News & Results – Page 2 – Murray Academy

Murray Academy Returns to New England Oireachtas! – Hartford, CT

November 19, 2022November 22, 2021

The New England Regional Championships returned to Hartford after a pause for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 77 of our dancers attended. We are very proud of all our talented dancers who worked so hard throughout the pandemic and took the stage both enthusiastically and well-prepared! Congratulations to each and every dancer who represented the Murray Academy at this event!

We are especially proud to have qualified a total of 24 girls to dance at the World Championships in Belfast next April. Our dancers achieved a 91% recall rate for Open champions and a 64% recall rate for all soloists. Within our recallers, 32% were in top 5; 55% in the Top 10; and 45% qualified for Worlds—amazing! And of our 18 traditional set dancers, we had 67% receive an award. Way to go team Murray! So very proud!!

Excellence in Teaching Global Award

February 10, 2022July 30, 2021

In July, our own Anne Murray MacRitchie, TCRG was selected as one of 23 recipients of the 2021 Excellence in Teaching, Global Award given by Irish Dancing Magazine. This award was created to honor extraordinary Irish dance teachers with qualities that reflect a standard of excellence that goes beyond competitive results. Winners were chosen from hundreds of nomonations by dancers, parents, and industry professionals.

Back with a Bang!! Murray Academy finishes strong at 2021 US National Irish Dance Championships! – Phoenix, AZ

July 15, 2022July 26, 2021

This long anticipated event did not disappoint for the championship dancers of Murray Academy. The US National Irish Dance Championships was the first major event in which they could participate since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, and they danced without missing a beat. We are proud of all our amazing dancers who worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic and who took the stage with great confidence and skill!

The hard work resulted in many personal bests and an amazing record overall for our school. 91% of our Open champions earned a recall medal, while 48% qualified for the World Championships to be held in Belfast, Ireland in March 2022—our highest percentages at a national level ever. We also are proud to report that 18% of our Open Champions were in the top 5; 39% were in the top 10; and 61% were in the top 20 out of competitions with 100-140 dancers. We also had 6 of our 8 prelim dancers recall in the prelim competition, 2 of whom were in the top 5 of the prelim results! Congratulations to these dancers on their placements and to all our dancers on the Nationals team—you’ve made us SO proud!