The death has taken place after a brief illness of legendary Irish dancing teacher Dot Redmond of Station Road, Castlebar.
For over 60 years she had been synonymous with Irish dance and culture, having tutored thousands of Mayo children in the fine art of jigs and reels, and many of her pupils have excelled at regional, national and world level.
At the tender age of 15 years she embarked on what was to be a whirlwind career. She travelled around the county on a bicycle, teaching dancing steps to eager young dancers while at the same time playing the fiddle to provide the accompanying music.
Times were tough but she persevered and eventually, after her marriage to the late Andy Redmond, she established the now renowned Redmond Academy of Irish Dancing.
But not everything was rosy as she and Andy strived to raise a family of five.
Tragedy struck when their home at Balloor, Castlebar, was burned to the ground and the family lost all their worldly possessions.
Then in 1966 Andy passed away, leaving Dot with the task of raising a young family while at the same time continually building up her academy.
She was deeply involved with the promotion and development of Irish dancing at national level and also became an internationally recognised and respected adjudicator.
She was innovative in her approach to furthering the appreciation of Irish dancing and from the early 1960s she travelled annually to folk dance festivals across Europe.
Each summer she assembled the cream of her dancers and local musicians and set out for destinations in France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and Spain where they performed at a series of festivals.
These trips were onerous and time-consuming as they involved being bussed to Dublin, taking the ferry to Holyhead, the train to the port of Dover or Harwich, the ferry to Ostend or the Hook of Holland and the onward bus journey to the festival venues.
All of these trips were undertaken with two key ingredients - official greetings from the then chairmen of Castlebar Urban Council to their respective counterparts in festival venues and the Irish tricolour which was always borrowed from the Fifth Motor Squadron of the FCA in Castlebar and carried with pride across Europe.
Tradition was uppermost on Dot’s agenda and the dancers and musicians were required to wear heavy dancing costumes and Aran sweaters in the scorching Continental summers.
Later in the 1980s the annual trips took to the skies as the group flew to their destinations.
Up to 30 dancers and musicians would set out each year and prior to their departure there were left in no doubt as to their roles overseas as Dot would emphasise they were ambassadors for Mayo and they were expected to behave accordingly.
Many, if not most, of the troops could not afford the cost of the trips and Dot and her team would spend months of fundraising so that no one would be left out of pocket.
Tragedy was again on the horizon when in 1976 her oldest son Sean was killed in a motoring accident in England.
Again Dot rallied and not alone accepted this cruel fate but took on the role of “mother” to Sean’s four young children whom she raised over the coming years.
But dancing was her life and Castlebar Urban Council feted her family with a civic reception to mark a half-century of Irish dancing. She continued to tour overseas and in 1993 realised a lifelong ambition when she and a troop of dancers from Castlebar, Westport, Foxford and Claremorris travelled to New York for the St Patrick’s Day celebrations.
There they performed at the annual dinner of the Mayo Society of New York and on St Patrick’s Day they had the honour of leading the County Mayo delegation down Fifth Avenue in the New York parade.
In front of St Patrick’s Cathedral Dot was led through security to present a piece of Waterford Crystal to the late Cardinal John O’Connor.
On the home front Dot continued with her classes and was a regular at feiseanna all over Connacht.
Annually the success of her tuition came to the fore at the Connacht, Irish and World Championships where her talented pupils excelled, and in more recent years several of them have been cast in Lord of the Dance and Riverdance.
Among her many admirers were Michael Flatley and the late Joe Dolan.
Since the success of dance shows her dancers have been in demand for cabaret shows, weddings and charity functions.
Since her retirement her daughters have run the academy. Dot had been a day patient at the Sacred Heart Hospital where she was caringly looked after by a dedicated and loving staff.
She looked forward to her daily visits and always enjoyed reminiscing with her fellow day patients.
Aged 88 years last March, Dot (nee Kelly ) enjoyed her many grandchildren, many of whom have been champion dancers.
Dot Redmond passed away at Mayo General Hospital, Castlebar on Thursday Novembe 13. Her remains reposed at the Coady Funeral Home on Friday evening after which they were removed to the Church of the Holy Rosary, Castlebar.
Interment took place in the Old Cemetery following Requiem Mass on Saturday.
Pupils from her classes formed a guard of honour at both the removal of her remains and the funeral cortege to the Old Cemetery.
She is survived by her daughters Mavourneen Gillespie, Patricia Morahan and Noreen Loughran (all Castlebar ), her sons Andy (Ballina ) and Dominick (London ), sons-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandchildren and great grandchildren, great great grandchild, nephews, nieces, relatives and friends, to whom sympathy is tendered on their great loss.
