Unateresa's Eye on Irish Dance

The second annual Big Apple Feis hosted over 1,000 Irish dancers, musicians, teachers, adjudicators, family and friends at The Hilton New York this past weekend. The March 13 Gala Ball honored Paul F. Thiele, Mark Howard and George C. Heslin in the hotel's Mercury Ballroom. The Gala was chaired by Unateresa Gormley, T.C.R.G., the Founder of The Big Apple Feis Performing Arts Presenters; Gerard Carson, T.C.R.G.; and Loretta Thiele, whose husband Paul F. Thiele was a big supporter of Irish cultural organizations and events throughout his lifetime. Several scholarships were awarded to winners in the Irish dance competitions in his memory.

Despite Friday's rainy weather and difficulty with transportation, crowds gathered for a fun and highly entertaining evening to cheer on entrants in the first Big Apple Irish Idol Competition and the first Big Apple Irish Bachelor & Bachelorette of the Year Competition. Judged by Actor Sean Maguire (Meet the Spartans), Loretta Thiele and Erin Kennedy, T.C.R.G., it was a unanimous winner for the Big Apple Irish Idol: Norah Tyburczy. Norah went on to give an encore performance at the Saturday night Gala. The brother and sister duo, Michael Josephson and Sheila Josephson were crowned Big Apple Irish Bachelor and Bachelorette, respectively. Competing against over a dozen bachelors from the tri-state area and even Georgia, Canada and Sweden, Michael captured the attention of both the judges and the audience with his personality and charm.

Saturday night's Big Apple Feis Gala opened with an excerpt from a play from the Origin Theatre Company's Artistic Director George C. Heslin entitled Great White American Teeth, performed by Fiona Walsh, who had the crowd laughing from beginning to end. Ann Design graciously and comically served as the evening's impromptu emcee. The play was followed by performances by dancers Kelly Dalton and Daniel Ferhenbach of The Trinity Academy of Irish Dance; Grainne Murphy on the fiddle, and Anna Colliton on the bodhran. Music during the dinner dance was provided by the all-female Irish traditional band Girsa (

With her toe-tapping tales, author Brenna Briggs is coming to New York! She's got the perfect series of adventures for Irish dancers, inside the quirky world of 13-year-old Irish dancer and girl detective Liffy Rivers.

Briggs is the author of the "Liffey Rivers Irish Dancer Mysteries," which The Irish World in London has compared to Enid Blyton's adventure series, "if you throw in a lot more reels and hornpipes."

Briggs was born in Pittsburgh, PA into an Irish American family where she thought cookies with green icing on Saint Patrick's Day was the best thing about being Irish.

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The Inishfree Feis took place Sunday in the ALFRED G. BERNER MIDDLE SCHOOL, Massapequa, NY.