Rose & Sword Academy of Irish Dance Celebrates 10 Year Anniversary By Jillian Appel

March 9, 2026

WILLIAMSBURG— The Rose & Sword Academy of Irish Dance reflects on nearly 10 years of operations.

Owner Kathy Nelson had been dancing since she was a child, starting with ballet, tap, and jazz. She continued it into adulthood and mainly did it for exercise but found that she didn’t like ballet.

When Busch Gardens opened, it also debuted its show, Irish Thunder, which featured original Irish dances along with Irish step dancing.

“I didn’t know what it was, and I went in there and saw [the show]. I’m like, ‘Ah, I can do that.’ Because that’s more me, it’s more hardcore, just Riverdance, Lord of the Dance. I just really loved it,” Nelson recalled about seeing the show.

Inspired by what she witnessed, Nelson found a teacher in Yorktown and started taking classes, as did her son. Within six months, she was teaching and has now been teaching for 30 years.

She decided to open her own studio after wanting her style of teaching to go in a different direction than the studio she had been with previously. She eventually found the World Irish Dance Association, (WIDA) which she thought to be more aligned with her values when establishing her studio.

“So it was my son and I first, and then that was Nelson Academy. That went on for a little while, but he kind of went off, and then I started Rose & Sword Academy,” Nelson said.

Nelson says that over the past decade, since opening, not much has changed in terms of the dancing itself. However, she did note that as the years go by, the number of performances from the studio has increased. 2nd Sundays is one of the events she says the dancers regularly perform at.

“We absolutely love it because it gives the kids a chance to perform. And if they’re competitors, it gives them a chance to be in front of people. So that helps some when they go to compete,” she said.

“In terms of changes, it’s just different families, different people, but they all have the same love of Irish dance,” she said.

Nelson says it feels amazing to have the studio open for this long and wants it to keep going. She says she believes as long as they can keep doing what they’re doing, they’re just going to keep going.

So far, nothing special is planned for the 10-year anniversary. However, she hopes to keep moving forward and letting more of the community know about the studio.

Rose & Sword Academy of Irish Dance offers classes for children age 4 through adults as a member of WIDA. For more information about the studio and its offerings, visit the official website.