Five Ways to Stay Connected to Your Irish Dance Community Around The World

It is amazing that dancers have Feis Friends from all around the World - we love that Irish Dancing is a global sport, but how do you keep those connections strong when you live in a different country?

We are always talking about the importance of having a strong community around you, and they don’t necessarily have to live by you to be someone who is part of your support system. For example, one of my best Dance Friends is from Scotland and I have other really close Dance friends from the US, New Zealand and Australia too.

Here are five ways in which you can stay connected to your Irish Dancing Community, even if they are based on the other side of the World:

• Make the most of social media 

The rise in social media means it is easier than ever to stay connected with Dance Friends from across the World. From Facebook, to Instagram, Snapchat to Tik Tok, there are so many ways in which you can communicate with your Irish Dancing Friends using videos, pictures, and words. 

• Use the MWM Gold Club

Our MWM Gold Club Community has been the meeting place for so many dancers across the World. We have dancers from Australia to Ireland, America, and England who are there to support each other with their Irish Dance goals. We also have a private inbox so that Dancers can share things with each other, and help to keep each other accountable. Our Community gives our dancers a place to feel supported by hundreds of other Dancers! It is something we are really super proud of! 

• Facetime each other 

Facetiming someone can help build and maintain strong connections with dancers because it helps us to see each other in ‘real life’. We know lots of dancers use Facetime to hold virtual practice sessions with each other too, which we think is a great way to use Facetime to work on your Dancing or boost your motivation for Dance by watching JIG together over Facetime. 

• Write letters 

When Annabelle was a young dancer, before the time of Facetime, the Gold Club, and Social Media she used to write pen pal letters to her Irish Dancing friend in Ireland. These letters provided a time to build a friendship and share pictures and it was always such a nice surprise to receive in the post. Annabelle still has these letters from her friend and they date back to them being U10! 

• Send gifts for important celebrations

Another way to build and maintain strong and positive connections with your Irish Dance Friends is to send gifts in the post. Whether this be for Birthdays, Graduations, fantastic Feis results or something else, sending gifts in the post is a great way to show someone that you are there and thinking about them; even when you can’t be there in person. Annabelle once got her friend who lived near her to take a Good Luck gift to the Worlds in America and pass it to her online American Irish Dance friend! It is even more special if you make the gift super personalised or make it something that is traditional from where you live. 

Irish Dance connections are super important and they can be created online, at Feises, at Camp or at Dance class. These friends could be the people who will be your support system for the rest of your life, even beyond Irish Dancing. 

If you want a Community of positive and like-minded Dancers supporting you, then join our Gold Club and get active in the Community. Each month we also give out an award for the Member of the Month and they have a big feature across our socials, emails and in the Community. 

Join in the fun and friendship here.