Classes

Class placement will be determined by age, dance level and class size. You will be contacted by Kathy or Maureen to determine the best place for your child. Age five is the minimum age that we will accept beginner dancers. Beginners are welcome at any age beyond age five. There will be a maximum of 15 students per class, unless there are students from another class making up a class.

Middletown, DE Classes
452 Boxwood Lane

Thursday Evening:
  • 5:30-6:30 p.m. - Ages 5-9 - Beginner/Adv. Beginner
  • 6:30-7:30 p.m. - Ages 10 and up - Adv. Beginner / Novice / Prizewinner / Preliminary

West Chester, PA Classes
Chester County Art Center

Wednesday Evening:
  • 5:30-6:30 p.m. - Ages 5-9 - Beginner/Adv. Beginner
  • 6:30-7:30 p.m. - Ages 9-12 - Adv. Beginner / Novice / Prizewinner

Important Reminders for Attending Class

Make Up Class Policy: If the school is closed due to bad weather, a make-up class will be announced. If your child misses due to personal reasons, please see either instructor to schedule a make-up class. If your child misses the make-up class, the class is lost.

Drop Off Procedures: We are very concerned for your child’s safety. If someone other than a parent is picking up your child, please notify either instructor of this. Also, please come into your child's class to pick them up. We will not permit the children to leave the class unless an adult is present.

Philosophy on Receiving Steps:
When will my child receive a new step? or When will s/he start hard shoe? This question often comes up with children. They are eager to learn new and exciting things. Children are amazing in that they can absorb and learn new things very quickly.
However, it cannot be stressed enough that the individual dancing skills exhibited is a progression and there is no "normal" progression. This progression depends on the dancer's age, talents, commitment and most importantly PRACTICE. Maureen and Kathy expect their students to practice a minimum of 20 minutes a day. Maureen and Kathy remember what it was like to learn a new step of having to struggle with polishing the old steps. However, they also know that by properly learning timing, feet position, body posture and other basic skills this will enable the dancer to excel later in their dancing.

Regulations on Switching Schools

There are many regulations that must be followed by certified dance schools. We have provided some of the regulations that can affect you and your child. If you have any questions, please see either instructor.

If you decide to leave the Dó Cairde School of Irish Dance and transfer to another certified Irish dance school, your child will have to serve a 6-month suspension from competition. The student is exempt from this suspension in the following cases:
  1. Death or retirement of a former teacher.
  2. Failure of former teacher to re-register with Ireland.
  3. Significant change of place of normal residence of the pupil.
  4. Closure of former teacher's class normally attended by the pupil and where that teacher has not another class within a reasonable distance (50 miles) of the pupil's home.
If you decide to leave the Dó Cairde School of Irish Dance, you will not be able to reuse either the skirt/shawl costume of the school dress costume. You may resell either costume to another student within the Dó Cairde School of Irish Dance.

Non Certified Dance Schools

Many ballet and other dance schools now offer Irish dancing as a class. Our policy is that we do not wish our students to take Irish Dance classes from a non-certified dance school while taking classes from the Dó Cairde School of Irish Dance. Please keep in mind that many of these schools do not staff certified dance instructors. They often teach steps and methods that are not true to the Irish dancing instruction. Also, if your child attends a non-certified dance school, your child will not be allowed to compete at any feiseanna.