With two divisions of the Ancient Order of Hibernians sponsoring the Long Island Feis on Sunday, the organization is thriving in Suffolk County.

With her glowing wig of black curls and bright smile, Mitsi Fink looks like she’s 18 when she points her toes to dance at the Long Island Feis on Sunday. She has danced for seven years and is in four competitions at the Long Island Feis. But Mitsi only took up step-dancing when she was 25 years old. She’s one of the few adult dancers at the feis and is competing with people much younger than her.

The final count of dancers at the Long Island Feis on Sunday was 528. That may seem like quite a lot of dancers to you, but it’s fewer than the hosts expected, and it marks a trend seen by many feiseanna this summer, as the country’s economic difficulties percolate down.

The most familiar sound at a feis is normally the jigging of the accordions, keyboards and violins, the instruments that typically accompany Irish step-dancing. At the Rockland County Feis, another noise was in the mix, sharp and sustained – the pipes. More than 35 pipe bands competed at the festival, and it’s one of the bigger pipe band contests in the country.

The Rockland County Feis is in its 36th year of existence. Sponsored by the Rockland County Ancient Order of Hibernians (men’s and women’s divisions), it is an enormous event, and is a huge undertaking to organize.

For the singers competing at the Rockland County Feis, performing at the feis helps them connect with their culture. Whether it takes the form of a clattering dance, a piping whistle, or a casual song, we Irish have clearly held onto our traditional love of song and dance.

Massachusetts tourism officials have won the bid for their capital city to host the 2013 World Irish Dancing Championships.

Sunday was gentlemen’s day at the North American Irish Dance Championships. Men and boys of all ages are milling about, some as young as 9, others in their 20s. So what keeps a guy dancing, when other sports, school and girls could distract him?

Canadians are everywhere at Nashville for the North American Irish Dance Championships. Between the solo dancers, the groups, the adult dancers and youngsters - a huge proportion of them come from America's northern neighbor.

The George Sweetnam Memorial Trophy, also known as the belt, is for top dancers only, and this year’s winner at the New Haven Feis was Michael Fleck from Indiana.

The 47th edition of the New Haven Irish festival will have a little something for everyone; music, dancing and the chance to win a million dollars on TV show "Deal or no Deal."

The large scale of the annual Peter Smith Feis reflects Smith’s contribution to Irish dance. Not only is his school one of the biggest on the east coast, Smith himself has actively influenced the direction of Irish dance in the U.S., bringing in a style in the 1950s that has held sway ever since.

Many feiseanna have an additional element of culture alongside dance. Sometimes this takes the form of music and other times it’s art. The Peter Smith Feis in Edison, New Jersey on Sunday had both a Celtic art and a soda bread contest, and this gave non-dancing parents a chance to join in the Irish-themed fun.

Tara Sanders, 15, is the only one in her competition. She wins a huge trophy, and pauses while cameras flash. Tara has Down syndrome and her contest is for people with special needs. She has been dancing for four or five years.

The United Irish Counties Feis saw a drastic drop in the number of participants this year. So are times hard for feis vendors, the people who make a living from selling dresses, wigs, and Irish paraphernalia at feiseanna?

Feiseanna are fun, but they’re a heck of a lot of work. United Irish Counties is based in New York, but still many of the organizers of the United Irish Counties Feis, held on June 14, had to travel to Yonkers.

It was like they appeared out of nowhere. Suddenly, the dancing space at the United Irish Counties Feis was filled. Kids wearing rather non-traditional yellow t-shirts, running shoes and jeans danced, hands on their hips, and the audience began to clap along.

Irish dancing dresses are often truly gorgeous. They gleam with sequins, come in all colors, and combined with the wigs and tiaras, make the dancers look like princesses.

A jovial Longford man who has never lost his accent, Mike Prunty is a vice-president of the United Irish Counties Association of New York, and he put a strong effort at the United Irish Counties Feis on Sunday, June 14. “It keeps the Irish heritage going,” he said. “I love being involved. And I love watching the kids dance.”

With less than three weeks until the North American Irish Dance Championships, dancers are hitting the feis scene to get prepared.

The O’Shea Chaplin Academy hosts its annual Irish Heritage Feis during the second weekend in June. Mary Lynch O’Sullivan, a former champion dancer at O’Shea Chaplin, died of cancer last year at age 47. A memorial trophy will honor the winner of this competition every year at the Irish Heritage Feis.

Over 800 dancers competed from a number of Irish dance schools across the east coast from beginner to championship level at the Irish Heritage Feis, hosted by the O’Shea Chaplin Academy of Irish Dance at Saugus High School on Sunday, June 14.

The 48th Annual Detroit International Feis has changed venues this year. And from the comments heard during the Feis, it was for the better.

Feiseanna, and especially the outdoorsy Hartford Feis, are family occasions that go beyond gender. Many dads like to support their children, and they enjoy the atmosphere of the feis too.

Hartford Feis is an outdoor competition, a type of feis that’s becoming increasingly rare in the U.S. It has its home in a field belonging to the Irish American Home Society in Glastonbury, CT.

The vast majority of people at a feis are female – moms, daughters, sisters grandmas – but it’s not all one-gender. Dads bring their kids to contests, and help behind the scenes, setting up stages and sound systems. Boys compete too, if in smaller numbers.

