Riverdance’s DanceAthon was held outside the Gaiety Theatre on June 23rd and raised an incredible €30,000 for Ireland’s only Children’s Hospice. Dance schools from across the country performed throughout the day with over 400 dancers keeping the crowds entertained for the duration of the 12-hour DanceAthon.
As part of LauraLynn’s partnership with Riverdance, four LauraLynn mums took to the Gaiety Stage for a performance of a lifetime on June 23rd, Alyson Farrell, Anne-Marie Gleeson, Monika Cwiok and Kate Early wowed the audiences and helped raise awareness and funds for LauraLynn. This was a unique element to the partnership and embodied LauraLynn’s holistic approach to care, which includes the whole family.
Within the Creative Therapies in LauraLynn we always aim to find ways to include families in extraordinary experiences, push boundaries on expectations and create a space that encourages a family or indeed a member of a family to lean out of the "everyday" activities into unfamiliar territory.
Fundraising Manager, Gillian Neary, commented on the partnership; ‘’We are extremely grateful to the entire cast of Riverdance and their wonderful team for choosing us as their charity partner this year as they finally got to celebrate their 25th Anniversary Show in Dublin. A special thank you to Riverdance’s Executive Producer & Associate Director Padraic Moyles, Production Coordinator Niamh O’Connor and Principal Dancers Amy-Mae Dolan and Jason O’Neill who trained our lovely mums. I would also like to thank all the wonderful dance schools who took part in the Danceathon, the brilliant volunteers from Gilead, our LauraLynn staff and volunteers and all who supported the event. The funds raised will have a huge impact on the children and families who reply on our specialised services.’’
Thank you to the wonderful Eamon in Fay's Shoes on Dorset Street in Dublin for donating four pairs of dance shoes for our LauraLynn mums and to CarveOn Leather for creating beautiful, bespoke leather notebooks for this unique project. A special thank you also to Aviary Lane on St. Anne Street, Dublin for treating our LauraLynn mums each to a gorgeous hair and make up look ahead of their big performance.
A further thank you to all the Dance Schools who took part in the DanceAthon;
- Murphy Gray Academy of Irish Dance
- Morrissey School of Dance
- Orlagh Carty Academy
- Pamela Kiernan Academy of Irish Dance
- Hennessy McVeigh School of Dance
- Ennis & Clarke Goodman
- Cabe Academy
- Dunphy School of Irish Dancing
- Zara Curtis Academy of Irish Dance
- Mary Grimes School of Irish Dance
- Herlihy-Doyle School of Irish Dancing
- Feely Bates Academy
- Lyster School
- Scoil Rince Seoige
- Victory Irish Dance Academy
- St. Josephs Set Dance School
And last but not least, a big thank you to our photographer Joe McCallion for capturing the magic of our mums on stage and to our Videographer, Ben Spillane for his incredible work in capturing this project so beautifully:
