YESTERDAY, ED SHEERAN released the highly anticipated video for Galway Girl.
The video starred famous faces like Saoirse Ronan, Peter Coonan, Laurence Kinlan, Tommy Tiernan and Hector Ó hEochagáin.
It also featured a cameo appearance from an Irish dancing troupe giving it their all on the streets of Galway.
The dancers in question are from the Hession School of Irish Dancing in Co. Galway and it wasn’t by chance that they appeared in the video.
Back in January, Ed Sheeran announced that she was looking for Irish dancers to star in a video for a then-untitled trad song due to appear on his third album.
The singer told Eoghan McDermott at the time that he was seeking out “proper céilí dancers” for the video. That’s when eight young dancers from the school decided to record a video of them dancing to Shape of You.
“The girls asked if they could put something together and they shot it in the Claddagh here in Galway,” Gemma Carney, a teacher with the Hession School of Irish Dancing, told DailyEdge.ie. “Within a day it had gone viral.”
Er, to say the least. It’s actually been viewed over 2 million times since it was posted in January.
https://www.facebook.com/hessiongalway/videos/1150920858356312/
Carney explained that the video’s producers then approached the girls about appearing in the video. The dancers, who dance together as céilí team, only found out about the video the day before, but didn’t expect to have any scenes with Ed Sheeran.
It was a special request from Ed that he came out and surprised the girls.
In the video, viewers can clearly see the look of excitement on the dancers’ faces.
“They didn’t know that Ed was going to surprise them, so their reaction in the video is genuine, pure joy,” Carney confirmed.
The best part? When Ed Sheeran signed one of the girls’ casts.
He signed one of the girls casts, as she had snapped her Achilles the week before.
In the video, you can clearly see Ed sign the cast and write, “I love you!” Almost makes up for the injury, right?
All in all, Carney said that Sheeran was “a pure gentleman” and that the whole thing was “an unforgettable experience” for the dancers.
They are thrilled with the video. It’s a privilege to be part of a showcase for Galway!
See? You should have kept up your Irish dancing after all.
