Kilcullen teenager high kicks it with professional Riverdance troop on Gaiety stage

A YOUNG Kilcullen dancer who recently got to perform with the current Riverdance show in Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre says she would love to become a professional dancer.

Kayla Reid, who has already competed in Irish dancing at a world level, is just 13 and a Cross and Passion College Kilcullen student. Her chance to go on the Gaiety stage came from participating in the 2025 Riverdance Summer School.

“There were about 150 of us in the week and 15 were chosen to do the Saturday matinée performance with the professional cast,” she told the Kildare Nationalist, detailing how the week had been a high-stress tuition period in the Liffey Trust Studio. “I was up at five every morning getting ready, and then I didn’t get home until after seven each evening. It was just go, go, go all week.” The week’s students, divided into four groups, spent all their time learning actual Riverdance numbers. Kayla, who had been at the summer school last year, could build on her experience. “I knew the dancing and could pick up everything much quicker.” The choice of those to perform the public matinée came immediately after the week’s dancers had gone through a complete Riverdance show of their own on the Saturday morning. It was a bit on the scary side, Kayla says. “But overall, it’s a feeling of excitement and joy, because it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing to do. And I was also doing it with friends.” Kayla says the Riverdance Summer School is an excellent opportunity to make new friends from all over the world. “There were people from Ireland, the UK, and America. It’s all meeting people, having fun.” Kayla is well used to the rigours of dancing. A student at Curley Brennan Irish Dance in Newbridge, she attends there four evenings a week. “And I’m up at six o’clock every morning doing exercises. I take one day a week off.” Even in August, she’s been back with Curley Brennan, last week in their summer school from 12.30pm to 5pm each day.

It’s early days for the teenager to consider career decisions. She also carefully keeps her dancing life separate from her current student work at CPC. But she has been doing competitive dancing for years, and in 2023, she competed at the Irish Dancing Worlds in Montreal. Which means she has a solid background towards achieving her ambition.

“I’d just love to be a professional dancer in the future,” she said.