“Drinking a few pints and doing a couple of Irish dancing steps in a pub always seem to go hand in hand,” says Cian Walsh, an Irish dancer from County Cork. Come St. Patrick’s Day in the States, it’s Virginians’ turn to experience that festive pairing.
Walsh dances in A Taste of Ireland tours that spotlight Irish talent with dancing and live music. This March, the show makes stops in the Old Dominion—Marion (March 20), Virginia Beach (March 21), and Lynchburg (March 26)—perfect timing for this year’s St. Paddy’s celebrations.
And audiences get what the name promises: a taste of Ireland, with dancing, costumes, and the hypnotic rhythms of foot tapping, fiddles, and pipes. “The speed of the footwork really sets it apart,” Walsh says. While dancers’ feet seem to move at a million steps a minute, the upper body remains rigid, arms straight at the sides, spotlighting the intricacies happening south of the ankles. Walsh says an Irish dancer has the strength of a football player and the grace of a ballerina.
The palpable power of the synchronized dancers will leave audiences wanting more. The good news? Walsh says, for anyone tempted to try it themselves, “You’re never too young or too old to give it a go. Everyone’s got a little bit of Irish in them, and Irish dance is for anyone willing to try and have fun with it.” ATasteOfIrelandShow.com
Ready to step in? Here’s where you can learn Irish dance in Virginia:
Armstrong Irish Dance Academy, Winchester
Blacksburg Dance Theater, Blacksburg
Blue Ridge Irish Music School, Charlottesville
Boyle School of Irish Dance, Alexandria & Manassas
Crossroads Irish Dance, Richmond
Dance & Company, Harrisonburg
Foley Academy of Irish Dance, Reston
Heart of Ireland School, Midlothian
Kavanagh Porter Academy, Richmond
Kristin Butke Irish Dance, Multiple locations in Northern Virginia
Misneach Irish Dance, Purcellville
Rhodes Academy of Irish Dance, Williamsburg & Virginia Beach
Rose and Sword Academy of Irish Dance, Williamsburg
Featured photo by Chris Hardy. This article originally appeared in the April 2026 issue.
