Hanna, Kali and Natalie MacMaster

 

Kali and Hanna
Outside Centennial Theatre
Last night before the concert

Kali and Hanna with longtime friend and NPIDA alumni Natalie P

Kali and Hanna with Natalie MacMaster
After the show last night at Centennial Theatre

Last night Hanna and Kali performed with Natalie MacMaster at her concert in North Vancouver (Centennial Theatre). Hanna and Kali danced with Natalie more than a dozen times years ago and were thrilled to be invited by Natalie to dance with her again at this show.

Natalie commented on stage last night that Hanna and Kali first danced with her when they were 8 and 12 respectively, and now they are 21 and 25. A long friendship!

Gillian's Photos From Worlds in Boston: Part 2: U-11 Ceili Team

Nora taking the U-1 Ceili team for a final warm-up
before going onstage in Boston

Megan, Sarah, Caitlin, Emma,
Katelyn, Pixie, Jadyn and Sydney

Nora and Courtney with the U-11 Ceili team

U-11 team having a bit of fun with Shannon
(who was solo dancing on this same day)

Caitlin and Megan - Ceili team partners

Emma, Megan and Caitlin
"Megan in a B-T sandwich"

"We recalled!!!"

Happy U-11 Ceili team dancers with Courtney

Nora and Courtney with the happy recallers

Final team huddle before going onstage for the recall round

U-11 Ceili team and Nora and Courtney with their medals

Nearly midnight and the girls had been up since 5:30AM!

Thank you to Gillian for submitting these photos of the U-11 Ceili team. Congratulations to the team for placing 23rd at their first World Championships! Team members: Megan, Caitlin, Jadyn, Sarah, Emma B-T, Sydney, Katelyn and Pixie.

In other news... tonight at Centennial Theatre in North Vancouver, renowned Celtic fiddler Natalie MacMaster and her band will be performing. Special guests: Hanna and Kali, whom Natalie has invited to dance with her. Hanna and Kali danced more than a dozen times with Natalie years ago and are thrilled to be back performing with her tonight!

From The Archives: On the Road With Natalie

In the spirit of nostalgia, here are a few old photos from early road trips with Natalie MacMaster (in follow-up to the post directly below).

1. Very first road trip to perform with Natalie! Left to right: Hanna S, Natalie S, Natalie M, Natalie P and Nora (Victoria, October 2001).

2. Natalie P and Hanna with Natalie (Salmon Arm, February 2003).

3. Hanna and Kali with Natalie (Eugene Oregon, November 2003)

4. Hanna and Kali with Natalie (Seattle, September 2004).

5. Hanna and Kali sharing some chocolate with Natalie in the dressing room after the last official show (Spokane, September 2004).

Reunion

Last night in Edmonds Washington, senior NPIDA dancers Hanna S and Kali M attended a Natalie MacMaster concert, along with parents Vic, Moira and Pat. During her lively encore, Natalie spotted her old friends Hanna and Kali in the audience and called them up on stage to do a couple of treble reel steps, and also invited them backstage for a visit after the show. This is a friendship dating back 9+ years.

For those families new to NPIDA, you may not know that our school has a long association with Natalie, beginning in 2001. Natalie had posted a note on her website asking for local Irish dancers to perform during her concerts. NPIDA dancers subsequently danced with Natalie in at least 18 concerts between 2001 and 2004, in many venues including Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo, Surrey, Kelowna, Salmon Arm, Vernon, Cranbrook, Banff, Seattle, Bremerton, Kirkland, Longview, Spokane, Portland and Eugene. (Lots of fun road trips!)

In late 2004, Natalie changed the format of her shows and no longer included Irish dancers in her concerts. In addition to Hanna and Kali, several senior NPIDA dancers including Courtney, Coco, Kelly, Natalie P and Natalie S had the pleasure of performing with Natalie between 2001-2004, and have many special memories from these shows! Nora herself danced with Natalie at the Orpheum back in 2001.

Hanna and Kali have maintained an ongoing long term friendship with Natalie, and while attending at least 5 concerts since 2004, Natalie has spontaneously called them up out of the audience to dance with her on stage. Currently expecting her 4th child, Natalie continues to dazzle audiences across North America with her incredible Cape Breton style of fiddling !
www.nataliemacmaster.com