Friends of Áine Hay Academy of Irish Dance

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Friends of Áine Hay Academy of Irish Dance Irish Dance classes in East Lothian, Midlothian and Edinburgh. Children and adults welcome.

29/10/2025

It’s been a long time since we’ve posted on social media and we can’t promise it’ll be a regular thing moving forward but we are still working hard and as we approach our 10th birthday we are putting on a fundraising Irish night!

A Pre-paddy’s night if you will.

We promise the kids have continued to get better and better and anyone who loves Irish dancing will love what they can do these days.

The big question would be….. would you come along and support our kids befire they pop off to Belgium for the world championships?

Tickets are likely to be £10, it’ll be in the legion and it will most likely involve lots of alcohol and dancing throughout the night.

You might even get to try a wee jig.

We have touched down! Good luck everyone dancing at this years worlds. Oo ah team aha!
14/04/2025

We have touched down! Good luck everyone dancing at this years worlds. Oo ah team aha!

Now that I have fully digested everything over the past weeks events I’d like to say how proud I am of each and every da...
08/04/2024

Now that I have fully digested everything over the past weeks events I’d like to say how proud I am of each and every dancer that took to the stage in Liege, Belgium and the WIDA International and World Championships.

It has been a very quick 8 years since I started teaching and very few of them were there since day 1, but each and every child within the Aine Hay Academy walked through our doors having never ever attempted their first jump 23. They have taken me by the hand and learned how to walk Irish dancing and then fly like Irish dancers.

Look at the changes in them. First photo shows them brand new, first feis and the second shows:

Archie Buglass U12 11th place World Championships

Orla Palmer U12 2nd place Traditional Set Dance Championship AND U12 WORLD CHAMPION

Eilidh Ross U13 13th place World Championships

Zoe Lockett U14 10th place World Championships

Pree Miller U16 5th place Traditional Set Dance Championship AND U14 3rd place World Championships

Maddie Ferrans U14 WORLD CHAMPION

Elsa Bird U15 13th place World Chpionships

Elise Palmer U15 5th place World Championships

Brogan Riddel U17 8th place World Championships

Grace Watters U17 2nd place World Championships

Jennifer McFarlane U18 9th place World Championships

Mackenzie Miller U18 8th place World Championships

Caleb Ross U20 11th place World Championships

And finally another massive congratulations to our U17 Ceili team becoming WORLD CHAMPIONS

All still feeling abit shell shocked and my head is absolutely wrecked BUT……After so much of hard hard work we’ve absolu...
05/04/2024

All still feeling abit shell shocked and my head is absolutely wrecked BUT……

After so much of hard hard work we’ve absolutely blasted day 1 and 2 of the WIDA World Championships

Not only do we have a WORLD CHAMPION U17 Ceili team

EVERY SINGLE DANCER IN THE AINE HAY ACADEMY THAT DANCED TODAY WAS RECALLED AT THE WIDA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Archie Buglass U12….11th place

Eilidh Ross U13….13th place

Zoe Lockett U14…. 10th place

Pree Miller U14…..3rd place GLOBE WINNER!

Elsa Bird U15…..13th place

Elise Palmer U15…..5th place GLOBE WINNER!

Orla Palmer U12 …….WORLD CHAMPION!

Maddie Ferrans U14 ….WORLD CHAMPION!

Some lovely words about our gorgeous dancers 💚
17/11/2023

Some lovely words about our gorgeous dancers 💚

It’s hard to believe it is already a week since the nerves were running high as 8 of our dancers waited to dance at the...
16/07/2023

It’s hard to believe it is already a week since the nerves were running high as 8 of our dancers waited to dance at the All Irelands in Donegal, and we’re only getting round to publishing our news now!

Every single dancer went out and gave it their all, and we couldn’t be more proud of every single one of them.

u11 : Orla 3rd, Archie 4th

U12: Eilidh 5th

U13: Maddie 2nd , Emily 10th

U17: Jen 3rd

U19 Caleb 3rd

This time though the star of the day was non other than our gorgeous Grace , who only went and took the title of U16 All Ireland Champion 2023!

This is Grace’s first major title win and it is very, very well deserved. She was absolutely foot perfect on the day and to have taken the title over the others in her group is no small task.

Grace started Irish dancing only 6 years ago and whooshed through the grades with her natural ability. When faced with open competitors who are much more experienced than she is, it was time to commit and work or take her chances. She chose to commit, and my goodness does this girl know how to work!

She set her goals and with every passing feis we watch as she quietly chips away - starting to win at open level at local feis, bettering her results at the Scottish, climbing the numbers at the worlds and rocking up to her first All Irelands to claim the cup of victory.

She just gets better and better and continues to learn from every experience and we can’t wait to see what choreography she comes up with next !

