Our Values

Community matters. Moving together is magic. We create opportunities to perform, participate, educate, and learn.

Everyone is welcome. Though not every opportunity we offer is right for everyone, there is an opportunity for everyone. Our classes, company and events are safe, body-positive spaces.

Irish dance is art. We are grounded in tradition, but push boundaries as a contemporory performance art. We respect our roots, but we’re not limited by them. Irish dance is influenced by and influences other movement forms.

Seattle Irish Dance Company aims to inspire, education and develop community for Irish dance performers, students, teachers and audience-members. We’re passionate about the idea that dance is for everyone; whether its challenging and empowering adult dancers to continue training and performing outside of the competitive world of Irish dancing, getting audience members up and dancing at the pub, or offering safe spaces to develop dance skills through our classes.

The company was founded in 2012 by sisters Carlye and Kelsi Cunniff, Margery Pulkkinen and Taryn Farley. SIDC was founded as a Seattle-based professional performance company that enables Irish dancers to perform professionally without sacrificing other full-time career ambitions. Though founded in Seattle, we’ve grown beyond the city - our dancers live across the Pacific Northwest, and we travel near and far to perform and teach.

SIDC is now directed by Lael Wentland, but operates like a collective: the dancers you see performing are the same women who choreographed the show, organized the music, designed the merch, wrote the invoices, booked the tour….you get the idea.

The company is as comfortable performing on the main stage of a theater as they are dancing in a crowded pub or music festival. SIDC has performed with musicians from around the world, including The Chieftains, The Celtic Tenors, Gaelic Storm, Doolin’, Dervish, Teada, Geoffrey Castle, and many more. We’ve appeared on the famous cabaret spiegeltent of Teatro Zinzanni, Seattle's Paramount Theatre, Key Arena, danced at numerous musical festivals, and taken their work on several tours including tours of Hawaii and Ireland.