Cultural Events

Ashurst Academy Dancers Earn World Qualifying Position, Additional Positions At Oireachtas

Published: Dec 06, 2025 8:00 am

The New England Regional Irish Dance Championships, also known as the “Oireachtas,” were recently conducted in Providence, R.I., the weekend before Thanksgiving. It is the area’s most prestigious event, bringing in top dancers from schools in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine, and competitions have as many as 100 competitors.

At the event, local dancers representing Ashurst Academy of Irish Dance were proud to bring home a World Championship qualifying position, six National Championship qualifying positions, and numerous additional podium placements and medals.

Thomas Connolly of Wilton took the first place title in the Boys U11 category and Elena Moffie of Southbury took the first place title in the Traditional Set U9 category.

The World Irish Dance Championships, which is the Olympics of Irish dance, will be held in Chicago next April. Ashurst Academy is proud to have Connolly qualified to compete.

Connolly is also qualified for the North American Irish Dance Championships to be held in Orlando, Fla., in July in addition to his teammates Kiley Foster of Southbury, Sofia McKirdy of Newtown, Kylee Dugan of Marbledale, Vivian Eaton of Newtown, and Addison Bertholf of Oxford.

Additional medal placements were earned by Natalie Anderson, Niamh Connolly, Henri Boucher, Adison Nicholson, Natalie Ruszczyk, Clare Danner, Mila Rivera, Genevieve Danner, Kylie Hudak, Hazel Carroll, Quinn Sullivan, Evelyn Anderson, Caroline Morneau, Adeline Gibowicz and Scarlett Tichy.

Grete Lennox also earned a medal placement at the Mid Atlantic Oireachtas held in Philadelphia on November 29.

Also with strong performances in New England were Alexa Sandor, Samantha Erdman, Riley McGrath, Amelia Hogrefe, Elizabeth Flaherty, Kaelyn Albert, Bridget Moffie, and Khloe Hudak.

Ashurst Academy of Irish Dance is directed by former Riverdance and Lord of the Dance stars Craig Ashurst and Christina Dolzall-Ashurst of Newtown. Both were highly successful competitive dancers themselves, collectively holding many regional, national, and international titles.

Ashurst Academy of Irish Dance is currently enrolling a new beginner program beginning in January 2026. For information, visit ashurstirishdance.com or call 203-928-0689.

Thomas Connolly earned first place and qualified for the World Championships during the New England Regional Irish Dance Championships. —Ashurst Academy of Irish Dance photos

Elena Moffie beams while being presented her first place awards on stage by Christina Dolzall-Ashurst, one of her teachers at Ashurst Academy. —Ashurst Academy of Irish Dance photos

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Real people were just in a frightening car accident. To immediately frame their misfortune as rhetorical ammunition against new housing — affordable housing included — feels less like concern for “health and safety” and more like opportunistically using a scary moment to support a pre-existing position. If we’re going to debate this proposal, we should do it honestly: with data on traffic volume, accident history, engineering recommendations, and the town’s housing needs, not by seizing on a single crash as proof that 300 apartments are inherently unsafe. Newtown deserves a thoughtful, fact-based conversation about growth, safety, and affordability — one that doesn’t turn other people’s bad day into a political talking point.

How Many Accidents Will It Take?

To add context that did not occur at the meeting would not be an accurate representation of the meeting and would, in fact, be editorializing to shape public opinion. The editorial staff here do not consider ourselves to be final arbiters of what the truth is (and if we did, it would make us partisan and biased), and we would need to provide a source for any dissenting information (sourcing all information in an article is literally Journalism 101). There were no such sources present at the meeting in question, and so it would not be appropriate to include such information in an article about the meeting. Dissenting voices appear in meeting stories when there were active participants with dissenting opinions, such as during public participation or the words of a council member who disagreed. It should be noted that the Interfaith Council, like many local boards and commissions, conduct meetings that are open to the public. This was not an article on the actions of the Greater Danbury Area Unites for Immigrants, or on immigrants, or on ICE's actions in the community, where including other voices or perspectives would be appropriate. We appreciate your opinion, but we stand by our meeting coverage and consider this discussion closed.

NIC Speaks With Danbury Unites For Immigrants, Discusses 12/14 Service

Propaganda is the systematic dissemination of information, often biased or misleading, to shape public perception and behavior toward a specific political cause or point of view. I'm not asking for Newtown Bee to editorialize, but providing context, where appropriate, to provide the reader with a more holistic view of the facts seems like a reasonable practice, particularly when encouraging the reader to decide what to believe/not to believe. Absent that context, this feels biased and misleading and intended to shape public perception.

The Newtown Bee reported what was said at a Newtown Interfaith Council meeting. Whether Mr McGillicuddy agrees with what was said or not, reporting what occurs at a public meeting is not "propaganda." Presenting what was said without editorializing is encouraging the reader to decide what to believe or not believe, and is standard for reporting at a community newspaper like The Newtown Bee.

"Abducted by ICE". You mean, when law enforcement enforces the law? This is propaganda passed off as a news article.

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Ashurst Academy Dancers Earn World Qualifying Position, Additional Positions At Oireachtas

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