Welcome to Rince Na Saor, Rochester's recreational Irish dance school! Since 1997, Rince Na Saor ("rinka na sayer") has provided an alternative to the typical competition-based Irish dance school, offering children and adults the opportunity to learn traditional Irish dance in an environment focused exclusively on recreational students. Rince Na Saor's unique curriculum was developed specifically to meet the needs of the recreational student, which include lower costs, a smaller time commitment, and a more relaxed learning pace.

There are several different types of Irish dance, all of which are available at Rince Na Saor. We offer instruction in the Modern style of Irish stepdance which most people know from Riverdance, including hard shoe and soft shoe stepdancing, ceili and figure dances, traditional and contemporary set dances, family dances, and dance dramas. We also offer Rochester's first Sean Nós classes ("shah nose"--old style Irish stepdancing), and Country Set classes for beginners.

The links below will tell you more about us, and you can contact me at kathyw[at]rns.dance with any questions you may have.

Current Announcements

• Rince Na Saor will resume in-person classes on September 18. In the meantime, we offer online classes through Zoom in both Modern Stepdance and Sean Nós Stepdance. You can find class information here:
  
  Online Dance Classes
  
  
  
• What a wonderful ceili we had on January 25th! We had a full house, with 4 sets running simultaneously and ceili lines stretching from one end of the dance floor to the other! Lots of Rince Na Saor students there, which was wonderful to see, plus we had takers for our Beginner's Session just prior to the ceili, and stepdancers joined us for the stepout.
  
  Huge thanks to the Comhaltas for sponsoring these events and promoting them, our tireless musicians, and equally tireless dancers. Go raibh míle maith agaibth! (Thank you!)
  
  
  
• Sean Nós, or "old style" stepdancing, is offered in single class workshops and 4 lesson sessions. The workshops are a great place to start, while the sessions move beyond the basics. Beginners may start in either workshops or sessions.
  
  
  Our Winter Sean Nós Workshop was held on Friday, February 28. Next Workshop will be in the Fall!
  
  Our Winter Sean Nós Session was held in March (or we tried to, anyway!) Next session will be in the Fall!
  
  
  
  
  
  This is an exellent video describing Sean Nós dancing. Since it was filmed, Sean Nós has become very popular all over Ireland, and has made its way to America.
  
  
  
  
  
  One of my favorites, Kieran Jordan, Sean Nós dancing to jigs. A useful reminder that Irish dance need not be fast to be compelling.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Many thanks to the many dancers who attended the Sean Nós and Social Dancing workshops at the Irish Cultural Day at St. John Fisher on November 2! There were several new faces, Rince Na Saor students, and Country Set dancers, and we all had a wonderful time!