School History:

The Celtic Academy of Irish Dance was founded in the late 1950's as part of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Dayton chapter and initially was known as the Hibernian Irish Dancers.  The first Irish Dance teacher was Tess Donnelly.  Through the years several talented teachers had their hand in making the Hibernian Irish Dancers Succeed.  In 1987 the name was changed from the Hibernian Irish Dancers to the Celtic Academy of Irish Dance and it became its own organization.  In 1989 the Leadership of the Celtic Academy, with only 12 dancers, was taken over by Mary Laffey, TCRG. 

The location of the Celtic Academy moved from various dance studios throughout the Dayton area until January of 1998 when the Academy leased its own facility on Burkhardt Road in Riverside, a suburb of Dayton.  This facility enabled us to run two classes at one time on any given day of the week.  After a few years, the growth of the Academy increased tremendously and we found ourselves in a situation of needing more space. The search began for a new facility to house our Academy. 

In April of 2002, the Celtic Academy purchased their own building and moved into their current facility on Woodman Dr. in Riverside, a suburb of Dayton.  The Celtic Academy Family worked together to create a fabulous studio consisting of 2 large studios, 1 medium studio and 2 small private lesson studios. 

          The dancers of the Academy have succeeded on local, regional, national and world level competitions in both solo and ceili (team) competitions.  Our youth ceili teams have a Midwest Regional Championship title as well as a team medal from the World Irish Dance Championships held yearly in Ireland.  Our Adult Division has won the Midwest Regional Adult Ceili Championship several times and repeatedly place in the top three at Regional and National Championships.  Our solo dancers continue to qualify for and place at Regional, National and World Championships. 

As Dayton’s premier school of Irish Dance, the academy is always in high demand.  The Academy has performed at over 70 functions in the tri-state area, including the Cityfolk Festival, Middletown's Middfest, Dayton's Oktoberfest, the World A’fair, and were the featured performers at the British Isles Festival and the Annual Dayton Celtic festival.  The Academy has performed with many regional and nationally known bands including, Gaelic Storm, Bohola, Natalie MacMaster, Changling, and Dulahan,  and have entertained crowds at the University of Dayton and Wright State University Men & Women’s basketball games.

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