Frequently Asked Questions.

Our Irish dance classes are held in Cramlington, situated in south Northumberland. Beginner classes are free for the first year and advanced classes are £5 per hour.

We are an independent 'Open Platform' school which means we compete at more than one organisation. We enter competitions in organisation such as Open Platform Irish Dance Federation (OPIDF), World Irish Dance Association (WIDA), Croí Neamhspleách Rince Gaeilge (CNRG) and Cumann Rince Náisiúnta (CRN) to name a few.

We don't send competitors to "closed organisations" like An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha (CLRG) or An Comhdháil na Múinteoirí le Rincí Gaelacha Teoranta (“Comhdháil”) as these org's are only open to their respective dance schools.

Yes we do enrol complete beginners to Irish dancing but our Irish dance classes are dynamic and fast paced and all our Irish dance students are expected to keep up with the class. We do however recognise that you need to be able to walk before you can run and due to popular demand we have recently added slower paced, beginner Irish dance lessons to some of our Irish dance class locations to cater for our Irish dancers that may need a little more time to perfect our basic choreography.

Yes, absolutely free of charge. For the first year of dancing with Rebel Irish Dance lessons for beginner dancers are completely free in our beginner Irish dance class. We're not in it for the money but for the love of Irish dancing and we want to help spread our enthusiasm to others without a whole heap of expenses.

However, if you or your child decides to compete and you or child progress to the next Irish dancing grade (Primary Grade) your free lessons will unfortunately cease as the dancer is now considered not to be a beginner.

Also, if a beginner dancer decides to improve their dancing skills by attending an advanced class or private 1 to 1 session, unfortunately those lessons are not free.

For complete beginners we take budding Irish dancers from the age of 4 years old as long as they can stay in a room without a parent or guardian present during our Irish dance lessons.

For intermediate and advanced dancers we'd need to arrange a "behind closed doors" audition for dancers of any age. We do this because we do not take all dancers who wish to become a Rebel Irish dancer. We are looking for dancers that want to progress, have the correct work ethics and won’t upset the ‘family’ atmosphere we already have.

Absolutely YES. There is no upper age limit for dancers at our Irish dancing classes. As long as you are committed and prepared to put in the work you are good to go. Our classes are intense, dancing is full-on 99% of the time with little rest so you need to plan for this.

We do not allow parents or guardians in the dance studio while we are coaching because we find that it distracts the dancers from the task at hand. We find our dancers are more focused on the instructor and will perform better with fewer people in the studio.

Unfortunately not. Joining our Irish dancing classes is by appointment only. We believe in small class sizes and we don't take on board every dancer who enquires about our classes.

You'll need to arrange a free "taster session" first if you are a complete beginner OR a "behind closed doors" audition for an experienced or more advanced dancer.

What started out as a place for a father and daughter to experiment with new Irish dance ideas and to prepare for competitions utilising effective training methods has evolved into a ‘collective’ of passionate Irish dancers all driven by the same goals:

• Fun

• Freedom of expression

• Limited rules & regulation

• Inclusivity regardless of ability or experience

We are now a successful group of like-minded individuals who have a passion for Irish dancing and we allow the dancing to do the talking. As our Irish dance school name suggests, we really are ‘Rebels’ and we will not be placed in a box, hence why we are an independent Irish dancing school.

Participation at competitions (known as a 'Feis' in Irish) is encouraged but not mandatory. We are on the whole a competition oriented Irish dance school, but we understand that competitions are not for everyone and we respect dancer's decisions to compete or not to compete. The choice firmly rest with the dancer.

To join Rebel Irish Dance, contact us using our contact page and tell us more about your Irish dance background (if any) and where you are located in the Northumberland or North Tyneside area.

We will find a dance class that fits your ability and ambition. If you are already an Irish dancer dancing for another Irish dance school and you wish to become a Rebel, you'll need to arrange a confidential, behind-closed-doors audition with us as we do not accept every dancer who applies.

For the first few lessons girls and young ladies should wear bike shorts or leggings and a t-shirt, white socks, and 'ballet' type shoes if you have them (if not, plimsole type trainers are OK).

Boys and young men should wear football-style shorts and a t-shirt, black socks, and black 'ballet' or jazz shoes (not tap shoes) if available (if not, plimsole type trainers are OK).

For the purpose of coaching 'correct' technique it is important that our team is able to have an unrestricted view of the dancers legs, knees and feet. Any clothing that will restrict this view or that will inhibit free movement of a dancer is not appropriate for our Irish dancing classes.

Later on after a few lessons you are welcome to purchase items from our class shop - a class t-shirt and correct Irish dancing soft shoes are required for all dancers after a few short weeks.

Absolutely. Our coaching staff have an enhanced DBS check which is available upon request.

Our team is also fully insured with sporting and public liability insurance. As such we do have a few rules for dancing in our classes to maintain our cover. These will be explained to you when you attend your first Irish dance class.