Resident Performing with Renowned Irish Band

Not many 17-year-olds get to perform with a world-famous musical act -- much less right in their own home town.

But then again, Teresa Drew has been practicing for the gig her entire life, having studied her craft since she was 5.

Drew, a lifelong Newarker, is an Irish dancer who will be kicking up her heels Saturday at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, where she will be performing to the soulful Celtic rhythms of The Chieftains. The group arrives in town exactly a week before St. Patrick's Day. 

Joining her onstage will be her brother, Dan, 19, who began learning Irish dance around the same time as his kid sister.

The Chieftains, winners of six Grammy awards, perform traditional Irish folk music with instruments like the tin whistle, harp, flute and the bodhran, a drum made of wood and goat skin. The group -- whose members have changed in the half-century since it was formed -- has performed for millions around the world, audiences that have included Pope John Paul II, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, as well as a special memorial show at Ground Zero immediately following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

“I was really excited when I found out I was performing with them because it’s really prestigious,” said Drew, a student at Oak Knoll School in Summit. “It’s a thrill to be performing for my community.”

Among the dances the Drews will be performing is the treble reel, in which the dancers use their shoe drops to help keep the beat, simultaneously making the music as well as moving to it.

“It’s an upbeat fun dance that’s exciting to watch. You’ll be able to hear the beats as the shoes hit the floor,” Teresa Drew explained.  

The Drew siblings, who will also be competing in a worldwide dance competition in Northern Ireland this April,  were selected to perform by their instructors at the Peter Smith School of Irish Dancing. The school has locations throughout North Jersey.  

Teresa Drew, who is part Irish, also sings, acts and writes for the school newspaper. She plans to continue performing and then, eventually, to become an instructor herself.  

Although it’s now her passion -- Drew practices two hours a day almost daily -- Irish dance began as way for her to “blow off steam” during the winter months when she was a little girl, but she quickly fell in love with the art for its own sake.

“It’s the most amazing feeling I’ve ever felt in my life,” she said.

For more information on the performance, visit njpac.org.