Eclipse youngsters wow the crowd at Tom Duffy’s Circus

A STAGE school based in Kilbarrack and Beaumont recently became the first group of young children and teens to perform with Tom Duffy's Circus under the Big Top. 

The group of 25 students from across Dublin, aged 9-21, representing Eclipse Stage School, performed a mash-up of songs from the hit film, ‘The Greatest Showman’, to open the show.

The performance saw the group take to the ring with international stars of the circus from across the world including Mexico, Brazil, Ukraine and the UK. 

Choreographer of the performance and director of Eclipse Stage School, Kenneth Giles (28), said: "It was an absolute privilege to be able to bring some of my students to take part with the top circus in Ireland and some of the best performers in the world. The talent under the Big Top was unbelievable."

This performance follows on from the group’s string of firsts which began in 2007 with performances in Croke Park, the Aviva Stadium, RDS and ‘The Toy Show’ right up to last year when they became the first ever Irish school to reach the Top 3 on the iTunes chart with their debut single 'I Lived' which Northside band Aslan supported. 

The single was just behind megastars Ed Sheeran and Little Mix on the countdown. Now that is impressive!

Eclipse Stage School received fantastic feedback for the circus performance with almost 600 people attending the show. They have been inundated with praise, messages of support and interest in others wanting to join the group. 

Mr Giles said: "It has been crazy how many people have contacted to say how good it was and that they want their children to perform with us in the future.

“Luckily, we opened a new school in Beaumont earlier this year and have a few places left in our Kilbarrack classes so we can take some more students on for this year.”

The students also made friends with the circus performers who supported and encouraged them throughout the rehearsals and performances.

Eclipse have their own theatre show coming up on November 2 in the O'Reilly Theatre, Belvedere College, when they present their brand new musical, 'Eclipse: The Stage School Musical', charting their story from 2007 to the present day. Tickets go on sale in September. 

If you wish to be a part of Eclipse, they have classes in Beaumont and Kilbarrack every Friday and Saturday. 

Contact them on Facebook, Instagram or at www.EclipseEntertainmentIreland.com for more details.