About Us
There
are many powerful elements to the following story!
It shows the Universality
of cultures, binding cultures together in our multi-cultural
world which is the making of our New York society today and
most of the USA.
It provides a platform
of excellence for all other parts of the children's lives. It
increases confidence, tolerance of other cultures, team work,
perfection and most importantly belief in oneself. The most
important lesson I try to teach the children is that nothing
is impossible. Believe in your dream. Work as hard as you possibly
can to make it happen!!!!! Have no regrets!!!
These children are making
History. Never before have African American and Hispanic students
from a Public school anywhere in the USA had an Irish dance
program which has highlighted the idea of fusing cultures together
through Irish dancing to this extreme! The students can be seen
performing Irish dancing to Spanish rhythms, African rhythms
and even pop music and vice versa.
This project showcases
diversity at its finest, showcasing Public School children who
now know and believe from experience and support nationwide
that
"No matter where you come from, nothing is impossible!!!!"
Our Story
The Keltic Dreams Irish Dancers, are a group of 33 children
ages 7-12 from Public School 59, PS 59 in the Bronx, NY. The
school is situated in a low Socio Economic area in the Bronx
and has a 95% poverty rate. The students are all African American
and Hispanic and have no background in Irish culture. Hired
by the Department of Education, I, Caroline Duggan, moved
to New York over 4 years ago and began teaching music in the
school. I had no intention of staying more than one year in
the school but fell in love with the children's drive to become
professional. After being constantly asked by the children
why I spoke funny I told them that I was from Ireland. The
fascination began with questions about the Irish lifestyle,
leprechauns and Irish dance. They questioned me about a huge
photo of Riverdance I had hanging in the classroom . I showed
the children a few steps and was truly amazed by how quick
they grasped even the most complicated steps. They were fascinated
with the Riverdance video from Radio City, which I still show
them on a regular basis. Especially how the show incorporated
different cultures into Irish dancing. With this idea in mind
and with the amazing support of the principal and school,
I began an Irish dancing program after school twice a week.
The group The Keltic Dreams was born and have since had their
own one hour show on The Plaza at Lincoln Center, in the Bronx
Botanical Garden for Bronx week , St Barnabas Nursing Home,
on the Band shell at Central Park, at Lehman College in the
Bronx and in The Manhattan Mall at Herald Square NYC. They
were the sole performers at the St Patrick's Day Parade in
Queens for Mayor Bloomberg and afterwards all the students
marched in the parade joined by their parents. The Irish dance
program has encouraged huge parental involvement, bringing
the whole community together!!!! Much to my surprise some
of the children had never been to Manhattan before they performed
in these shows!!
The Keltic Dreams have had an enormous amount of media coverage
from NY1, The Irish Voice, Channel 12 News, The Bronx Times,
, The Boston Globe, The Boston reporter and The Sunday Tribune
in Ireland. Thanks to an article in the Irish Voice encouraging
the public to donate to the dancers, The Keltic Dreams made
it to Canton in Boston in June of 2006 and were invited to
perform at the famous Irish Connections Festival thanks to
the support and donations from people all over the United
States and stole the hearts of the crowds. This was the trip
of a lifetime. We took the children to see a movie "Cars",
the night we arrived in Boston and some students had never
been to a movie theater before. Over 35,000 people attend
the Irish Connections festival in Canton near Boston every
year. The children won the first ever building Bridges award
and a cash prize of $1000. They were featured in The Boston
Globe the next morning and in the Summer, they had an amazing
article written in the Sunday Tribune newspaper in Ireland.
But right now we urgently
need the help of all our friends and supporters for our next
project. The dream we have all had for 4 years now! The project
has even been nicknamed "A Bronx Tale" by The Department
of Education. We plan to fly the 33 children ages 7-11, 11
parents, 6 teachers and the principal to Dublin, Ireland from
May 23 - 28. The entire troupe will perform in a number of
venues in the land where their dance was born including a
live performance on The Late Late show hosted by Pat Kenny
on May 25th. The plan is to depart JFK on an Aerlingus flight
on Wed May 23 and return on Monday May 28. On Thursday and
Friday the children will tour Dublin city. They will be brought
to the Pheonix Park to pass where the Irish President lives.
The children will perform in Comhltas Ceolteori na hEireann
on Thursday evening in Dublin. Then on Friday night, they
will perform on The Late Late show where the famous Riverdance
was performed. On Saturday they will meet up with Irish children
and all go to Wicklow and Glendalough for their first real
glimpse of the famous green Irish countryside. On Sunday we
plan to perform in the Center of Irelands capital City, Dublin
in St Stephens Green Shopping Center and then go on a Viking
tour around Dublin. They will then see a live Irish dance
show while having dinner in the Arlington Hotel before flying
home to NYC the next day. The students have performed Irish
dancing all over NYC and now Ireland are in for a huge surprise
with our multi cultural group!!!
The children can compare
United States to Ireland and can even speak the basic Irish
language. They can speak about currency differences, food,
the flags and all the states of America compared to the counties
of Ireland. As a result of being a part of and performing
in The Keltic Dreams dance troupe, the quietest children have
come out of their shells and now have great confidence in
themselves. They believe they can reach for the stars!!!!
And they are constantly encouraged to write thank you letters
and host shows for people who support them such as our recent
show in the Manhattan Mall, Herald Square in NYC which attracted
hundreds of people on December 18, 2006.
With the amazing support
of The Consul General of Ireland Mr Tim O Connor, who has
kindly passed on the story, The American Ireland Fund have
donated the majority of our flight expenses matched by other
donors which amounted to $30,000 a figure that seemed impossible
to The Keltic Dreams. The producer John McColgan, producer
of Riverdance and the new Broadway musical The Pirate Queen,
has donated $10,000 to the Keltic Dreams and kindly invited
us to a practice in the Hilton last week. He also put The
Keltic Dreams on the The Pirate Queen Castcom website under
Feb 23.We are now on our way to meeting our target of $60,000
which includes flights, accommodation, busing, food and daytrips
for the entire group. An article in The Irish Voice newspaper
featured The Keltic Dreams as a cover story for a week before
Christmas. The article titled A Christmas Wish stole the hearts
of people all over the United States and encouraged them to
write letters of support and encouragement to The Keltic Dreams
troupe! Now we do need that final financial help to make the
dream come true. We have worked so hard over the past few
years to make this happen and have come so far and we certainly
will not give up.
I am truly overwhelmed by the generosity from people all over
the United States and Ireland who believe in us. This support
teaches the children the most powerful lesson in life. No
matter where you come from that if you have a dream, work
as hard as you possibly can to make it come true, you can
reach for the stars. The encouragement from people, some whom
have never even seen the children perform is breathtaking.
Our next major show
will be at The St Patrick's Day parade in Queens on March
4, 2007. We have also been promised a large donation for a
performance we have scheduled for March 21 in The Robert Treat
Academy in New Jersey. In the upcoming few months, the children
plan to host many fundraising events including school dances,
bake sales and performances around New York City.
