Welcome to my Alaskan Irish Dancing page!
CEAD MILE FAILTE!
My name is Aaron, I'm 13 years old, and I live in a small town in Alaska called Soldotna (approx. 150 miles south of Anchorage). I live right in the middle of the best King Salmon fishing spot in the World!
Here's a map of the Kenai Peninsula
Here's my local weather!
I have been Irish Dancing since I was 4 years old. My mom caught me doing Riverdance in my room and I haven't stopped!
This is me!
MY IRISH HERITAGE
My Irish heritage comes from my mom's side of the family. My great-grandfather's
family settled in St. Louis, Missouri from Co. Louth, which is on the North East
coast of Ireland. My great-grandfather's last name is "Clinton" which is of
Hiberno-Norse descent.
My great-grandfather, Michael Ernest Clinton is pictured with his mother, Ellen Hughes-Clinton (left) and his sister, Nan (right).
On to Irish Step
Dancing!!!
I finally saw Riverdance this year with
Troupe 2 performing. It was the most awesome Irish dance show I have ever
seen! I have also seen the Trinity Irish Dancers
perform (look at my picture gallery for a picture of myself and Darren Smith!),
and
Spirit of the Dance.
My new Irish dance teacher (Ms. Andrea) was a performer with Spirit of the
Dance. She performed with the show in Alaska and fell in love with our
state, so here she is! I have also seen Lord of the Dance
twice. This time I had the opportunity to get my picture taken with one of
the cast members (check out my picture gallery). It was amazing!
I am completely self-taught and have performed at many functions in my community.
Obviously my mom's helping me here. She is awful proud of me, and she and I both
want other kids out there to know that with a little perseverance, you can learn
how to Irish Dance even if it's not offered in your community. It is great
exercise, a lot of fun, and a wonderful way to stay in touch with your Irish
heritage!
There are some great instructional videos out there if you want to learn some of
the basics of Irish Dance. I personally recommend:
Olive Hurley's Irish Dancing: Step by Step Volume's I, II & III
Colin Dunn's Celtic Feet
These videos and others can be found online at places like:
http://www.antoniopacelli.com/
http://store.yahoo.com/irishrecords/irishdancing.html
There are also some great dance magazines out there. Check out these websites!
Irish Dancing & Culture Magazine
Of course, the most
important part of learning Irish Dance is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! ! ! I've
learned most of my moves watching Riverdance,
Lord of the Dance and
Feet of Flames.
LINKS
Visit my town's home page if you would like to learn a bit about
Soldotna, Alaska. We've been called the most wired town in America and it's not
just the coffee!
Check out this link to the
Alaska Irish Music Festival's Web
Site!
Suzi's Woollies is a great shop in Anchorage that has a lot of neat Irish & Scottish stuff.
Check out my
Aunt
Katie's website. She creates beautiful Alaskan Native bead art.
Click here to go to my photo gallery!
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If you
love Irish Dance and enjoyed my web page,
click on the hard shoe above to email me!
THANKS FOR VISITING!