A COVENTRY line dancing troupe have been thrust into the limelight after being featured in the latest music video released by former Westlife star Shane Filan.
Maggie Gallagher’s Celtica Academy were chosen specifically by the star to feature in the video for his latest single Knee Deep in My Heart.
The group is led by Maggie, a Coventry-native with roots in counties Mayo and Kildare, who also teaches Irish dancing and is an avid fundraiser for local charities.
They were welcomed on set to record their part in the wedding-based film last year, for the track which featured in Filan’s debut album You and Me.
Around 20 members of the group, who all come from Coventry and Warwickshire, were invited down to The Barn in Surrey for filming.
The group was on site for almost 12 hours as they took up roles as extras in the three-minute-long video, which had already been watched over 150,000 times on YouTube before the single was released.
Set in the context of a family wedding, the group are seen performing their specially choreographed routine on the dance floor as Shane Filan performs at the wedding reception.
Filan also brought his friends and family along to star as extras in the film.
“It was fantastic to be involved,” Maggie told us.
“And it was just such a fantastic chance to display modern line dancing and show how it has moved on even if we would only be shown for a few seconds.”
She added: “For me, the day was all about a chance of showing the world out there that Line dance is an actual form of dance, just like tap, ballet and Irish and that we don’t go round slapping thighs and bottoms all the time as the media always portray.
“We are dancers, we have style, we are as cool as we want to be and if the video helps make a few new Line dance adepts then I will be absolutely thrilled.”
