Cairde is an Irish

dance group A dance troupe or dance company is a group of dancers and associated personnel who work together to perform dances as a sport, spectacle or entertainment. There are many different types of dance companies, often working in different styles of dan ...

known for their

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

videos, where they put a modern twist on traditional

Irish dancing Irish dance refers to the traditional dance forms that originate in Ireland, including both solo and group dance forms, for Social dance, social, Competitive dance, competitive, and performative dance, performance purposes. Irish dance has evolv ...

. The group started actively posting content on TikTok in August 2020, where they began posting Irish dance videos to trending songs on the platform. Cairde consists of seven Irish dancers from

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * Cl ...

and

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

: Brian Culligan, Ethan Quinton, Dara Kelly, Francis Fallon, Stephen McGuinness, Seamus Morrison and Ronan O'Connell.

History

The dance group began in earnest at the 2017

Fleadh Cheoil The Fleadh Cheoil (), or "music festival" in English, is an annual Ireland, Irish arts festival and competition run by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (Irish pronunciation: Help:IPA/Irish, �koːl̪ˠt̪ˠəsˠ ˈcoːl̪ˠt̪ˠoːɾʲiː ˈeːɾ ...

in Ennis, County Clare. On 28 August 2020, the group posted a video dancing to the song "Banjo Beats", becoming viral within a day reaching more than 80 million views and 13.5 million likes. The group has performed live on many shows. On 18 September 2020, they performed live on RTÉ's ''The Late Late Show (Irish talk show), The Late Late Show''. On Saint Patrick's Day 2021, the group appeared on American Broadcasting Company, ABC's ''Good Morning America'' and ITV (TV network), ITV's '' This Morning (TV programme), This Morning'', performing live from the

Cliffs of Moher The Cliffs of Moher (; ) are sea cliffs located at the southwestern edge of the Burren region in County Clare, Ireland. They run for about . At their southern end, they rise above the Atlantic Ocean at Hag's Head, and, to the north, the ...

. The performances were also projected on the big screens of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and Neighborhoods in New York City, neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway (Manhattan), ...

. On 15 June 2021, Cairde put on a special performance for primary school children in

. In February 2022, the group collaborated with

Tourism Ireland Tourism Ireland ( Irish: ''Turasóireacht Éireann''; Ulster-Scots: ''Tourism Airlan'' or ''Reengin Airlann'') is the marketing body responsible for marketing the island of Ireland overseas. Tourism Ireland was established as one of "six areas ...

in France to raise awareness of Ireland, performing at the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889. Locally nicknamed "''La dame de fe ...

, the Sacré-Cœur Basilica and the

Stade de France Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the List of football stadiums in France, largest stadium i ...

where 80,000 people attended the Six Nations clash between France and Ireland on 12 February. On 17 March 2022, Cairde performed for

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Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

, as part of Washington's

St Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Chris ...

celebrations, and appeared on ''Good Morning America''.

References

{{Reflist Performers of Irish dance Dance groups