Planxty Podcast
A podcast exploring the rich tapestry of Irish dance and the community who loves it. Hosted by Julia Topper, ethnomusicologist and Irish dance competitor and teacher, and Kristo Sween, 20-year Irish dance dad, live camera director for FEIStv, and Operations Manager at the Celtic Junction Arts Center.
Episodes
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, an...
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 don...
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 ...
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 phi...
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 Sarsfiel...
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 h...
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 Instag...
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.
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