Colleen and Stephanie

you did all right I'm just gonna tag you um his name is David Bowie that we need a lot of oh my God I know right shoulders back and we ready we are ready they can hear us anyway they just can't see us sorry about that hi surprise Sunday Monday we are here at knock about 13 Lake Ave and Mashpee I am joined today by Colleen thank you so much thanks for having me halfway to Patty's day so I figured why the heck it's an Irish Celebration anytime I get to support half of my Heritage I will maybe you can introduce who we have here with us I have with me Caitlin Lawson she is one of our champion dancers Caitlin right now is preparing for the New England championships at the moment so we're very lucky to have her with us today thanks for being here Caitlin talk about that a little bit like the preparation that goes into this how long have you been dancing she said since she was six or seven I'm sorry I don't know if we could hear you great just because we have microphones but Caitlin's just like she's gonna actually give us a demonstration in a little bit which I'm really excited for we had filmed it um and I love the way that it came out because we're the same exact room but there's a little stage over there and she was pretty fantastic yeah talk about the school a little bit um because I know that you you've moved now are you in two locations where are you okay so we are in one location now in Buzzards Bay yeah very close to buzzers Bay Main Street so uh we just moved there officially in in uh January okay uh and yeah we've I've been teaching Irish dancing now this is our my 12th year that's awesome I started teaching in a small location in Orleans and I had several locations across the cape and I was in Hyannis for a little while we outgrew the space uh and then now we've got a larger space in Buzzards Bay and so many students yeah yeah we get a great number of students um but we keep open enrollment so it's always growing we've got more kids just always coming through the door um and so yeah we've got a good number of older kids but we've got a growing number of younger kids which is great too good morning Ashley it was great to see you yesterday a fantastic job running the runway Ellen welcome back to New England I better see your face this week at some point so swing on through knock about MacKenzie's back behind the bar we've got Robbie here with us today they've got plenty of Oktoberfest supported myself a glass of it also comedy continues here at knock about they have a show coming up with Will Noonan if you want tickets information is right there you can go online knockabout.com I love your program so much at the Canali School of Irish Dance because you do have that open enrollment because they're constantly learning from each other and I love the Wee Ones to the big ones and then your competitive one so maybe talk about how you decide that they move up like is there a basic step is it something that you've mastered where we can move you up to a competition level like how does that progression in your dance go so usually dancers have to be enrolled prayer six months just to participate in a fish um but it we actually really encourage that kids do community service first yeah so they'll go yeah so we don't really do it uh we do uh performances at libraries at nursing homes and even our Champions like Caitlin they keep it's not just for the little ones that do the community service it's for all levels and so then when we have performances and the kids are really motivated to perform then we say okay do you want to try to do a fish and just go to experience it and it's really great event because it's a competition but it's really a collaboration of all dance schools in the area okay and so all the kids kind of see the different costumes the other dancers and it's a developmental experience I really do love the way that you teach and the way you put your school out there because I mean if you've not seen the Canali School of Dance I'm shocked uh because you really pack it in the month of March and it's go time yeah and the patience it teaches them so much between their patients they're championing other people they're doing that community service piece which I think is so important as the development of a student and a child in general yeah well they do they learn a lot of life lessons I have my own kids involved in it they're here yeah they're running around but it's good they need to learn that yeah they get a lot of community exposure and they meet a lot of friends not just from within their town but from other towns as well uh but yeah we we really around St Patrick's Day we do a lot of extra performances I think last year in uh it was wild I pulled up your old schedule and I was like whoa yeah like we get up to like 25 performing within a week and a half yes you organizing but you guys all have to like look cute and fresh and make sure you're best and keep those legs going what do you think is the hardest part like when you get like sore like to keep pushing through yeah yeah you guys work super hard in class we get you really well conditioned I think that's such an important part of the preparation for it right because if you weren't in excellent shape and you tried running that schedule you could get you could get injured yeah you know so we really try to keep you guys good morning Cheryl thanks for joining us we've got the Canali School of Irish Dance here halfway to Patty's Day you're always doing open enrollment there's always something new you've got them volunteering you've got them performing you've got them uplifting people because I mean what is not more fun and exciting than listening to a good Irish jig and then watching the dance that goes along with that yeah I mean even last night we had oh here's my daughter now yep hi Ellie say hello wave to the camera you'll see Ellie a lot at the performances but like last night we were doing a show for uh The Old Triangle uh which is the old BBC in Havana they just opened our friend Desmond's Keo runs the St Patrick's Day Parade he was there and um yeah he helps organize it and as soon as the girls come in I swear like the crowd just gets a little bit more lively yeah everybody starts clapping and maybe if you were shy before it's just such a positive thing that you know it kind of brings people out of their shells and it has a good time and it it's probably like you know the