Irish Dance Classes Newcastle

ABOUT THE ACADEMY:

The Craig Mason Academy of Irish Dance was founded by dancing professional,

Craig Mason T.C.R.G. The school is registered with An Coimisiun Le Rinci Gaelacha (CLRG) One of the main governing bodies of Irish Dance.

The Academy holds Irish Dance classes in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne throughout various locations in the city.

*For more information about our Irish Dance class locations and times, please visit our "classes" header at the top of the page.

Craig Mason, aged 30 began Irish dancing at the age of 7 in Newcastle, England.

He began dancing with Barbara Slater, teacher of the Clann Na nGeal school

and finished his competitive career dancing for the Kelly Hendry school of dance.

Craig placed in the top three in every major Irish dance championship across the UK,

Ireland & USA including: The World championships, Great Britain championships,

British National, All Ireland, All Scotland, North American National & Regional

championships. In Craig's last year of competing he won the title of Great Britain

Champion and also placed 2nd in the World Championship with just one point away

from winning. His determination to succeed progressed into a profesional career

when joining the cast of the grammy award winning production Riverdance.

Craig has toured across the globe from China, Australia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates,

South Korea, South Africa, Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Netherlands, Germany, Norway,

Switzerland, Belgium, France, United Kingdom & Ireland. Some of Craig's greatest highlights

include preforming for the Queen of England, Prince William, Bono, and One

alongside worldwide stars such as Mariah Carey, Emeli Sande, Westlife, James Morrison &

Nelly Furtado. A day to remember - Craig and the cast of Riverdance were asked to

close the St.Patricks day festival on stage in the middle of London's famous tourist spot,

Trafalgar Square. Dancing for a live audience of 20,000 people this was definitely

"A day to remember".

Craig was also privileged to dance on the set of some of his favourite TV shows

including 'Strictly Come Dancing' and Ant and Dec's 'Saturday night take away'.

Whilst touring with Riverdance, Craig and six other members of the cast formed

the group 'Prodijig'. Prodijig entered the UK's biggest dance TV talent show

'Got to Dance' and swept the title. Craig was delighted with the platform Got to

Dance gave him. Winning the show was the biggest achievement in his career to

date and his greatest moment was performing their final dance routine for

1.29 million viewers and to a live audience of 6,000 people.

Craig has always loved to preform on stage but said:

"My passion is for teaching and I wish to teach children for the rest of my life,

helping others progress to the best of their ability is something I thrive on. I

love to choreograph new material and I will never get tired of pushing my students

to achieve their goals. Since opening The Craig Mason Academy, Craig has produced his

own world medal holding dancers. Craig's ability to teach his pupils has also resulted in

his very own being crowned Great Britain Champion in his foot steps.

One day I would love to sit my A.D.C.R.G examination which

would enable me to judge other dancers as they perform at competitions".