SRL Dancers Shine in Hartford

From November 17 - 19, droves of New England’s best Irish dancers descended upon the Connecticut Convention Center in Downtown Hartford for the annual regional championships. A home game for SRL, our 29 dancers who reached our qualification standards competed for placements across three divisions - traditional set, solo championships, and teams.

Beginning with our traditional sets, SRL had many first time competitors competing in this division designed to give intermediate dancers the opportunity to test their skills against others from the New England states. We are proud to say that of our 16 traditional set competitors, 11 of them placed in the top 50% to appear at the awards ceremony. Of those 11 dancers, here are their results:

Gabby G - 3rd place
Isabella R - 4th place
Lilly B - 6th place
Ciara D - 7th place
Cara Maye W - 9th place
Ellie D - 9th place
Paige M - 10th place
Audrey M - 14th place
Jane C - 15th place
Mairi C - 19th place
Cassidy T - 19th place

In the solo championships, dancers from the two championship levels - preliminary and open - compete for placements in the top 50%, berths to the North American Irish Dance Championships, and later qualification to the World Championships. SRL had 9 solo championship competitors with 4 earning the honor of a recall and competing in the third round of competition. Three were awarded on stage:
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Colleen W placing 19th and qualifying for NAIDC 2018
Emma M placing 41st
Kayla P placing 48th
Tara L, Lindsey H, and Rebecca K are pre-qualified for NAIDC 2018 in Orlando, FL

On Sunday, our 3 four-hand teams competed as well as our eight-hand. This was our first big team year after sending a pilot team in 2016. With stiff teams competition in the New England Region, we are thrilled that our Girls U12 team placed 14th! Well done to Bella J, Colleen W, Irelyn L, and Audrey M for their excellent teamwork and beautiful dancing. Our youngest four-hand was just one place away from making the 50% cut and our mixed four-hand was just three places away. Our eight-hand kept pace with the best of them and made SRL proud.

We have several dancers right in the mix to qualify for the NAIDC 2018 and we’re looking forward to our upcoming winter feis season!

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