Grace, we applaud all of your achievements so far and know you’ll carry on doing yourself proud as you continue to grow as a person and as a dancer.

You are our ‘Amazing Grace’. ❤️

Hard to believe a week has flown by since the competition started! Here’s what Annemarie had to say about it all… ...
22/04/2023

Hard to believe a week has flown by since the competition started!

Here’s what Annemarie had to say about it all…

🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀

What a weekend with all my dance babies.

An amazing start to the weekend on Friday with our U17 ceili team who have only been dancing together for 3 months….. owning the stage like I’ve never seen before. I was in tears as they left the stage, proud doesn’t even touch how I felt…. Finishing 2nd place in their first attempt was beyond my wildest dreams 🥈🌎🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Kicking off the Championships with our U11s: a wee mishap with our Archie meant no recall this year. But he light up the stage with his great big smile and you could tell he was born to dance on a big stage. 🌎 🌟

Orla Palmer showed the world what I’ve seen for ages. She absolutely smashed every round. In particular for me, her Trad Set stole the show. Giving her Aine Hay Academy’s only globe this year. An amazing 4th place 🏆 🌍 🌟

Onto our wee U12: Eilidh gave us 3 gorgeous rounds of dancing and missed out on the recall by only 1 place. This has given her fire in the belly for next year though…… watch this space 🌎 🌟

Next up was our U13s: our Pree had a wee wobble in round one but held her head high and battered out the next 2 rounds to secure that recall and finished 12th in a very tough group 🏅 🌎 🌟

Maddie danced her socks off and I had no doubt she’d get her recall. Her Open Set taking a top place from one of the judges and finishing in an amazing 6th place 🏅 🌎 🌟

Finishing our Saturday with our U14 girls
Both Elise and Elsa narrowly missed the recall this year but they both danced their 3 rounds beautifully. I was gutted for them both as their round 4 open set was definitely something everyone would have enjoyed. Both these girls will come back fighting next time round… 🌎🌟🌎🌟

Sunday 5 dancers 5 recalls 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Starting with Caleb in the U19 category. Round 1 and 2 on the big stage with dancers that have danced more than double the time he has and he looked brilliant! Using all his skills to work out how to best move his steps to show them off to their best - I though his Jig was flawless. He had a wee wobble in round 3 but was delighted with his Open Set in round 4! Finishing 10th place 🏅 🌎🌟

We then had our U16 girls
Brogan gave us 3 amazing rounds flying around that massive stage like her legs were twice as long as they really are! Pulling out her new beautiful dress as a wee surprise and she looked amazing in it. She couldn’t have given anymore of her on the day…… and she only went and got herself a recall!! Open Set dance went exactly as it should. Everything coming together bang on time for the main event. Amazing to think she was walking with crutches only days ago. Finishing 12th place in another very tough group. 🏅 🌎 🌟

Grace showed us all what 110% effort EVERYDAY does…. I had teachers from various dance schools comment on her Reel. It truly blew me away….again! Her hard shoes were foot perfect and I knew the recall was coming…. Coming off after round 4 she said to me “I really hope all my hard work pays off” I told her regardless of the result her hard work definitely paid off. She was amazing. Majority of the judges nailed the result with a couple that didn’t see what everyone else did….🤷🏼‍♀️. Despite that finishing in 6th place first time on a world stage - amazing 🏅 🌎 🌟

And finishing off a very long day our U17s waited patiently to show us all something special…

Mackenzie and Jennifer sharing the stage for round 1 had my head back and forth like a tennis match not wanting to miss a moment from either of them! Watching 1, listening to the other and then quickly changing to the opposite, I think I caught it all 😂. The way these two work together to not only encourage but help each other is the most special thing 💚.

Round 1 from both so so so good earning Mackenzie. 3rd place and Jen a 6th in the round result.

Round 2 saw two teacher/adjudicators looking up the program to see who Jennifer was and another teacher telling me her Slip Jig was outstanding…. It’s not just me that loves it 😜
Mackenzies Reel was so very powerful, hitting all his clicks I knew he was delighted as he walked of stage and was punching the air! He was very proud of himself but I don’t think he realises just how proud I am of him 💚

Trad Sets went to plan!

AND 2 more recalls!!

After 11pm performing open set dances and they both shone on stage.

Mackenzie finishing 12th place 🏅🌎🌟
Jennifer finishing 9th place 🏅🌎🌟

And last but definitely not least…. Our U17s Jen & MacKenzie are waiting for their recalls❤️
16/04/2023

And last but definitely not least…. Our U17s Jen & MacKenzie are waiting for their recalls❤️

Our u16 starlets Grace & Brogan are busy lighting up the stage ❤️
16/04/2023

Our u16 starlets Grace & Brogan are busy lighting up the stage ❤️

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