Nordic Society of Irish Dancers

I am a 24 years old student from Oslo, Norway. I’m in the second year of my bachelor of Religion and politics, at the University of Oslo. My first meeting with Irish dancing was in a local Theater production where we learnt Irish dancing; it was love at first hop 123. 4 years later I moved to Oslo and I have since then been dancing at Sound Irish Dance Factory with Hilde Juul. I’ve been teaching children and adults since 2006, and I give workshops around Oslo and perform with Sound Irish Dance Company. I became a member of The Nordic Society of Irish Dancers in 2005 when I attended my first Feis and since then I have competed and done my grades at the Nordic Feis. My further goal is to get my TCRG, some day.

To me NSID and the Nordic Feis are very important to keep the Irish dancing community alive and strong. It is my firm believe that all the dancers and the schools in the Nordic Countries are dependent on each other for survival as I believe that we need to pull together to keep promoting Irish dancing successfully. Irish dancing promotes Irish dancing in itself, so the more the better, and a strong and vivid Irish dancing community gives support and inspiration to everybody involved. This is especially important now that An Coimisiún is urging us to get involved and “serious” (read: produce TCRG’s) if we want to keep the Feis. I do hope that we will be able to “get serious” in a not so distant future. Both to keep the Feis, which I think is our most important source of inspiration for both old and new, ”serious” and “semi serious” dancers and for the benefit of advancing our own dancing. But I think that to get there we need inspiration and support form each other as it is hard work to get the TCRG and it can get quite lonely being the only teacher in your area. This is why I think that NSID is such an important organization and I want to give my contribution.

I have a lot of experience from organizations and theater. I’ve been manager and chairwoman of the theater board in the Oslo Student Theater. I have produced and co-produced several student theater productions and been chairwoman of several electoral committees at the Norwegian Student Organization. I also have experience as treasurer both in the student theater and for the Oslo student festival; STUDiO, were I am treasurer for the second time this year. With my experience and my involvement and passion for Irish dancing I think that I would do a good job as chairwoman in NSID. I’m hoping to get the chance to contribute, as I would really look forward to be working with Irish dancers and Irish dance enthusiasts from all the Nordic countries.