12 January 2026
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
The is an annual event in City Hall, Cork Sunday 25th January 2026
3.00pm-5.00pm
Evelyn Grant and the Cork Pops Orchestra
Hanley (Voice of Ireland)
Emma Sophia Age 9
MTU Carnival Samba Director Stephen Kelly
A January ‘Gathering’ of young and old, from communities all over Cork and beyond who love to dance, will take to the floor in City Hall, to the music of Evelyn Grant and the Cork Pops Orchestra.
This programme will include Strauss waltzes and polkas to celebrate the 200th Strauss anniversary.
The Lord Mayor’s Tea Dance is a not-for-profit initiative organised by a local committee of people from the public, private and voluntary sectors and in conjunction with the Lord Mayor of Cork.
The committee is chaired by Dr. Andrew Crosbie.
The orchestra will be joined by soloist Keith Hanley (Voice of Ireland) and 9 year old Emma Sophia. MTU Carnival Samba under director Stephen Kelly will liven up proceedings.
Young people are invited to bring an older person or a group of older people to the ‘Ball’.
Previous Tea Dances have proven to be great fun and the need for these events is greater now than ever before. These dances recognise the role of a previous generation and offer a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and acknowledge this contribution.
We are inviting ‘The Young at Heart’ of the nation to use the ‘free travel’ to come to Cork for the ‘craic’. We hope by publicising this event nationwide that local groups in cities towns and villages throughout the country will repeat this initiative.
Entertainment is provided by the Cork Pops Orchestra conducted by Evelyn Grant and we expect some of our dancers to out-dance ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.
Rona Coulter from Viva Dance studio will lead the floor for a legendary ‘Slosh’ involving everyone in the hall.
The Cork Pops Orchestra will perform a selection of up-tempo and ‘smoochy’ numbers. Dancers can enjoy a range of music from Johann Strauss to Abba and demonstrate their dancing skills in waltzes, tangos, two-steps, swing dancing and a bit of rock ‘n’ roll.
Tickets are available from Pro Musica, Oliver Plunkett St., Cork
This is the online ticket link:
https://tickets.peoplesrepublicofcork.com/11189391/Lord-Mayors-Tea-Dance-2025/Sun-25-Jan-2026-3:00-pm
There will be a raffle in aid of Ethopian Deaf Project.
A voluntary Cork organisation committed to raising funds for the education of Deaf children at the Ambo Lazarist Deaf School in Ethiopia. We have a special concern for Deaf children living in rural communities who are very marginalised and have no access to school.
Details
https://www.edp-ambo.com
The Cork Pops Orchestra’s Tea Dances were devised by Gerry Kelly and grew from the successful Millennium Tea Dance project for ‘The Young at Heart’, which took place in Cork City and County.
The Cork Pops Orchestra – www.corkpops.ie – has evolved as Ireland’s only Community Orchestra providing an educational and entertainment service to the public and private sector. Large-scale projects that the orchestra has been involved in include the annual UCC Strauss Ball, the annual Doc Noonan Ball, “The Tall Ships” visit to Cork, the Tour de France, the Port of Cork Maritime Festival, an annual winter and spring concert series for schools in City Hall and Tea Dances for ‘The Young at Heart’.
The Cork Pops Orchestra runs a mentoring programme for students and emerging young professionals in music performance, multimedia and community music.