Planxty Podcast

Half-way to St. Patrick’s Day finds us chatting with Jessie Leach who founded Jig and a Swig in 2019 after a competitive career in Irish dancing which included being crowned Great Britain, All-Ireland and North American Champion, as well as placing 3rd in the World Championships. In 2016, Jessie qualified as an Irish dance teacher with the CLRG, before joining the cast of Riverdance. She now leads Jig and a Swig full-time, and is on a mission to share Irish dancing with as many adults as possible in London and beyond. Jessie talks more about her background, what led her to start Jig and a Swig, and how she persevered through the pandemic to foster something that is reaching more and more adult dancers with a wide range of experience levels and abilities. Learn more about Jig and a Swig here: https://jigandaswig.co.uk/ The Irish Dance Globe article featuring Jessie and Jig and a Swig: https://irishdanceglobe.com/interviews/jig-and-a-swig-irish-dancing-london-everyone-who-wants-to-be-can-be-an-irish-dancer/ Julia's three week course on the history of Irish dance via zoom! Classes start Thursday September 24 at 7pm CT. https://celticjunction.org/product/history-of-modern-competitive-irish-dance/ This course is being offered through the excellent education branch of the Celtic Junction Arts Center (check out their other offerings, especially if you are local to the Twin Cities in Minnesota), so you also get to support a top notch organization.

In this episode of Planxty, Julia and Kristo sit down with feis musician and TCRG Katie Grennan and learn about her journey into Irish dance and its music. Katie's passion for her music and dance shines through this conversation and we explore what inspired her to perform as a touring musician and feis musician. Interested in learning more about the history and development of modern competitive Irish dancing? Join Julia as dons her "Dr. Topper" hat for a 3-part course through the Celtic Junction Arts Center. The class will be held over Zoom for 3 Thursdays starting in late September 2026. For more information, visit CelticJunction.org .

Fresh back from the 2026 North American Irish Dance Championships in Orlando, Julia and Kristo discuss their experiences on stage and behind the cameras. Julia discusses her continuing journey with performance-related nerves and how this year’s NAIDC felt like a turning point for her, while Kristo talks about the cool tech that helps make FeisTV work. They also celebrate and reflect on passing the milestone of 10 episodes of Planxty, some of the main themes that have come up throughout the interviews, and what is still to come.

In part two of our chat with feis musician, composer, teacher, and adjudicator Francis Ward, we do a deep dive on the legacy of his composition, the Vanishing Lake. Francis gives us the background on how the piece came to be included in the CLRG set dance canon and his thought-process while composing it. We also talk about his commissioned work, Planxty Ar Sarsfield, part of the Cuimhnigh ar Sarsfield: The Wild Geese Suite, the philosophy behind World Music Pedagogy, and his thoughts on the role of competition in Irish dance. Francis' composition, Cuimhnigh ar Sarsfield: The Wild Geese Suite , commissioned by the Limerick Bastille Day Wild Geese Festival, is available for listening on YouTube. His award-winning set dance, The Vanishing Lake, is available for listening at every single jig set round at a competition near you.

In part one of this two-part interview with Dr. Francis Ward, Julia gets far too excited to nerd out with another ethnomusicologist. We chat about Francis' early foray into traditional Irish music and dance, his experience at University of Limerick, how to inspire students to find passion and drive in pursuit of music and dance, the evolution of tradition in Irish dance, and so much more. Francis' composition, Cuimhnigh ar Sarsfield: The Wild Geese Suite , commissioned by the Limerick Bastille Day Wild Geese Festival, is available for listening on YouTube. His award-winning set dance, The Vanishing Lake, is available for listening at every single jig set round at a competition near you. And if you want to listen to what lawyers and law firm marketing and business development professionals can learn from Irish dance, here's the episode of The BD Catalyst that Kristo referenced in the intro.

In this episode of Planxty, we talk to the world-renowned Irish dance artist, choreographer, educator, and creative producer Ciara Sexton. Tune in hear about her myriad projects - including her children's book, My First Book of Irish Dance (available here: https://a.co/d/04VNHnyQ) and her upcoming preschool YouTube series It's Time to Dance with Ciara. We cover so much in this episode, including how she balances all the different hats she wears as a performer, teacher, and mum. Throughout the episode, Ciara's solution-oriented and optimistic outlook shine through.

This month, Julia and Kristo chat with Brian O'Sullivan, a feis musician, actor, comedian, and fellow podcaster. Tune in and hear about Brian's earliest feis memories, his take on musical storytelling and the development of his musical style, and how playing music in the immersive sphere of the feis can become a transendential experience. Be sure to check out Brian's long running podcast Putting it Together and follow him on Instagram @bridohingwy to check out his laugh-out-loud comedic shorts. You can also currently check him out in the London West End production of Cabaret and listen to his album "One Day at a Time" on the FEISApp.

Part 2 of 2: Your hosts deliver their recap of CLRG Worlds 2026 and all the amazingness it was, before rolling part 2 of their conversation with Cormac O'Se & Natalie Nugent O'Shea. In this half of the conversation, they dig deeper into teaching, team building and community and talk about the origin and future of the Celtic Junction Arts Center.

Part 1 of 2: Julia and Kristo sit down with friends, collaborators and colleagues Cormac O'Se & Natalie Nugent O'Shea to talk Irish dance teaching, the different paths that led them both to Riverdance, and the value of dance and music productions for their school. And, if you listen for it you may hear sounds of the remodel taking place at the Celtic Junction Arts Center. More on that in Part 2!

Co-founders of the FEIS app and FEIStv, Sean O'Brien and Liam O'Sullivan sit down with Julia and Kristo and share their different paths to traditional Irish music and the world of Irish dance, and do a deep dive into composing and performing as world-class feis musicians.

Recorded nearly one year ago, Scott Doherty was Julia and Kristo's first podcast guest! The episode and the podcast are finally here. Scott is a mindset coach, a World Irish Dance Champion, a professional dancer, a dance teacher and the list goes on. We were glad to have him on to share his perspective and creative approach to working with dancers and families.

Julia and Kristo sit down with Colleen Falco, Founder and Creative Director, and Hollie Geraghty, Editor-In-Chief of The Irish Dance Globe! Colleen and Hollie share how ID Globe has evolved, their creative and editorial process, the reality of pouring so much passion into the Irish Dance world while balancing life and full-time work, and why they think they'll always be involved this amazingly rich dance community.

After months of discussion and development, Julia and Kristo finally sit down together to talk about their own Irish dance journeys, their shared passion for exploring and telling the stories of people involved in the multifaceted world of Irish dance.

Welcome to the Planxty Podcast! This teaser trailer episode will give you a taste of what's to come on this podcast as we explore the rich tapestry of Irish Dance and talk with the people who love it. Meet hosts Julia Topper and Kristo Sween and hear samples from upcoming episodes with guests Sean O'Brien, Liam O'Sullivan, Scott Doherty, Colleen Falco, Hollie Geraghty, Cormac O'Se and Natalie Nugent O'Shea.