The Lord Mayor's Tea Dance, City Hall Cork

Lord Mayor Dan Boyle hosts an afternoon of Viennese classics, big band numbers and the latest dance floor hits featuring Evelyn Grant (Lyric FM), Cork Pops Orchestra, Keith Hanley from the Voice of Ireland and special guest 8 year old Emma Sophia.

A January ‘Gathering’ of young and old, from communities all over Cork and beyond who love to dance, will take to the floor in City Hall, to the music of Evelyn Grant and the Cork Pops Orchestra.

The Lord Mayor’s Tea Dance is a not-for-profit initiative organised by a local committee of people from the public, private and voluntary sectors and in conjunction with the Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. Dan Boyle. The committee is chaired by Dr. Andrew Crosbie.

The orchestra will be joined by soloists Keith Hanley (Voice of Ireland), and 8 year old Emma Sophia.
The MTU Carnival Samba band, directed by Stephen Kelly celebrates 20 years since their first performance at a Tea Dance in 2005.

Young people are invited to bring an older person or a group of older people to the ‘Ball’.
Previous Tea Dances have proven to be great fun and the need for these events is greater now than ever before. These dances recognise the role of a previous generation and offer a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and acknowledge this contribution.
We are inviting ‘The Young at Heart’ of the nation to use the ‘free travel’ to come to Cork for the ‘craic’. We hope by publicising this event nationwide that local groups in cities towns and villages throughout the country will repeat this initiative.

Entertainment is provided by the Cork Pops Orchestra conducted by Evelyn Grant and we expect some of our dancers to out-dance ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.

Cork Swing dancers will do a demonstration.

The Cork Pops Orchestra will perform a selection of up-tempo and ‘smoochy’ numbers. Dancers can enjoy a range of music from Johann Strauss to Abba and demonstrate their dancing skills in waltzes, tangos, two-steps, swing dancing and a bit of rock ‘n’ roll.

There will be a raffle in aid of Cork University Hospital Charity

"CUH Charity is delighted to be selected as the beneficiary of the Lord Mayor's Tea Dance, an event that beautifully reflects our ethos of fostering community connection and well-being by bringing together people of all ages to enjoy music, dance, and shared moments of joy. Funds raised will directly support vital projects and services that enhance patient care at Cork University Hospital and Cork University Maternity Hospital."

The Cork Pops Orchestra’s Tea Dances were devised by Gerry Kelly and grew from the successful Millennium Tea Dance project for ‘The Young at Heart’, which took place in Cork City and County.

The Cork Pops Orchestra - www.corkpops.ie - has evolved as Ireland’s only Community Orchestra providing an educational and entertainment service to the public and private sector. Large-scale projects that the orchestra has been involved in include the annual UCC Strauss Ball, the annual Doc Noonan Ball, "The Tall Ships" visit to Cork, the Tour de France, the Port of Cork Maritime Festival, an annual winter and spring concert series for schools in City Hall and Tea Dances for ‘The Young at Heart’.

The Cork Pops Orchestra runs a mentoring programme for students and emerging young professionals in music performance, multimedia and community music.