WEST SPRINGFIELD – A few times a year Western Massachusetts comes together to publicly celebrate their Irish heritage. However, the celebration of Irish culture takes place year round at the Cassin Dance Studio where students learn the sport of Irish dancing. 

Owner Maura McCarthy, grew up in Westfield and began Irish dancing when she was just a child. Now she owns her own studio where she shares her love of dancing with her students.

“My grandfather was from Ireland so growing up my mother, who never danced, convinced me to try it for a year,” she told Reminder Publishing. “I started when I was nine and I’m 35 and I’m still enmeshed. It’s part of my life. My husband teases me about it, but it is. It’s part of who I am, it’s part of my identity.”

However, it was no easy road to become certified to teach Irish dancing at the competitive level. After McCarthy finished competing in her mid-twenties she decided to take the rigorous, four-part exam to become a certified Teagascóir Choimisiúin le Rinci Gaelacha (TCRG), which means certified Irish dance teacher in Gaelic, in the An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha (CLRG) organization.

McCarthy traveled to Limerick, Ireland to take the three-day exam where she passed and became a TCRG. After that she had a choice, open her own studio or join an existing studio as part of their staff. Growing up in the area McCarthy said she didn’t have a desire to move, so she started her own studio.

“It was kinda like ‘Well you do this or you move,’ and I like being local. I grew up in Westfield, we live in East Longmeadow now. I mean I have two kids, there’s a support network,” she said. “I rented from two local dance studios, one in East Longmeadow and one in Holyoke to start, which were established places that had studio space. And I was just like ‘Do you have any hours available that I can rent by the hour? And I’ll build my school that way.’”

She rented space from those studios for about five years, and then opened her own space in West Springfield where she’s been teaching for three years. Currently, McCarthy teaches about 50 students.

A large number of those students will compete at next week’s first Lúnasa Feis at the Irish Cultural Center (ICC) on Aug. 25. Students are able to compete in six different levels of competition in local feiseanna (the plural of feis) like the one at the ICC, which one they compete in depends on their ability and difficulty level.

McCarthy explained, “So once you start competition, you start as a beginner. Beginner, advanced beginner, novice, prizewinner, preliminary championships, and open championships are your level of competitions at local events.”

To compete in feiseanna, students spend a lot of time preparing and working hard.

"It’s a big time commitment, there’s a class time commitment here as well as I expect them to practice. I expect them to be at least an hour independent practice daily without me. The championship kids should also be doing some sort of conditioning,” McCarthy said. “If you’re going to put the time and effort into class, you need to put the time and effort in outside of class too.”

McCarthy said aside from being fun, Irish dancing builds agility, strength, focus, and the ability to overcome setbacks. “It makes you build that emotional stamina, like, well, I didn’t get what I wanted, I have to keep moving forward, I have to try again,” she explained. “It’s like that get back on the horse and try again sort of ability.”

This, she said, she’s seen firsthand in her students. “I recently had a student, she finally hit championships. She probably went to 10 [feiseanna] from April till three weeks ago where she got second place. In one dance, she needed one place to move into championships. One dance, and she got second every single time,” McCarthy said. “She was like ‘I don’t know what to do,’ and I said, ‘You just gotta keep showing up. And she did, and she’s moved up into championships.  I’m so proud of her for sticking with it because some don’t.”