Irish dance school vandalized

Jeanne Farrell, co-owner of the Farrell School of Irish Dance, said her husband Michael, who has been teaching Irish step dancing for 45 years — 10 years at the school’s current location — discovered the damage Tuesday.

“He teaches there various times during the week, but there are days when no one is there so we don’t even know when it happened,” Farrell said. “He showed up for class on Tuesday and that’s when he discovered all the mayhem.”

Graffiti spray-painted on the walls included the word “death,” the name “Sara” and a drawing of male genitalia, among other images.

Dance items were strewn around the floor and mirrors were smashed with a golf club that the studio owner keeps on the premises, Farrell said.

The last time someone was at the school was last Thursday, so the damage may have occurred some time over the weekend, Farrell said.

There was no money or valuables on the property, she added.

“Why would they break into a dance school?” Farrell said. “There is absolutely nothing of any value in there to anybody else other than the dancers.”

The incident was reported to police and is under investigation, she said.

No arrests have been made.

“We are just hoping someone will make a remark or something, and somebody will get turned in,” she added.

The public — both the dance community and the community at large — has been supportive, Farrell said. One person donated paint and another donated time to make repairs. A resident who lives nearby offered to sit outside and keep an eye on the building, Farrell said.

One individual offered to start an account to raise money to make repairs, but Farrell said she refused.

“It’s really just a couple of gallons of paint and some mirrors and we will be back in business,” she said. “It’s just disheartening for the children because they walked in and saw somebody had destroyed their dance school.”

When Michael Farrell walked into the building Tuesday, there were a couple of young students, age 7 to 9, following him inside for a beginner dance class.

“When he walked in and saw the first writing on the wall, which was the phallic symbol, he shushed them out the door, but they knew something was wrong,” Jeanne Farrell said. “They saw something on the wall — of course they didn’t know what it was because he got them out the door pretty quickly — but they knew he had to cancel class and that some people had come in and wrote things on the wall and broke glass. Irish dance is something they love, it’s their heritage, and to have something bad happen to something they love is just disheartening.”

In addition to graffiti, broken glass and other items strewn around the room, Farrell said there were 80 chairs that had been stacked up against one wall of the studio. The chairs were moved to the other side of the room and restacked.

“Carrying and stacking 80 chairs from one side of the room to the other and restacking them? Why would you do that?” Farrell said.

The Farrells plan to install cameras at the school to discourage future vandals.

Dance classes have not been held since the vandalism was discovered, but Gavin’s Irish Country Inn has offered the use of a dining room to hold classes until repairs have been made.

“The Michael Farrell School of Irish Dance has been a signature part of our Irish-American community here in East Durham,” innkeeper Bernadette Gavin-Palmieri said Thursday. “It is just the right thing to do to offer the space to a dance school that is such a big part of our community.”

The Blackthorne Resort, which owns the building where the school is housed, also offered the use of another site while repairs are being made, Farrell said.

“The outpouring of support from the community and disgust that this could happen in our little town — our little town is pretty awesome — has been wonderful,” Farrell said. “For someone to come in and try to destroy something harmless like a dance school for children and wreak havoc is just disturbing.”