By Diana Nelson
At the first annual Irish Night, a large turnout of students, faculty and Fordham alumni gathered to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and Irish heritage in the McGinley Ballroom on Thursday, March 10. The ballroom was decorated in all green as students watched performances by Slainte (Fordham’s Irish Dance Group), the Ramblers, Satin Dolls, the B Sides and a featured performance by the Narrowbacks.
People from all different cultures and backgrounds came out to celebrate. Vasiliki Patsiogiannis, FCRH ‘17, has a great appreciation for events like these.
“I am Greek, I was born in the U.S., but I grew up in England, so this is a very exciting event for me to experience a different culture. I’m here to support my roommate and this is the first big production of Irish night and I’m a big supporter of different cultures so I wanted to come and support that,” said Patsiogannis. “I absolutely think we should have more of these events for different cultures just so we can experience every different culture that is reflective of the entire student body,” she said.
Many students who grew up in the Irish tradition came to the event to enjoy the music, performances and traditional food. Andrew Wilson, FCRH ‘19, came with his friends and introduced them to part of his culture.
“I’m mostly Scots-Irish and I’m a little German and Italian too. My dad’s Irish and I grew up listening to Irish music and eating Irish cuisine, so this is gonna be fun,” he said. “I heard there will be a good band here tonight so I’m looking forward to it. I love Irish music. I can’t folk dance but I like to watch,” said Wilson.
The Fordham Irish Step Dance team, Slainte, brought that classic folk dance to the stage and performed at the event to celebrate Irish culture and share it with the student body. AnneMarie Marconi, FCRH ‘17, the treasurer of the team, and the other board members teamed up with the Gaelic Society to make Irish Night one big event.
According to Marconi, these groups were inspired by ASILI’s Take the World Event, which invites students of all cultures and nationalities to celebrate.
“It’s awesome to get all the Irish students, and even all the non-Irish students, out in celebration of Irish heritage and Irish culture, because St. Patrick’s Day is all about that and we don’t get to be here for it. So we think this is another great opportunity to celebrate that,” said Marconi.
Slainte does both soft shoe and hard shoe Irish step-dancing, according to Marconi . Not only is the group a performance dance team, but they are also a competitive dance team.
“We have about 20 girls, it’s really fun,” Marconi said. “So we’re really all about performing and being a competitive team, but also sharing our culture with the entire campus.”
According to Rocelyn Dacre, president of the Gaelic Society and a member of Slainte, the Gaelic Society has had an annual spring concert every year around St. Patrick’s Day with an Irish band to celebrate the holiday. However, they have always had trouble getting a high attendance at the concert, since it is difficult to get people excited about Irish music during midterms and right before spring break. This time around, according to Dacre, attendance was not an issue.
“We are so pleased with the response. We all encouraged our friends to come, but never expected over 250 people,” she said. “The faculty were also very excited about such a great Irish cultural event happening just a week before St. Patrick’s Day, and were very responsive and helpful with publicizing the event.”
According to Dacre, her commitment to Irish Night stems from her long-lived passion for Irish culture and her heritage.
“Irish music and dance has been a huge part of my life since before I can remember. I am a dual American/Irish citizen, I have Irish danced since I was nine years old, and I knew Fordham was the place for me because of its huge Irish community and opportunity to pursue an Irish Studies minor,” she said. “I just wanted to get everyone else as excited about Irish music, dance, food and culture as I get, and thought bringing the whole Fordham community into it would do the job.”
Irish Night’s popularity may set the stage for more cultural nights at Fordham. Manny Adeyeye, FCRH ‘17, is eager to see more events for different cultures in the future.
“I am Nigerian-American. My parents are Nigerian immigrants. Fordham could definitely have way more cultural and social events,” said Adeyeye. “But this is definitely a fun night and a great way to experience different heritages.”
