Irish dancers Fusion Fighters world tour to Create Not Hate

Spectacular Irish dance videos advocate positive change, raise awareness of worthy causes and tell inspiring stories

The most recent stop for popular Irish dance troupe Fusion Fighters' campaign “Create Not Hate” has brought them to Richmond, Virginia, where they created yet another beautiful dance clip with Miracles in Motion, a non-profit dance group designed specifically for people with special needs, and a local Irish dance school, Heart of Ireland.

With 70,000 members worldwide, Fusion Fighters is now one of the largest and most influential dance communities in the world. In early 2017, Fusion Fighters started their new campaign ‘Create Not Hate,’ a campaign to work with local dance schools around the world and to give back to their local communities in a number of ways, including community outreach activities, a cultural exchange, video campaigns or a public performance to raise money for local causes.

Chris Naish, Jamie Hodges and Joe Duffey visited Miracles in Motion, in Richmond. This inspirational group was started in 2007 by Kim Moncrief with the aim of teaching individuals with disabilities a range of dance styles.  Miracles in Motion allows these amazing people the same opportunities as any other dance organizations and the dancers regularly perform in recitals and community performances.

Moncrief Founder, CEO and Artistic Director said, “We would like for the campaign #CreateNotHate to show everyone in the world just how important dance is to everyone and inspire other companies and studios to be more open to creating opportunities like Miracles in Motion for people with special needs.”

Speaking about the Create Not Hate project’s involvement with Miracles in Motion, Chris Naish, Irish dancer, choreographer and founding member of Fusion Fighters told IrishCentral, “This has to be my favorite by far of all the campaigns we have done! Our 'Create Not Hate' series has already brought us to some amazing places and brought the ability to tell some brilliant stories.”

 He added, “This special needs dance group in Richmond, VA though has to be one of the most rewarding things I've been a part of and was truly the best group of people I've ever met and hope to see it build awareness for more studios like this to accessible for people with special needs worldwide.”

Fusion Fighters have already created numerous videos as part of the Create Not Hate campaign.

 Naish introduced IrishCentral to some of their other projects. This “display of diversity and inclusivity in Irish dance… the project was in Mexico City and working with passionate Irish dancers there to create a surprise pop up performance. We got a Mariachi band involved and I was really pleased with the result."

The next, which has already featured on IrishCentral, was filmed with the “Broesler School of Irish Dance B+… to raise awareness of the The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation, that funds childhood cancer research and financially assists families of kids with cancer nationwide.”

The next, a little closer to home, was created in association with Scoil-Rince Mona Ni Rodaigh, an Irish dance school which hosts dance classes in Louth, Meath and Armagh. This video was made to “raise awareness of the Irish Kidney Association and their 'Gift of Life' Organ Donor Cards.

And then there is this amazing video celebrating something exceedingly special. Created in association with the Rochester Academy of Irish Dance, in Rochester, New York, the dancers in this video “are wearing orange for leukemia awareness and to celebrate Ciara Griffin (front & Centre) who beat Leukemia when she was just 8-years-old and who is now 4 years cancer free”.  Congratulations you little warrior!

The ‘Create Not Hate’ campaign is to complete a world tour of community projects and video episodes in 2017. Fusion Fighters will join with dance schools in major cities, underprivileged areas and some of the most unusual places you can find Irish dance.  By using Irish dance, they will do all they can to advocate positive change, raise awareness of worthy causes and tell inspirational stories of others who are going above and beyond to help make a difference in the world.

What a worthy cause!

Check out some of Fusion Fighter’s amazing dancer performing at the Fusion Dance Fest, in Limerick, this summer:

For more visit www.fusionfightersdance.com.