Dancing to the Music of Integration
Once again Springtime in Galway, Ireland, was alive to the sound of traditional music and dance. However the International Dance Festival is a fundraiser with a difference....
Saturday 14 th May 2011 saw the celebration of Galway’s 2nd International Dance Festival, to raise funds for the Connaught Special Olympics Team of 27 athletes, all of whom have since performed brilliantly at the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens this Summer.
The idea for an International Dance Festival was born in 2009, from a desire to share something at the heart of all our different cultures with others in Galway, a city which has become a treasured second home to many new communities in recent years.
As in 2009 the event was organised by staff from the National University of Ireland Galway and the Sisters of La Retaite; it included participants from the many migrant communities living and working in Galway as well as international students studying at NUIG, together with some of the special athletes themselves and their friends.
In what can only be described as a fabulous evening, traditional dances from the Philippines, Italy, Argentina, India, Mexico, Bangladesh, the Dominican Republic, Peru and Ireland, to name but a few, lifted everyone’s spirits and united all those present in one vibrant and colourful human community.
A cheque of over € 7,000 was presented to Lydia Rogers, Regional Fundraising Coordinator of Special Olympics Connaught. The funds will help their 1,600 athletes throughout Connaught continue with their programme of sports throughout the region.
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