PICTURES: ​Irish dance kicks off the 96th year of Newry Musical Feis

​Two days of Irish Dance (Open) Classes have been running smoothly in the Town Hall on two stage surfaces – each with 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.

This is the 96th Feis. At one of the inaugural meetings in autumn 1928 it was remarked: “It was necessary to have secretaries who knew not the meaning of the word failure”. 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.

The organisers are getting ready for another 40 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 might be tempted to take for granted.

The dates for the remainder of Feis 2024 are:

Ballet & Theatre Dance: April 7-13 in Newry Town Hall

Speech & Drama (Open): April 15-20 in Newry Town Hall

Music – opening on Sunday, April 21 (afternoon) in the Town Hall where it runs until Saturday 27th.

Simultaneously, music section classes are being held from Monday, April 22 until Friday 26th – 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, April 28.

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

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

The date and venue for the organ classes will be announced soon.

A spokesperson 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.”