biggest compliment I ever get is the feeling that I hear from other people and what what you girls do to uplift their moods well we filmed a little bit of an hour step so I'm going to play the video and then maybe you can talk about what it is that she was doing yeah okay because I'm just like a super fan anyway um and so we're gonna add it oh yeah and this is that was really awesome so all right so talk to us a little bit about that um the the step you said is the traditional Irish jig it's a traditional set so um I just call everything a joke sorry so uh all the steps at the school are choreographed by me and a teammate we have uh we teamed up with a woman named attracta and so it's competitive dance-wise and how they execute it but the steps themselves per school we are also competitive with each other okay but that particular dance is done by all the schools so it's a traditional set because it's over 100 years old okay it's been danced from generation to generation and it hasn't changed okay so every dancing school dance is that and the title of that dance is called the St Patrick's Day okay so we have even our youngest answers like my kids who are four and five they start learning the basics to that dance and as a grand finale we get all of our kids coming up onto the floor that's my favorite and whenever you see them out there yeah it is it's classic it's really pretty it's kind of special when they all can get together and dance and we don't just see that I mean we love to see the amazing footwork of the individual Champions as well but that one's a more basic one which is really nice talk to me about the crazy beehive hair right that seems like so much work okay so first of all it I mean we'll reveal our secret right right it is a wig okay it's not real it's not real yeah you know so I and I understand saying it you're it's a presentation right we're putting on a show we're putting on a performance and you curl your hair so that it like looks nice and pretty and bouncy and then you just you know we started getting bigger and bigger and it kind of because it is a little bit competitive it's like well if you can have big hair I can make my hair big it's so Southern like the closer your hair is the closer you are to God it's one of those things I love it I think it looks pretty um yeah it can get a little oh Mary Jane said she saw you at Old Triangle yesterday this is a good time yesterday yeah yeah so yeah we we do we have the big hair I knew it was a wig yes curly hair well okay so in the old well traditionally okay Irish dancing used to happen in the basement of churches yep and um kids would curl their hair in like curlers and so you know you wanted to look your Sunday best and that's kind of how it it progressed yeah how it's how it started and then then when the curls started bouncing up and down it gave us you know cute look to the dancing because they kept their arms down at their sides and their their legs are bouncing so much but then yeah over time it just kind of progressed into these big hands shut up my aunt and uncle just arrived they're from Florida so we don't often see them and they I definitely wasn't expecting them to be here today it's their anniversary week and uh she's the Irish step dancer of the family but it's usually only after lots of Libations and there's nothing attractive about it Ellen you're just in time to do an Irish jig she's going to learn the St Patty's Day well put it on film later hahaha how do people get involved in your school how do they um when you're doing community service maybe they can reach out to you maybe they've got an old older place or a retirement home or a place that might need some general uplifting and also students out there that want to jump in and just start they're like I've been wanting to do this and I love that you have open enrollments because you know when you get that spark and you want to do something and then you can't wait for it yeah now you don't have to have that yeah no uh so just give me a call that's the best way um to to get enrolled um we actually enroll the students in their first day of classes okay so they can just fill out a registration form they try out the lesson first free of charge make sure that they like it first okay and then I send them home with a registration form and then come back the following week and uh what is the um best your website your phone number my phone number 774 -4600 uh or you can email us also at we have classes available on Mondays Tuesdays and Wednesdays for open enrollment between the hours of 4 30 and 5 30 . okay awesome yep that's how you can get a hold of the Canali School of Irish Dance yeah it's got to be very expensive to keep up with the costuming and to keep up with all of that stuff are there is a way for people to donate if they just love what you do and want to help a gift this to one of your students thank you yeah so uh our dancers once they progress to a certain level they do have to travel a lot so we have had dancers go over to Ireland and compete and do very well but the travel fee of it is expensive yeah uh and so a lot of the time when we do performances that's why we pack in so many at St Patrick's Day because all the funds to that go towards the dancers um and their competitions also their choreography yeah so that that's a big part of it so so um reach out to Colleen if you'd like to make a donation and give this to some of their students because I love everything about your program I really think it's pretty amazing what you do and it's so awesome for our kids thank you thank you very much thank you I appreciate you and um thank you for uplifting our spirits today here Spirits here at knock about there's Ruby here for the children and it's home brewed here so swing on through uh open until six o'clock today Robbie McKenzie Ariel back behind this bar today and where do you knock about hopefully 13 Lake Ave and Mashpee once again join us for our Christmas markets which are coming I would love to see your faces all dolled up on our Christmas stage showing off uh because we just love a good Irish dance so we appreciate you happy St Patty's Day we'll see you in six months everybody that's like Christmas in July you want to say bye come on over here and say goodbye everybody 's going on stage she's busy now we'll talk to you later have a great week everybody find all the information lemonadeio.com and we'll talk soon bye