Jessie Leach’s enthusiasm for Irish dancing is contagious. In my almost fifteen years of researching and writing about Irish dance, I’ve been fortunate to talk with many inspiring people, but after interviewing the founder of Jig and a Swig and hearing all about her enthusiasm for creating an inclusive, authentic, and forward-looking space for Irish dance, I find myself hard-pressed not to immediately hop on a flight to London for the sole purpose of taking Jessie’s community-centred adult Irish dance classes. Followed, of course, by a pint at the pub.
Jig and a Swig classes are all about the vibes — and the vibes are immaculate. What started in 2019 as Jessie inviting fifteen friends to join her for some wine and céilí in a local hall has skyrocketed into a thriving community that offers a staggering 17 non-competitive classes a week for adults from all walks of life and Irish dance experiences. Over 2,500 dancers from ages 18 to 88 have jigged and swigged — from absolute beginners, to aspiring and current TCRGs, to world champions and professional touring Irish dancers — and this community promotes a vibrant, inclusive, and passionate vision of what Irish dance is and has the potential to be.
But don’t let our mention of the “vibes” fool you; while the classes are low-pressure with a primary goal of forming community, they are high-quality. The Jig and a Swig team boasts a teaching team of over ten instructors, several of whom hold World Championship titles and have toured in major shows. The majority of them, however, started out as regular jiggers themselves.
Dancers have the opportunity to learn the full breadth of Irish dance repertoire, be it the basic light jig, Trip to the Cottage, or performance choreography from shows such as Riverdance and Lord Of The Dance. Students get to draw from the teachers’ wealth of experience, and in turn, the team enjoy teaching from a different perspective to help those who didn’t grow up dancing or are returning to dance after time off.
When the craic is this good, it has to be driven from the top by a leader who truly lives and breathes it, and Jessie fits the bill. Her path to starting Jig and a Swig was not straightforward, however. Jessie was born into an Irish dance family, learning her first steps from her mum, who owned a school in London. Jessie had what she calls a “pretty straightforward feis life” attending a couple of small schools in south London before competing at her first World Championships at the age of 14.
“I felt really compelled to bring people into Irish dance, teach them the steps, and introduce them to this thing that I loved”
Jessie Leach
When she was 16, her dance school shut down and she moved to McGahan Lees. Within six months, Jessie went from 37th to winning the All Ireland Championships. She spent the next two years in serious competition mode, winning titles at the Southern England Oireachtas, NAIDC, and the Great Britains, and came third at the 2012 Belfast World Championships. Jessie recalls: “That was a real twist in the plot quite late in the day. I hadn’t medalled at the Worlds before, so it was quite a big jump for me that I couldn’t really come to terms with. The competitive aspect wasn’t something that I really embraced that much, and it took me by surprise. Then the real dream was to be in Riverdance.”
Jessie took a year off from her studies prior to entering university to begin pursuing that dream. She joined Celtic Fyre at Busch Gardens in Virginia as her first professional show and loved it. Around the same time, she was waitlisted for Riverdance, but kept dancing as much as she could while studying history at Southampton University, taking part in the campus’ dance society, which was her first taste of dancing with and teaching adults.
Her last year of university saw her taking her final exams, auditioning for Riverdance, passing her TCRG exam, and starting her first nine-to-five job in London. A portion of her history degree specialised in refugee experiences in the UK, for which she received first class honours. “I then got offered a part in Riverdance, as I just accepted my first dream job working for a women’s charity I really admired. I really wanted to keep that job [however, and] I had to tell Riverdance no, which is insane.”
Fortunately, although she wasn’t able to participate in Riverdance’s tour in China, she did embark on a shorter tour in the US, as well as take part in shorter runs and Flying Squad gigs. She was also able to dance in several other professional shows, including Magic Of The Dance and Celtic Legends. “I was really trying to balance this life in London and this passion for charity work, which I didn’t want to leave. I tried to balance the two.”
Maintaining this balance became increasingly challenging — and lonely. In 2019, Jessie was finding it tricky to carve out time to tour, let alone dance regularly as she immersed herself in her day job. Dancing on her own in rented studios felt aimless, and she was unsure where Irish dance fit in her adult life. She knew she wanted to teach, recounting how she would go off while on tour just to find groups of tourists and teach them céilí dances in hotel lobbies. “I felt really compelled to bring people into [Irish dance], teach them the steps, and introduce them to this thing that I loved.”
It was this mindset of teaching in a low-pressure way to people who had never done it before that inspired Jessie to send a Facebook message to her friends, inviting them to the community centre downstairs from her office. “I said, ‘I’ll give you some cheap wine if you just let me teach you a céilí.’ We got together on a Wednesday night: I taught them the ‘Three Tunes’, got some wine, got some crisps, and we went to the pub. It was the first time I’d ever danced with my friends — not other Irish dancers. It had never even crossed my mind that they would know they’d want to do it!”
