TikTok stars Cairde bring Irish dancing to global audience from Cliffs of Moher
Cairde on Good Morning America, performing to Billie Eilish's Bad Guy from the Cliffs of Moher
A group of Irish dancers celebrated St Patrick’s Day with two special live broadcasts from an iconic location.
TikTok sensation Cairde, which includes Cork member Seamus Morrison, Clare members Brian Culligan, Ethan Quinton and Stephen McGuinness and Galway members Dara Kelly, Francis Fallon and Ronan O’Connell, danced live from the Cliffs of Moher for two international talk shows today.
The seven-man group, who are aged between 19 and 21 and have almost two million followers on TikTok, appeared live on Good Morning America, where the clip of their performance to Bad Guy by Billie Eilish was screened to homes around the US as well as on screens in Times Square.
Cairde live in Times Square... @_cairde pic.twitter.com/iXECrNlQMs
— Shane (@ItsGillen) March 17, 2021
Culligan told the hosts that the group met through competitions and have moved from dancing against each other to with each other.
“Most of the people in this group have been competing against each other since the ages of eight or nine. It was crazy, really, that transition period from the competitive scene into actually quarantining together in a house, and creating content together, rather than competing against each other,” he said, adding it was appropriate that they were at the Cliffs of Moher.
“Funnily enough, it was actually right here in Cliffs of Moher that we had the initial conversation last July about creating Cairde and making a TikTok account, so we've really come full circle being here today on on St Patrick's Day. It's just insane, we're absolutely delighted.”
Quinton said the variety of music the group dances to is a result of their differing music interests.
“We all have very very different tastes in music, we are very different. But we usually go on TikTok, see whatever the trending sound is and we usually love to put our Irish spin on it,” he said.
As for the future, the group hopes to get some more attention and eventually tour the world.
“At the moment it is quite hard to set a concrete goal with the pandemic,” Culligan said.
“We've been very happy for the last year just making people happy with our content online, but obviously we have had the conversation about post-Covid and we'd love to do something like feature in a music video. The big goal is to tour the world as a show, especially in the United States. We’ll know we made it when we get there.”
We're out of breath just watching the @_cairde all-male dance troupe! 👏
— This Morning (@thismorning) March 17, 2021
What a way to celebrate St Patrick's Day! ☘️ pic.twitter.com/w9g9ocKKD6
Earlier, they danced for in Britain, where their performance was praised by viewers.
“Looked fantastic lads, the next version of Riverdance is on its way,” one person wrote on Twitter, while another said they “can’t wait to see more of these talented dancers in the future.”
Speaking on Instagram after their television appearances, the group thanked their fans for supporting them.
“It means the world to us, we can’t believe it,” they said, adding there are “bigger and brighter things to come” from them.
Watch Cairde on Good Morning America here.