It’s a long time since Kathleen Blake has danced herself, but she loves dancing, and she follows her three grand-nieces across the country as they compete in contest after contest. “I love the costumes, the wigs, the music, the competition, the people, the camaraderie,” she says. “I’m obsessive about Irish dance. We’re groupies. We travel wherever they go.”

Feiseanna are growing and getting bigger across the country, she says, and a lot of work has to be done to keep up with these trends. Behind the Mulvihill-Lynch Feis is a seemingly vast network of committees, run by parents and by teachers, and each with its own head.

The Mulvihill-Lynch Feis, a local competition in Smithtown in Long Island, may seem like a small event by some standards. Organized by Debbie Lynch-Webber, head of the Mulvihill-Lynch School of Irish Dance, it takes place at Smithtown West High School. Yet it draws hundreds of children from New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and as many as seven or eight hundred kids will compete. In fact it’s a big deal.

Maggie Revis, native to Putnam Valley, New York, took to the stage in Belgium this past winter for her debut as the female lead dancer in Michael Flatley’s "The Lord of the Dance." Born into a family of competitve dancers, Maggie began her dance career at the age of three and secured her first win at the Mid-Atlantic American Oireachtas (Regional) Dance Competition in Philadelphia by the age of six.

Callie Cooper of the Comerford School in the Seattle area was the adjudicators’ choice as “Most Promising Dancer” at the recent Pacific Northwest Irish Dance Championships Feis in Seattle, May 16-17.

A beautiful Spring weekend in Seattle brought almost 500 dancers from the Western US and Western Canada to the Pacific Northwest Irish Dance Championships Feis May 16-17.

The annual New York Fleadh organized by the Mid-Atlantic Region of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann is coming up on the weekend of May 29-31 in Pearl River, New York.

A tribute to Paddy Reynolds, a fine musician and an even finer man.

Musicians are little noticed, but crucial to a feis. There’s a lot of demand for feiseanna in the U.S. – many parents bring their children to competitions several times a month. The Commission of Irish Dancing in Ireland rules that no more than six feiseanna can occur in North America on any weekend day, and no more than 10, max, over the weekend in all. This is because there aren’t enough qualified musicians to go around.

Lots of Irish dancers won prizes at the Putnam County Feis, but some adults received awards too. Mary Thorne was one of them. She was officially honored at the Feis for her services to the Putnam County Irish dancing community.

When you think about teenagers, the image that normally springs to mind is surly youngsters who sulk, wear baggy clothes (or not enough clothes) and too much black make-up. But the teenage Irish dancers at the Putnam County Feis present quite a different picture.

To a lay person, most Irish dancers look superbly skilled. They leap higher than you or I ever could, and their feet move faster than a top tap dancer’s. So what is it that distinguishes the best from the rest? What do judges look for in an Irish dancing champion?

Irish dancing can be a costly hobby, with the costumes, the wigs and the transport to and from competitions. But it’s something that won’t suffer when money gets tight, says Anna O’Sullivan, head of the O’Sullivan School of Irish Dancing in Putnam County.

The first place essay from the Orange County Feis 2009 essay competition, "What Irish Dancing Means To Me," was written by 12-year-old Irish dancer with the Sheahan-Gormley School, Kristin Normoyle of Orange County, New York. Here’s her prize-winning piece.

April Drew chats with the Irish dancing teacher, part owner of two gymnastic facilities and owner of a homeless shelter.

Trent Kowalik, at 14 the youngest male to ever win the World Irish Dancing Championships back in 2006, was honored again yesterday with a coveted Tony Awards nod for Best Actor in a Musical for his starring role in "Billy Elliot, the Musical" on Broadway.

Feis vendor Mary Ann King has been in this game for a decade. Her store, Claddagh Gifts is based on Mill Valley, CA, but Mary Ann goes mobile too, bringing the best of her loot around to the Feises in Southern California. Selling jewelry, hats, capes, and all things Irish, Mary Ann is no stranger to the Feis scene.

Cousins Jennifer Wilbanks and Lila Wallrich are seasoned Feis moms. The difference is that they also compete in the Feiseanna!

Joey Sultan is a patient boy. The 7-year-old from Petaluma is at San Fransisco's Golden State Feis because his sister Sarah is dancing.

Sharon Whelan, dance teacher, liaison, and organizer of The Golden State Feis, loves being an Irish Dance teacher Whelan, who has danced most of her life - even shortly after having a baby - says she loves teaching dancers from 4 to 40!

Chloe McGovern flew from San Diego County to compete in The Golden State Feis in San Francisco and it was certainly worth the trip. The 8-year-old won third place in The Preliminary, and first place in The Preliminary Treble Reel.

Patricia Kennelly, of San Francisco’s Kennelly School of Irish Dance, is still recovering from the 5am starts at the World Championships last week in Philly.

The 6,000 Irish dancers and 15,000 spectators who descended upon the city of Philadelphia last week put the Pennsylvania city on the map according to Senior Communications Manager for the

After an all-day downpour on Saturday, a sustained period of glorious sunshine greeted Philadelphia today, as the World Irish Dancing Championship drew to a close. The sunshine brought a fitting end to what has been an incredibly successful week.