CLRG and Bernard´s Summer School 2009

31. 03. 2009 | 114 reads

This is our letter from 12th February 2009 to CLRG. We ask An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha for declaration of Bernard´s Summer School as open and endorsed by this organisation. But nobody answered to 20th March. We asked people in contact of CLRG this day for answered. Now is 31st March and we have no answer. I think it is a little unrespectable.
Václav Bernard

Dear Sirs,

Allow me to introduce myself. Twelve years ago I founded the first Irish dancing group in the Czech Republic which has been in existence and functioning very well since then. In 2004 we opened a dance school – Rinceoirí Irish Dance Academy - and thus we attracted 140 more people interested in Irish dancing in Prague. The dance group as well as the school are currently active in developing Irish dance culture under the supervision of Delaney Academy (Lisa Delaney, TCRG, ADCRG), respecting the rules of An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha.

Since 2001 I have been organising a Summer School of Irish Dancing which is being attended by more and more people interested in Irish culture. At this point it is a week-long event in the second half of August, with top quality dance teachers from various areas of Irish dance and lately also music and Irish language. Last year the Summer School was attended by over 200 participants, not only from the Czech Republic. The teachers‘ participation varies, and thus we’ve already had Sean Kilkenny TCRG, Mary Sweeney TCRG, Anne-Marie Cunningham TCRG, Kelley O’Boyle TCRG, Lisa Delaney TCRG, ADCRG, Ronan McCormack TCRG, ADCRG, Stephen Scariff TCRG, Shane McAvinchey TCRG and others. The Summer School also provides lessons of set dancing (Joe and Janet O´Hara), sean-nós (Ronan Regan), music lessons in fiddle, guitar, bodhrán and whistles, also led by experienced foreign and local teachers. There are also successful lessons of the Irish language. The whole event is concluded by a gala performance in a special Prague dance theatre. More information about the event is available at www.rinceoiri.cz and currently at www.bernards.cz.

For several years the Summer School has been taking place under the auspices of Irish ambassadors to Prague. The number of participants is always rising year after year. Participants arrive from many places in the Czech Republic as well as the surrounding European countries, thus usually representing 10-15 dance groups and schools from the region, where for some this is their only chance to access a TCRG - led workshop during the year. For others it is a chance to meet and dance with dancers from other groups and countries and also experience various teaching styles and improve their technique. The fact that all of our teachers are either certified TCRG / ADCRG or TCRG – supervised provides a clear guarantee of high quality teaching provided at the Summer School and most of the participants rely on that.

With regard to the fact that lessons of Irish step dancing on Intermediate and Open levels are being taught by fully qualified An Coimisiún teachers, and the lower categories are taught by our best dancers with experience from the Delaney Academy London or Hession School Galway, I would like to ask you on behalf of the organisers to make an exception from the workshop rules and include this event with a relatively long successful tradition, quality staff and great interest of participants, among the events declared as open and endorsed by your organisation. That way you would, in my opinion, eliminate a significant obstacle in the development of this event and create another opportunity for dancers from central and continental Europe associated under An Coimisiún to acquire good quality dance education. Your step in this area can therefore significantly contribute to reducing the gap in the levels of continental and island dancers in Europe.

Thank you for your understanding, I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,


Václav Bernard
director
Summer School of Irish Dancing - Bernards Summer School Prague