Dance like the stars in Cabinteely!

Laura Nolan, country jive and line dancing tutor, competing internationally.

Night class participants in Cabinteely Community School are thrilled to be learning Country Jive and Line Dancing with tutor Laura Nolan, who will feature on Dancing with the Stars in January!
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As well as Country Jive and Line Dancing, Laura is a professional dancer and provides ballroom and Latin dancing classes privately. “My mother was a dancer, so I started dancing when I was three,” says Laura, who hails from Lucan.

“I started with ballet, Latin and ballroom dancing until I was 16, got all my ballet exams, and then stopped the ballet. I started teaching at 15!”

An accomplished professional dancer, who describes dance as a sport, Laura has an impressive list of achievements. She was a finalist in the U21 World Championship, placing her amongst the top 10 in the world. She and dance partner Alessandro Bosco ranked number five in the World Open in Riga, Latvia, last December. She has won numerous International Open championships and was a finalist in the German Open. In fact, she was the first Irish dancer to compete in the World Championships, so her talent is undisputed.

Laura Nolan, country jive and line dancing tutor, competing internationally.

Dancing with the Stars
Having been on the competitive trail with ballroom dancing and focusing on World Championships and representing Ireland, Laura is looking forward to the change of pace with Dancing with the Stars. “The professionals get together to start training in November, then we start with the celebrities in December, and the live shows are recorded in January,” says Laura. “It’s a good opportunity to put dance more into the spotlight – ballroom and Latin dance competitions aren’t televised in Ireland, so this is a good opportunity for people to see dance.”

Line dancing
What people are seeing increasingly is line dancing as social dancing sweeps the country. “Line dancing is so popular again and it is great to see – dance is amazing for people’s fitness. It’s a great way to burn calories in a chilled relaxed way as it has a fun element to it.

“The great advantage to country jive and line dancing is that you don’t have to have a partner – I teach both sides in terms of the steps involved in country jive so that each person can then dance with anyone.
“It’s great, people meet others and go to social dancing and start new friendships. People are there to enjoy themselves and do a little dancing. It’s great to see dance so popular.”