Meet the Seattle Irish Dance Company

Learn about one of our first-time CulturalFest performers!

Guest Post by Kelsi Cunniff

The Seattle Irish Dance Company is one of twelve acts performing at the CulturalFest Performance Showcase on February 8 at Meany Hall. Learn more about CulturalFest - we hope to see you there!

The Seattle Irish Dance Company was formed two years ago by a group of dedicated women who wanted to showcase Irish dance as a relevant, exciting, and accessible form of performance art. While we all grew up participating in competitive Irish dancing, upon adulthood we found it difficult and frustrating that there were few professional performance opportunities for elite Irish dancers in the Pacific Northwest.This is what prompted us to form the Seattle Irish Dance Company, and we are so very glad we did!

Throughout the past two years, we have had the opportunity to perform at numerous venues, including the Key Arena, Teatro Zinzanni, McCaw Hall, and of course, the University of Washington! We were also thrilled to go on tour last spring in Ireland, which gave us the opportunity to share our work with a broader audience. Throughout all of this, we have had the opportunity to meet numerous amazing musicians and talented performers along the way, and these connections we’ve built are one of the most exciting aspects of our journey!

While we started out small, we have begun to grow our company to include more Irish dancers from the PNW. Those performing for CulturalFest include Carlye Cunniff, Kelsi Cunniff, Margery Pulkkinen, Taryn Farley, Jillian Pintye, Kristina Gallant, and Lael Wentland. A few of our dancers are currently UW students, and several of us are dedicated alumni who are very excited to be returning to the University of Washington to perform!

The Seattle Irish Dance Company strives to show that Irish dancing does not have to stop with Riverdance - it is an exciting and relevant dance form for a wide variety of audiences. We have found that Irish dancing has a distinct effect on people - whether it’s the music, the rhythm, or the energy, most can agree that it is simply fun, and that is exactly why we do it!