Irish Dancers take to stage at 96th Newry Musical Feis

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: Columba O'Hare; Category: Arts, TV and Entertainment; Published: 18 February 2024

The winners in the Under 10a Reel and Jig section at Newry Musical Feis were from left: Anna Digney, Mollie O'Hare, Lily McCorry, 1st and Emily Duncan. Photograph: Columba O'Hare/ Newry.ie

The 2024 Newry Musical Feis has begun with two days of Irish Dance (Open) Classes. The classes have been running smoothly on two different stages in Newry Town Hall yesterday and today, 18 February. Each stage has its own adjudicator and the year-round dedication of the young performers, their family support teams, and their Irish Dance teachers was clear to be seen.

Newry Musical Feis opened this weekend with Irish Dancing in the beautiful Newry Town Hall and here are the wonderful competitors who performed in the Under 9A Jigs and Reels section. Thousands of children will take to the stage this year in one of the largest festivals of its kind in the world. Newry.ie salute the organisers. Photograph: Columba O'Hare/ Newry.ie

Incredible as it may seem this is the 96^th Feis. At one of the inaugural meetings in autumn 1928 a comment was made: 'it was necessary to have secretaries who knew not the meaning of the word failure' and this is still a very necessary requirement, not only for Secretaries but for Assistant Secretaries and the whole team of office bearers, committee members and voluntary helpers as we prepare for the remainder of our 2024 festival. Organisers are getting ready for another forty days of performance and hope that many people who don’t have a family member taking part will make the wise decision to come along and see for themselves the extraordinary displays of talent in the fields of Music, Dance and Speech that we all might be tempted to take for granted.

Laia Corrigan and Olivia McCarthy who were first in the Under 9a Reels and Jigs section at Newry Musical Feis. Photograph: Columba O'Hare/ Newry.ie

2024 Feis Dates

Ballet & Theatre Dance: 7^th – 13^th April in Newry Town Hall

Speech & Drama (Open): 15^th – 20^th April in Newry Town Hall

Music – opening on Sunday 21^st April (afternoon) in the Town Hall where it runs until Saturday 27^th. Simultaneously, Music Section Classes are being held from Monday 22^nd April until Friday 26^th – mainly in the Canal Court Hotel - with other Classes being staged in St Paul’s High School, Bessbrook

Irish Traditional Music Classes will take place in St Colman’s College on Sunday 28^th April.

Speech and Drama runs from April 29^th – May 3^rd in the Town Hall and from April 29^th – May 2^nd in the Canal Court.

Winners in the Under 9a Reels and Jigs section of Newry Musical Feis were from left: Lily O'Hare, Kate Brennan, Niamh McKevitt, Laia Corrigan, 1st, Emer McVeigh, Olivia McCarthy, 1st, Sophie Morgan and Orla Canavan. Photograph: Columba O'Hare/ Newry.ie

Irish Dance (Confined) completes the performances for 2024 with two days in the Town Hall on 4^th & 5^th May.

The date and venue for our Organ Classes will be announced soon.

Mary Goss from Newry Feis said "We will face enormous challenges in 2025, when we will not have access to the Town Hall. It might be especially important to drop in this year if you are not a regular supporter of the work that is on display. The show will go on however – we are making every effort to find suitable venues for all of our Sections for the coming years. Our run since 1928 is still unbroken – despite World War II, the Troubles and the Covid pandemic… We will continue to showcase the extraordinary talents of the performers in our District, and of those from much further afield, and hope to be back in our iconic home venue as soon as possible."