, All Scotlands, and placed 3rd in the World Championships with her Senior Mixed Ceili team in 2016.
Since retiring from competitive dancing, she has graduated from the National University of Ireland Galway, majoring in Psychology and IT, followed by a Masters in Psychology in University of Limerick. AnneMarie was also the dance teacher and choreographer in the dance society in NUIG. After completing college, she then went on to pass her TCRG exam, qualifying as an Irish Dancing teacher in 2017. Since then, she has been teaching full time with the Hession School, passing on her love for
Irish Dance from beginners right up to World Championship level.
She also travels around the world performing professionally. She performs with the renowned show, Trad on the Prom, every summer in Galway and is also the leading lady and dance captain with the show Velocity. She performed with Velocity at the sell out run of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2017, followed by a sell out run on Broadway in November 2018. She is just home from a US tour with Velocity, where they travelled from East to West coast performing all around the US. AnneMarie also joined the Riverdance cast in 2018 for their performance in Croke Park stadium for the Pope’s visit to Ireland. She also performs with Joanie Madden and Cherish the Ladies and has performed on numerous of the Joanie Maddens famous Folk N Irish Cruises.
In addition to winning three back-to-back Connacht titles, AnneMarie has achieved top rankings in all the major international competitions; placing 2nd in the British Nationals, 2nd in the Irish Nationals, 3rd in the European Championships and 5th in the North American Nationals. She has also won numerous All Ireland and World medals. She also competed in teams and has won the Connachts, All Scotlands, and placed 3rd in the World Championships with her Senior Mixed Ceili team in 2016.
Since retiring from competitive dancing, she has graduated from the National University of Ireland Galway, majoring in Psychology and IT, followed by a Masters in Psychology in University of Limerick. AnneMarie was also the dance teacher and choreographer in the dance society in NUIG. After completing college, she then went on to pass her TCRG exam, qualifying as an Irish Dancing teacher in 2017. Since then, she has been teaching full time with the Hession School, passing on her love for
Irish Dance from beginners right up to World Championship level.
She also travels around the world performing professionally. She performs with the renowned show, Trad on the Prom, every summer in Galway and is also the leading lady and dance captain with the show Velocity. She performed with Velocity at the sell out run of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2017, followed by a sell out run on Broadway in November 2018. She is just home from a US tour with Velocity, where they travelled from East to West coast performing all around the US. AnneMarie also joined the Riverdance cast in 2018 for their performance in Croke Park stadium for the Pope’s visit to Ireland. She also performs with Joanie Madden and Cherish the Ladies and has performed on numerous of the Joanie Maddens famous Folk N Irish Cruises.
Aoife Ní Shé started dancing at the age of six with the renowned Hession School of Irish Dance in Salthill, Galway. From there Aoife went on to win 6 Connaught Titles, numerous medals in the All Ireland’s and Irish Nationals, as well as 7 World Medals.
Dancing has always played a major role in Aoife’s life and her love for dancing is evident as she is still involved in teaching dancing and she adores entertaining audiences all over the world. Aoife has danced in shows including; A Cetlic Christmas, Velocity and Celtic Gold. Aoife currently dances with the captivating show Trad on the Prom every summer in Salthill, Galway.
