Welcome to the McHugh School of Irish Dance. For more than 25 years, we have taught Irish Dance in the Delaware County and Wilmington Delaware Area. Sisters, Tara McHugh Boyce and Sheila McHugh O’Connell were both Regional and National champion dancers along with performers for many years before becoming certified Irish Dance instructors. Our teaching staff now includes Tara’s daughters, Maura and Aislinn along with former McHugh Dancers, Victoria Hegarty and Kimber Shallock, as assistant teachers. We pride ourselves on instructing each dancer as an individual. We’ll work with dancers to set and reach their own personal goals. We aim to build our dancer’s self-esteem in a positive environment with constructive instruction. We offer a learning environment for all types of dancers
Non-competitive, social dancers looking to enjoy a dance class with friends
Non-competitive performance-based dancers who enjoy parades, recitals, and other shows
Competitive dancers who wish to set goals of local, regional, national, and world level competitive advancement
Our dancers have lots of opportunities throughout the year to dance, perform, socialize, and compete at whatever level they choose.
Summer camps: We offer two camps during the summer
Irish Princess Camp
1/2 day for ages 3-6
Held in our Aston Studio the 3rd week of June
Cost is $199
Irish Dance and Swim Camp
Full day (9-3) for ages 5+
Held at our Wilmington Studio (Elks Lodge and Pool) the first week of August
Cost is $ $300
Holiday Party We host an annual Holiday party in early December at the Elks lodge for Dancers and families. We offer a potluck dinner, games, gift exchange and more!
St. Patrick’s Day festivities
We participate in both the Wilmington and Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parades. The McHugh School is the 2022 winner of the Walter Garvin Award for “Best Children’s Dance Group”
Performances: We offer opportunities for all level dancers to participate in performances at schools, nursing homes, restaurants/bars, private events and even TV performances.
McHugh Feis We host our own Feis (competition) in May with dancers from all over the country.
Feis(Competition) Our competitive dancers are trained for competition and have the opportunity to compete at feisanna anywhere in the country, virtually every weekend if they desire. Our dancers have competed at the Regional, National and World level.
Recital We have a holiday recital each year in January. Date/Location TBA. All level dancers are able to participate if they choose!
Irish Dancer Basics:
Dance shoes: Irish Dance shoes or Ballet slippers and "poodle socks" are REQUIRED. We do have some used shoes for sale in our Aston Studio. New soft shoes and poodle socks should be purchased at www.fayshoes.com. Recommended GIRL'S soft shoe is "Platinum Suede" ($55) or "Celtic Choice"($75). Boys, can purchase "Boys Reel Shoe" ($90). For girls, please do not purchase shoes from any other source like amazon. Due to the expense of boy's irish dance shoes, boys can alternately wear a jazz shoe, purchased from amazon, as a beginner.
Class attire is shorts or leggings with a tee shirt or tank top, poodle socks and dance shoes
Classes: Most beginner dancers attend one weekly class. If you need to miss your dancer's scheduled class, your dancer can make-up a class at another time or location. As dancers progress, many choose to dance more than one night a week. See tuition schedule on our website for tuition rates
Tuition is paid at the first class each month. Check (payable to McHugh School), Venmo (@tara-boyce-2) or cash.
McHugh Merchandise is available periodically. We have an online store to purchase items like sweatshirts/sweatpants, tee shirts, shorts, pajama pants, leggings and more in youth and adult sizes!
Performance/competition attire. We offer two types of team outfits for our dancers. Our skirt/bodysuit outfit is for our beginner and advanced beginner dancers and our younger dancers. Cost is $150. Our full team dresses are for our older and more competitive dancers. Cost is $500. We order these outfits usually 1-2 times a year and they are used for parades, performances and feisanna (competitions). You are not required to purchase these as a beginner.
We have social media accounts on instagram and Facebook where we highlight important events and dancer accomplishments
Competing
Competing: Most of the new dancers are not ready to compete for several months. I will send emails to the school when local feisanna open for registration. If you have any questions about whether your dancer is ready to compete, just let us know! Most feisanna use www.feisweb.com for online registration. You can let us know if you have questions about how to create your dancer’s online profile
Dancers start out in competing in beginner.
Dancers advance to advanced beginner after the first year of competing or sometimes sooner
Dancers advance from Advanced beginner to Novice by placing 1st, 2nd or 3rd in each dance. They can wait till the end of the calendar year to move
Dancers advance from Novice to Prize winner by placing 1st in each dance
Dancers advance from Prize winner to Preliminary championship by placing first in a soft shoe and a hard shoe dance
Dancers advance from Prelim to the final level, Open Championship, by placing 1st on 3 separate occasions.
Solo dancing vs team dancing: Our dancers can learn both solo dancing and team dancing (4 hands or 8 hands). Team dancing is typically for our more experienced dancers, 2nd year and above. These teams are put together based on age and these teams have to opportunity to compete at our Regional Championships over Thanksgiving each year.
Your browser does not support viewing this document. Click here to download the document.