Welcome to the Inis Cairde School of Irish Dance!

The Inis Cairde School of Irish Dance in Raleigh, NC, has been dedicated to promoting and cultivating a love of traditional Irish dancing, music and culture since 1999. Classes are offered for children ages 4 and up, and adults in Irish solo dancing and figure dancing. Classes at Inis Cairde are designed to provide a strong technical base in Irish dance while promoting discipline, self-confidence and a sense of personal achievement.

All students at Inis Cairde have many opportunities to participate in local performances year-round, but St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) tends to be our busiest season! Each year, Inis Cairde dancers reach out to the community through school-sponsored events like ceilis (kay-lees") which bring together families in the Triangle who enjoy music and dancing, as well as through numerous performances at schools, retirement communities, cultural events, parades, banquets, and weddings. In addition to community performances, our dancers have also been featured onstage in concert with the Chieftains and Jethro Tull (at Alltel Pavillion), Cherish the Ladies, and Eileen Ivers (at NC State's Stewart Theatre and the Cary Amphitheater at Regency Park), to name a few. 

Inis Cairde dancers also actively participate in Irish dancing competitions, called feiseanna ("feshanna"). Irish dancing is actually a competitive artistic sport, not unlike gymnastics or figure skating. Our dancers not only compete locally each year, in nearby cities such as Charlotte, Atlanta, and DC, but also compete regularly at the Southern Regional Championships, the North American Championships, and the World Championships.

Affiliated with Inis Cairde is the Inis Cairde Parents' Association (ICPA), a non-profit organization whose primary functions are to positively enhance the overall experience of our dancers, and to assist the dancers and their families with the costs associated with competition (mainly travel, and school costumes). The volunteer-run ICPA hosts several events each year, including the Christmas Ceili, bus trips to feiseanna, our Annual Benefit Performance, the school feis, and the spring ceili; which not only encourage the sense of community here, but also assist in raising funds for our dancers.   

Inis Cairde is located in Northridge Shopping Center, at the corner of Falls of the Neuse and Spring Forest Rds. in Raleigh. Please visit our Classes page for directions and class availability.

Thank you for stopping by, and enjoy your visit with us!