Irish dance contest winners announced by Quick Center for the Arts for Leahy's performance | Press Releases

Pre-show lively entertainment set for lobby

Fairfield University's Quick Center for the Arts announces two winners in "The Call to Dance" contest who will dance with the Irish band and dancers, Leahy, at their performance on Sunday, March 16 at 7:30 p.m. And in addition to Leahy's rousing musical entertainment, The Shamrogues, well-known locally, and the Gaelic-American Club dancers will put the audience in a festive Irish mood as they play and dance for the 6:30-7:30 p.m. pre-show celebration in the Quick Center lobby. Complimentary finger food will be served and liquid refreshments will be available for purchase.

The Quick Center for the Arts, with Leahy's guidance, chose Bree Callahan and Leighann Muldoon as the two winners who will dance with the Leahy family onstage at the Quick Center for the Arts. Coincidentally, both girls are students of the Lenihan School of Irish Dance in Monroe. The Quick Center received many worthy entries for "The Call to Dance" contest, proving the wealth of talented Irish dancers in Fairfield County.

In her entry, Callahan stressed that she has had performance experience at the Fairfield Irish Festival and the New Haven St. Patrick's Day parade. She said, "I have been dancing since I was five years old, I'm twelve years old now and I am a dancer growing in skill and pride in my Irish heritage..." Muldoon noted in her entry that she has "... a talent and passion for (Irish dance)." She loves "dancing because I love the rhythm of the music and the movement of my feet when I dance."

Callahan and Muldoon will take the stage on Sunday night after one rehearsal with Leahy, though they will have had an opportunity to practice the dance by watching individual DVDs of Leahy performing the same dance in a prior show, provided to them by the group.

The Shamrogues, fresh from their March 15th gig at the Fairfield University café, the Levee, will fill the lobby with a variety of Irish music from their extensive repertoire that includes jigs, reels, ballads and hornpipes. The Shamrogues, the largest traditional Irish band in the area, play on instruments ranging from the fiddle, flute and guitar to the accordion, mandolin, bodhran or Irish drum and tin whistle.

And in another corner of the Quick Center lobby, the Gaelic-American Club dancers add to the festivities with their invigorating taps.

Leahy is a Canadian powerhouse of eight musical brothers and sisters who have played and danced together all of their lives. The band's three acclaimed CDs - "Leahy," "Lakefield," and "In All Things" - have worldwide sales of over half a million copies. Leahy brings their whole being to each and every performance. This group is a volcanic explosion of talent and energy, intense emotion and feral passion.

Tickets are $40, $35, $30 and are available online at www.quickcenter.com or by calling the Box Office at (203) 254-4010. The toll free number is 1-877-ARTS-396. For more information, please visit the website at www.quickcenter.com.