Irish Dance Students Bow to Tradition : Ventura: A fleet-footed contingent from the Claddagh school will be grand marshals of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday.

Kelly Sullivan normally spends her school days studying math, English and science at a Catholic high school in Ventura.

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But more than once this week, Kelly skipped classes to don a heavy, velvet dress embroidered with colorful yarns, white anklet socks and clunky, black shoes.

Then, during 20-minute performances before lunching women, wide-eyed children and curious onlookers, she danced traditional reels, jigs and other folk steps that make up the quaint, arcane art of Irish dancing.

Kelly doesn’t mind the occasional ribbing she takes from friends.

“If you dance when you’re this old, it’s, like, kind of stupid,” the 17-year-old said. “But Irish dancing is more than a hobby to me now. It’s a major part of my life.”

Kelly and a dozen other dancers will perform during Saturday’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, scheduled to start at 10 a.m. in downtown Ventura. The parade will begin at the San Buenaventura Mission and proceed east down Main Street to Kalorama Street.

It will be followed by an Irish festival at Mission Park that will include food booths, dancing, singing, storytelling and comedy.

During the parade, the Irish dancers will be under the watchful eye of their teacher, Maire (pronounced Mor- a) O’Connell. O’Connell, 43, owner of the Claddagh School of Irish Dancing in Ventura, and her students will be this year’s grand marshals.

A native of Galway, Ireland, O’Connell said it is gratifying to see Americans recognize the skill required and the intricacy of Irish dancing. She opened her school nine years ago, calling it Claddagh after the traditional Irish wedding ring.

“People like Irish dancing because it is very disciplined,” she said. “The emphasis is on footwork, and the upper body doesn’t move at all. There is nothing wild or crazy or freestyle about it.”

O’Connell has about 100 students, ranging in age from 4 years to adults. They learn a mix of solo and group dances in the traditional soft and hard shoes, she said.

Nine girls and two boys will make a trip to Ireland in April for a world championship competition in Irish dancing, O’Connell said. And in July, a troupe of 40 dancers will travel to Toronto to vie with hundreds of other dancers from the United States and Canada to win the North American title, she said.

To raise money for the trips, the dancers are offering $5 raffle tickets this week. A drawing for a $1,000 “pot of gold” will take place Saturday during a dinner and dance at the Santa Paula Community Center.

About 50 of O’Connell’s students will perform after a dinner of corned beef and cabbage. Irish music will be provided by the band the Celtic Cousins.

All this to mark St. Patrick’s Day, a holiday that passes in Ireland with nary a mug of green beer, O’Connell said.

“I never had corned beef until I came to the United States,” she said.

The Claddagh Dance Company needs about $12,000 to pay travel expenses, she said. Tickets, at $20 each, are still available for Saturday’s dinner. They can be obtained by calling 644-3927.

O’Connell said she is honored to serve as grand marshal this year, but she prefers to see the attention go to her students.

“It’s nice to see the kids being recognized for the amount of work they put into their dancing.”

The state champion Ventura College Pirates will also participate in Saturday’s parade. The basketball team, which recently won the state Men’s Basketball Championship, will ride along with their coaches in the back of a truck.