Cosa Meara: Bringing Irish Dance to America’s Colleges
The Basics
Who? Cosa Meara
What? The first collegiate Irish Dance network
Where? Various locations in the US (think IL, FL, OH, CA, MN, and WI)
When? Now!
Why? To unite collegiate Irish dancers and provide opportunities to Irish dance in college
Cosa Meara is a group of collegiate Irish dance troupes across the United States. These dance troupes, all under the Cosa Meara name, offer the opportunity for college dancers and campus communities to be involved in Irish dance. Sounds good, right?
To understand how this works, Kim from Cosa Meara was kind of enough to breakdown for Diddlyi what exactly this organization provides for collegiate Irish dancers. Definitely take the time to read the info below. Kim’s positive experiences and enthusiasm for Irish dance will definitely make you want to get involved. You can even start your own branch!
Kim put it best when she noted that “[Cosa Meara] wants Irish dancers to be able to leave for college and know that there is a new Irish dance family waiting for them.”
1.) Where are you (Kim) from and why do you have this interest in Irish dance?
I grew up in Chicago and danced for the Foy School of Traditional Irish Dance for many years. My interest in Irish dance began with my involvement at a young age and has continued throughout my life as my memories and friendships grew through my experiences in Irish dance.
2.) Can you give us a bit of background about what you’re trying to put together?
Cosa Meara is a collegiate Irish dance network. Colleges across America with Irish dance student organizations join the network to share the Cosa Meara name and logo. Cosa Meara began as a student-run Irish dance company at the University of Illinois in August of 2006. I was an original member of this group. As I began to tell my friends at other colleges about what we had put together at Illinois, they also wanted to begin Irish dance companies at their own colleges–as they began to do so, each group took on the Cosa Meara name and the network was born.
3.) Why are you doing it?
When I left for college, I really missed Irish dance! I missed my friends, class, shows, and learning. Here at the University of Illinois, there was no TCRG within a reasonable distance. The closest schools were a couple of hours away in Chicago, St. Louis, or Indianapolis. However, the University of Illinois is mainly comprised of students from Chicago, and with Chicago having so many Irish dance schools, there were (of course) a ton of Irish dancers on the University of Illinois campus! We got everyone together, many of us knew each other from competitions previously, and started a company. We practiced together and put on shows at several cultural events on campus. By meeting and learning from other Irish dancers with different styles, we were able to learn different nuances and techniques of Irish dance by sharing with each other.
We want Irish dancers to be able to leave for college and know that there is a new Irish dance family waiting for them. These people have shared their experiences and are ready to welcome them to college. We ask that all Cosa Meara branchs share the same name so that new interested students can easily find the groups when they arrive on campus. Here at the University of Illinois, there are over 1500 student-run organizations so it can be nearly impossible to find a group without knowing their name. Ideally, we want to see the name Cosa Meara become a go-to source for college Irish dancers.
4.) How many people are involved?
Cosa Meara began at the University of Illinois and then spread to Marquette University, Florida State University, Dayton University, University of Illinois-Chicago, University of Chicago, Loyola University-Chicago, University of California-Santa Barbara, and University of Minnesota. I would estimate that there are 100+ dancers involved at this point, though it’s hard to tell since each branch governs their own group, makes their own rules, and is responsible for their own dancers. I do know that nearly every school is home to several Champion dancers, world qualifiers, or world medal holders. Special kudos to the University of Dayton–their Cosa Meara branch recently had 5 dancers compete at the Mid-America Oireachtas and all 5 qualified for worlds!
5.) What do you hope to achieve?
We want dancers to be able to continue Irish dance in college while they might be away from their dance academies. College campuses often have many opportunities for tap, jazz, or hip hop dancing, but basically no one offers Irish dance opportunities–we want to change that!! Irish dance has been a significant part of our lives, we don’t want to just give it all up when we go away to college. We want to see dancers able to choreograph their own routines, or prepare for competitions, or meet new friends by working together as part of the Cosa Meara network.
6.) Why doesn’t the current network of Irish dance schools satisfy your needs?
The current network of Irish dance schools ABSOLUTELY DO satisfy our needs. We are in no way trying to knock down the organization that raised us. Our dancers are still friendly and close with their home dance academies and teachers. The organization only started because our University was so far away from our home schools. We wanted to meet up with other dancers to practice, prepare for competion, and do shows on campus with our friends.
7.) Do you hope to compete in registered competitions?
The Cosa Meara Network is only set up to unify Irish dance companies on college campuses. No one competes under the Cosa Meara name or intends to at any time. All of our dancers that are still interested in competing do so under the TCRGs that teach them at their home dance academies. Cosa Meara is the name of a college club for Irish dancers, it is not a school, is not certified, and cannot compete.
8.) Is there anywhere in particular that you’re looking for help?
Spread the word! Let everyone know that Cosa Meara is out here, growing, and around to stay!
9.) What’s the overall ambition for this project?
We hope to grow and spread our network as we continue our involvement in Irish dance in a more adult manner by giving back to the Irish dance world which is so important to us. Eventually we’d love to host a feis! And hopefully, due to their continued involvement in Irish dance during college (when many Irish dancers quit), we’ll see more dancers pursuing TCRGs and staying involved!
10.) Is there anything else of interest that you want people to know about your organization?
If there are any Irish dancers, currently at a college or university without a Cosa Meara branch and interested in beginning an Irish dance company on campus—send us an e-mail! The Cosa Meara network also offers services to dancers hoping to start a group. At no charge, we can help you find other dancers on campus, practice space, and get started with a group.
I should also mention that each branch is free-standing, meaning that they make their own rules in regards to skill level of dancers and commitment, schedules their own practices, and handles their own costuming. Branches do not pay any dues to the network. The network exists only to unite the dancers so that they can bounce ideas of each other, connect with other dancers, and offer advice for any problems that might arise.
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