By Catherine Duplisea
Dancin’ to Dublin for the World Championships 2025
The CLRG 2025 World Irish Dancing Championships are taking place April in Dublin, Ireland. This prestigious event invites the top dancers through qualifying events from around the world to compete for the world title and find their ranking amongst the best dancers in each age group.
Cleveland is home to several world qualifiers, and three first time qualifiers in the youngest age group of 10-11 years! The three talented girls all started Irish dancing at four years old, have strong Irish American roots, and dance for two local Irish dance schools, Brady- Campbell and the Burke School.
Amy Gallagher, from the Brady Campbell School of Irish Dance, has won the region of Mid-America twice now and enjoys everything from the competition to the friendships. Amy first saw Irish dancing at Cleveland Irish Cultural Festival at the Berea Fairgrounds, and the rest is history, as she fell in love with the sport! Keagan Dreamer is from the Burke School of Irish Dance. Keagan’s great grandparents moved to the United States from Shraheens and Keel, Ireland. They were members of the West Side Irish American Club, and every generation to follow has remained active members as well.
Keagan is a proud member of the Pecl and the Dreamer families that are very active members of the Club. Keagan also marches with the Pom-Pom unit for the WSIA. Keagan has several family members that danced for Tessie Burke over the years, including the McCafferty’s and Mangans.
Keagan will be sharing this first world championship experience with her dance classmate, Cora, and her cousin, Mattie Ann, who is the daughter of a former Burke dancer and now teacher and adjudicator, Kelly Gallagher Fritzinger. Keagan loves Irish dancing and is looking forward to dancing on the world stage.
Cora Duplisea, also from the Burke School of Irish Dance, has been around Irish dancing her entire life. My daughter is a former Burke dancer and part of the teaching staff at the Burke studio; thus Cora was introduced to the music, rhythms, and movements very early.
Cora is an open championship dancer, and enjoys helping to teach the younger students. Cora’s grandmother, Eileen Mangan-Stull, is an active member at the West Side Irish American Club and well known in the local Irish American community.
Eileen and her six siblings all danced for Tessie Burke as children, and that tradition has now continued into the third generation of dancers in the family.
The Irish culture is a very important part of Cora’s family, and this will be her second trip to Ireland. Dancing on the world stage was a goal that she set for herself, and she is excited to have earned her spot to do so on April 13th.
As these three young ladies head over to Dublin to compete in their first World Championships, we would like to wish them the best of luck. The dedication and hours of training that is required for such a high level of competition is a load that these young ladies choose to carry with pride and determination. They have learned some important life lessons about sacrifice, consistency, hard work, and self-care that they will carry with them throughout their lives.
Cleveland, Ohio is proud to have you three youngest World Qualifiers and your classmates representing the United States this year at the CLRG World Irish Dancing Championships 2025! Best of luck!