“The Jig and a Swig community gives you total hope about London as a city, and humanity in general, even when the world at large can feel quite hopeless and scary”
Jessie Leach
They continued through the autumn, turning it into a charity fundraiser for a friend’s mum who had been recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Friends of friends tagged along to classes and pubs, and eventually it was suggested Jessie take Jig and a Swig to the public. Unfortunately, the first beginners course was set for St Patrick’s Day of March 2020, just as Covid-19 restrictions were being enforced, so other than a set of classes conducted over Instagram Live, the idea was put on hiatus until classes could be brought back safely in person.
By the time January 2022 rolled around, Jessie was ready. She started a six-week beginners course, ending up with a full roster and even a waitlist. Each month, she added a new course, each of which filled up and waitlisted. Given the mix of experience dancers brought with them, Jessie found she could quickly differentiate course levels to cater to the variety of abilities.
Eventually, she found herself teaching five classes a week on top of her full-time job, so she brought on her first teacher — five-time World Champion Paige Turilli. “It’s basically just snowballed from there,” Jessie laughs.
In addition to classes, Jig and a Swig has staged a multitude of impressive gigs over its six and a half years in business, including an annual showcase in front of Tower Bridge in London, a wedding performance at the top of a mountain in Switzerland, a flashmob-sized display in the heart of Waterloo Station, and even TV appearances. Their back-to-back St Patrick’s Day season last year, meanwhile, saw them performing all over London from Trafalgar Square right up to the steps of the National Gallery, with 120 adult dancers taking part in the parade.
Jessie emphasises that Jig and a Swig is a true “it takes a village” setup — the classes would not have grown without her lead teaching team of Paige, world champion and ADCRG Josh Ruddock, and Festival dancer Lauren Young. The full team of teachers and jiggers now extends to a community coordinator and the Swig Ambassadors — experienced jiggers who lead new dancers from class to pub — who have been crucial for the success of the community.
Heading to the pub has been just as important a part of community building as the jigging, whether one chooses to imbibe or just enjoy some crisps. Jig and a Swig partners with independent pubs, where a table is reserved for the jiggers and they receive a discount. People will stay until the end of the night, with additional classes joining the tables as the evening wears on. “The community itself, they are so open and welcoming to new people. Whether people want to go to a pub and drink is irrelevant, more just that they come and hang out with us — pulling up a chair,” Jessie says.
“Jig and a Swig has given me total trust and confidence that a new friend is always about to walk through the door. Every single class we meet people who are the kindest, funniest, most generous and authentic people. It gives you total hope about London as a city, and humanity in general, even when the world at large can feel quite hopeless and scary.”
Each of the jiggers’ own personal stories speaks of the joy they get from building connections while learning Irish dance. Jigger and civil engineer Navi Erriah, 35, sings the praises of Jig and a Swig, saying that the community “welcomed me with open arms and gave me an immediate sense of belonging and purpose. It’s a place where my dreams of being physically and mentally healthy, happy, and connected with incredible people from all walks of life genuinely feel within reach. The environment is judgement‑free, joyful, energetic, and safe — and over time, the people here have become my family and my support system as I’ve built a new life in a new country.”
“Jig and a Swig gives me, and everyone, a chance to reframe what we think is available to us when it comes to Irish dancing, and what we think we’re capable of”
Jessie Leach
The importance of inclusivity has also made a massive impact on students. Jigger and advertising manager by day Jess Espin, 32, shares her experiences of learning Irish dance as someone who is neurodivergent, noting that Jessie has gone above and beyond to cultivate a space that is open and receptive to all. “[Jessie’s created] an environment where inclusivity is proactive, not reactive. I always say true inclusivity is when accommodations and nuances are considered in advance — not added in later as an afterthought. Being accommodating isn’t something added on; it’s at the forefront of everything she does.”
Swig Ambassador Paul O’Neill, 36, danced competitively as a teenager and came back to it in his mid-twenties. “Jig and a Swig is more than just dance classes for people; for me, it’s a social lifeline, two evenings a week where I get to dance, share a laugh, and unwind,” he says. He thinks of classes as his midweek reset from the demands of working as an assistant headteacher at a local school. “It’s physically demanding at times, but it clears my head from the workday. By the time I head home, I’ve danced, laughed, and found that balance between work and personal joy.”
“No Irish dancer is more important than another”
Jessie Leach
As an adult dancer myself for almost fifteen years, I’ve witnessed and documented the slow shifts in the acceptance and promotion of Irish dancing for adults in the competitive world and beyond. It gives me such hope and encouragement to see Jessie’s work — it’s truly revolutionary, pushing the boundaries of what we think Irish dancing is and who can do it.
As Jessie shares, Jig and a Swig “gives me, and everyone, a chance to reframe what we think is available to us when it comes to Irish dancing, and what we think we’re capable of”, giving her a “blank slate” to work from while questioning the “limited beliefs we may have had about who Irish dancing is for, who gets to perform, [and] who gets to enjoy it”.
“There are so many people who had previously ruled themselves out of dancing because of their ages, nationality, body, or ability, who now enjoy Irish dancing as an important part of their life and identity,” Jessie adds. “Everyone who wants to be, can be an Irish dancer, and no Irish dancer is more important than another.”
Follow Jig and a Swig on Instagram and find more information on the website.
Photography: Evie Smith
Design: Colleen Falco
Words: Julia Topper
Editor-In-Chief: Hollie Geraghty
