The french irelanders celebrate and dance

Lord of the dance is a household name. But no one will have associated this with upper franconia, but only with ireland. Bernd menzel and his wife sabine want to change this now. They offer traditional irish dancing not only in their dance school and at the adult education center, but now also in a recently founded association. "Various names were discussed, until it was decided to call it the 'irish cultural association of franconia', says menzel, who is also chairman of the committee. The club is aimed at all people in igensdorf and the surrounding area who are interested in irish culture.

Menzel is convinced that the french and irish cultures have more in common than they have in separation. There are especially the traditional music and dance. For example, the "french double offered at festivals in france, so why not offer the traditional irish music and dance here?
Menzel slipped into this scene through friends in wurzburg. They knew an irish band personally. A musician came from new york."He taught us how to dance", recalls menzel. Then he moved to france and was often at the erlanger tanzhaus, where one thing led to another. Menzel met his future wife sabine there. Together they started the IFO dance series: irish dancing on mondays, french dancing on tuesdays, and then eastern european dancing.

It is not a question of age
After moving to stockach, the menzels had to decide: stop teaching or teach themselves? They continued. Offered regular courses, also in nurnberg, organized workshops and attracted with different offers more and more attention to the irish music and dance.

One of the most famous events is the irish weekend. "We now offer this event in burg hoheneck. A band from ireland is flown in and there are various speakers", menzel tells about this event. A concert with live irish music in november was one of the biggest highlights in the still young history of the irish cultural association.
The menzel couple also take dance lessons themselves – with ian hughes, who lives in wales. The only downer: "things are still a bit slow here. We absolutely need some more people", says menzel.
The couple has rented various rooms for the dance classes. If you want to learn irish dancing, you don't even need a dance partner. The menzels believe that it is not bound to age either. The pleasure of the irish culture, which is a bit like the french one, is enough. The joy of dancing, of music and of being happy.