Our Values

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

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

Movement with an open mind. Irish dance can be a full-body dance style. We provide the space to explore this idea through a variety of lenses, from lively pub shows to full stage productions.

Seattle Irish Dance Company aims to inspire and develop community for Irish dance performers and audience-members. We’re passionate about the idea that dance is for everyone; whether its challenging and empowering adult dancers to continue training 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 workshops.

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, Benaroya Hall, danced at numerous musical festivals, and on several tours including Hawaii and Ireland.