During the summer of summer of 2003, the McKinney Academy of Irish Dance and the Sollus Highland Dancers came together to perform as part of the Walled City Cultural Trail. This was the first time that the two traditions of Ulster Scots and Irish Dance cams together to perform within Northern Ireland.
Since then, the idea has been developed, and Bready Ulster Scots Pipe Band and St. Joseph's Brass Band have joined the dance groups on numerous occasions.
The largest, and most sucessful of these performances, was staged in the Millennium Forum, when the group combined with professional players and actors, to tell the story of the region over the last 400 years, from The Plantation to The Ulster Rebellion, Seige of Derry, Emigration 1798 Rebellion, The famine, Partition, the First and Second World Wars, as well as looking at our own recent past.
In February, 2008, the McKinney Academy of Irish Dance, the Sollus Highland Dancers, and an exciting new 12 piece band, Kintra, performed in the Alley Theatre.Kintra is the first group of its kind to feature Bagpipes & Fiddle as the lead instruments in a culmination of Irish, Scottish and Ulster Scots music. It consists of 12 young musicians, singers and dancers under the direction of local fiddle player Matt McGranaghan.
Mixing well known and loved pieces like ‘Highland Cathedral’ and ‘Caledonia’ with new compositions by Matt McGranaghan, Kintra’s show finishes with a compelling finale featuring ‘Will Ye Go Lassie Go’ which inspires a wonderful sense of pride in our shared heritage and knowledge that our futures are safe in the hands of our youth.