PITTSFIELD,  Mass. — With the help of community donations, Irish dance school Scoil Rince Bréifne Ó Ruairc gave its students the opportunity to perform in Pittsfield's Sister City Ballina, Ireland. 

 

The Irish American Club of Berkshire County opened the school in 2021 under the direction of Jennifer Darby.

 

The school offers "high-quality traditional Irish dance" classes to children and adults in Pittsfield. In addition to dance instruction the school also offers an Irish music class.  

 

Since opening, the community has embraced the school, sending it invitations for students to perform and aiding in its fundraising efforts. 

 

"We're always getting invitations to perform in lots of places and I love that for lots of reasons. One of those reasons is that it shows that the community is interested in what we're doing, and they're supportive of it," Darby said. 

 

"Another reason that I like it is, it gives the kids a chance to share what they're doing with their community, which I think is a really, really important part of Irish dancing."

 

Performing helps the students learn to become confident because sometimes when they start out they are a little scared but then they realize they nailed it and they learn from it, she said. 

 

"And I think that's a wonderful lesson that I'm able to teach them. And then, the other reason I like being invited to perform is that it gets publicity to the school and attracts more people because the more people who see what we do, I think the more people want to try it out," Darby said. 

 

During the six-day trip, the school's dance and music students performed numerous times on Heritage Day in the Ballina Salmon Festival. 

 

"We perform so much here in Berkshire County that I felt that they would be comfortable performing there, even though it could seem like it's really intimidating to be an American going to Ireland and doing Irish dancing," Darby said. 

 

"But I knew that they could do it, and I felt like it would be something that would bring them together even more than they already are and keep building that confidence, too."

 

They also performed at a local hospital and at the reception of the 25th anniversary for the Sister City partnership between Ballina and Pittsfied. 

 

"Most of [the students] had never been to Ireland and I think that's really important to them to see kind of the motherland where everything came from that they're learning in class all the time."

 

The students stayed in a hostel, saw the sites, and participated in dancing and music workshops. 

 

When the school decided to embark on this journey last fall, it sent a message to everyone in the school to gauge their interests based on the trip requirements. 

 

"I think just kind of based on the parameters of the trip it was clear to some parents that their kids weren't going to be able to do it. So, it was just the kids who were able to handle the parameters of the trip were the ones who ended up coming," Darby said. 

 

The Irish dancing school set a fundraising goal based on the amount of students who signed up to go and was able to raise a little over $17,000. 

 

Prior to the school's opening, there were not many places in the Berkshires where someone could learn Irish dance. 

 

"It's wonderful to be able to bring Irish dance to more people in the county and I think it's always been a little bit of a unique thing in our county," Darby said. 

 

Darby began studying Irish dance in the 1990s with the Irish American Club of Berkshire County until her teacher stopped teaching. 

 

"So, apart from when there are teachers who kind of want to branch out into the Berkshires, it's just something that's really available here," she said. 

 

The uniqueness of Irish dance is nice because it attracts people but it can also be difficult because they don't really know what the dance school does, Darby said. 

 

Despite her teacher leaving, she continued dancing for nearly 30 years as a competitive Irish dancer. 

 

"[Being a competitive Irish dancer] gives me kind of some understanding of what the kids go through when they compete," Darby said. 

 

"One of the things that I learned as a dancer was that we always have to help each other learn techniques, and different skills, and things like that. And that's something I bring them into classes." 

 

More information on the school here.