Irish Dance Brings Centuries of Tradition and Modern Flair to Central Pennsylvania
-
Asia Tabb
AIRED; September 9, 2025
Listen to the podcast to hear the full conversation.
When the dancers of A Taste of Ireland—The Irish Music & Dance Sensation take the stage in Central Pennsylvania this October, they’ll be bringing with them not only high-energy choreography but also centuries of cultural history.
“Irish dancing itself is like hundreds and hundreds of years old and it’s really ingrained in not only the culture but even like the schools and how you’re brought up back at home,” dancer Cian Walsh explained. He added that the art form transformed into a global phenomenon after shows like Riverdance and Lord of the Dance began touring worldwide. “Now it’s become such a sport… it should be like a paid professional sport that you’re doing.”
His fellow performer Brittany Pymm said Irish dance has flourished in part because of its worldwide reach. “We’ve just come from the West End in London. We’ve toured in Australia, New Zealand, England, all around America. So I think it’s so worldwide that it’s very easy for people to find it and people to see it online… definitely the last five years, it’s really taken off online.”
But the show is about more than steps and rhythm. For Pymm, each performance is an act of storytelling: “Especially with our show, we are telling the story of Ireland. It starts out with the creation of the country, through the tumultuous times and the famine, and then it takes you to modern-day Ireland… you kind of really have to get into character.”
Balancing tradition and innovation is a key part of A Taste of Ireland’s appeal. “We really try to keep the traditional Irish kind of tunes and music like Danny Boy and Rocky Road to Dublin,” Pymm said. “But maybe when we get more to the end of the show and it’s more lively and exciting with the hurling matches, we like to show a little bit more of the modern side of things.”
For audiences in the U.S., that blend of heritage and contemporary flair often sparks personal connections. “It’s really beautiful, especially when we go out and meet the audience after the show,” Pymm shared. “A lot of them are able to tell us the different counties where their family or great-granddad was born… some even get quite emotional as well through some of the songs because they might have learned them through their parents or grandparents.”
The production, described as “world-class Irish dancing” and “craic galore” by international reviewers, will make three stops in Central Pennsylvania this fall: October 3 at Harrisburg’s Whitaker Center, October 7 at the Luhrs Center in Shippensburg, and October 11 at the High Fine Arts Center in Lancaster.
For more information, visit atasteofirelandshow.com