Music/Dance Diploma in Ballinamore (the North West)
www.shaylyn.net
It has taken some time to establish, but students can now apply to do the first year of the BA in Music & Dance from the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick in The Shaylyn Centre, Ballinamore, Co Leitrim. This first year is equivalent to a FETAC Level 6 Diploma. Importantly the course is also an Access Programme that will allow qualifying students apply to join in at the second year of the BA, Degree in Limerick.

The ICBAN Partnership has granted the Shaylyn Group Ltd Project €221,940, part-financed by the European Union, through the Interreg IIIA Programme managed for the Special EU Programmes Body. Academy personnel, staff and committee at the Shaylyn Centre and project funders Icban have been working round the clock to get the course off to a flying start, one that was initially planned to start earlier this year. As this is a first, not only for the Academy, but also in Ireland, it has taken some time to get all details ironed out but here it is at last! As an amazing opportunity for Ballinamore and the surrounding region, it will have a profound effect on our social, cultural, tourism and economic development.

The Irish Music & Dance Diploma from UL will run from January to June 2008 with excellent hours for students and the possibility to combine this study with other commitments. The new closing date for student and tutor applicants is Thursday the 22nd of November @ 6pm. This programme is just one of a number of exciting initiatives taking place at the Shaylyn Centre. Shaylyn International Dance Festival and runs from Friday the 7th to Sunday the 9th of September with a Monster Ceili in The Commercial Hotel on the Friday, dance workshops for all ages and levels on the Saturday, a performance of Shaylyn in the community centre Saturday night, and music and dance sessions in the pubs on the Sunday. Special guests at the festival will be members of the Gujurat Dance Academy, Kathmandu, India. Also this September, a new programme of classes will begin including: Sean-Nós, Irish Dance and a variety of instruments including Bouzouki, Banjo, Bodhrán, Guitar, Fiddle and Tin Whistle. The long awaited Set Dancing Club will also be running from this Autumn. The club will meet socially once a month under a variety of experienced tutors.

Another project, The Cross Border Culture & Dance Initiative, has been granted €185,916 and is part financed by the European Union through the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation, managed for the Special EU Programmes Body by Border Action. This project is delivering informal Irish and Scots Dance Workshops to the Protestant and Catholic community, both North and South. The workshops are free and available to groups, clubs, schools, and so on. A year-long cross community course exploring Irish and Ulster Scots Dance as well as History and Peace & Reconciliation is also currently being delivered at the centre.

For further information visit the website www.shaylyn.net, call the centre 00353 719681101 or email: info@shaylyn.net