The MacArthur School of Dance is located on the beautiful Island of Cape Breton, in the Province of Nova Scotia, in Canada. The Island is best known for it’s rich Celtic Culture, as well as the musical and dancing talents it has developed throughout the years. The Dance School has been a part of this heritage since its inception in 1998, and the focus of the school has remained the same ~ to continue to promote this wonderful culture through both the traditional and modern forms of Celtic Dance.
The School is owned and operated by Champion Dancer, Kelly MacArthur. Kelly has danced for the past 32 years all over Canada, the U.S. and Europe. She has been teaching for the past 25 years along the Eastern Coastline of Canada and the US, including several workshops at the College of Piping in PEI, Schoodic Festival of the Arts in Maine, the Michigan Dance & Theatre Company, and 23 years at the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts & Crafts in Cape Breton. Kelly has also taught in the school systems throughout Canada and the US for over a decade.
The School offers instruction in several forms of dance, including: Scottish Highland, National & Character Dances, Cape Breton & Celtic Step Dance and Cape Breton Square-Sets. Specialty classes are also offered ~ such as Creative Dance & Movement, Hip Hop, Contemporary and Modern, as well as Adult Classes in several styles.
The school also has a performance troupe called the CapeLand Dance Company, which is a traveling troupe of top-level Premier dancers. These dancers perform all the traditional dances, as well as small & large group pieces in all dance forms, choreographed for a more modern and stage appealing approach to dance.
All levels of dance are taught at the school ~ from the bare beginner to the most advanced in all dance genres. Young dancers may begin at the school when they are 4-5 years of age, and classes are also offered to Adults of all ages.
Along with the dances themselves, a strong sense of the history of the dances, and of the culture of Cape Breton & its connection to Scotland, is taught to the dancers. Much of this unique dance form is passed down through generations by example, and the Dance School hopes to keep it thriving into the future for young dancers and musicians to come.
