photo: www.rte.ie

Gavin O'Fearraigh and Dearbhla Lennon performing to Kila's The Mama Song and combining Irish dancing with a hint of tango have been chosen to represent Ireland at the 2nd Eurovision Dance Contest. Watch the national selection show (with guest - ESC winner Dima Bilan) here.

Gavin O Fearraigh is an Irish-speaking actor and model, born on 5th of May, 1980 in Gaoth Dobhair, Co Donegal, Ireland. Gavin began acting at the age of seven and has performed in various theatre productions including "Caitlin Ni hUallachain", "An Posadh" and "Beidh a Chuid fhein ag an Fharraige". He currently plays the part of Conall Daly, a mischevious barman in the very popular Irish language TV Drama, TG4's "Ros na Run". After getting the part of Conall Daly in the hit soap, he landed his first TV commercial "The Next Generation" which was featured on RTE, TG4, TV3, SKY1, SKY NEWS, E4 and MTV. He recently played the role of Ruairi O Donaill alongside Oscar nominee Stephen Rea in RTE/TG4 documentary, "Flight of the Earls". Gavin has also featured on television programmes like RTE's "The Afternoon Show", "Tubridy Tonight", "The Late Late Show", TG4's "Cula 4", "Aingeal sa chisitin". He was a judge on RTE’s "Fair City Sings" on Christmas Day and more recently he presented the reality TV series "Cartai Poist". He also takes time to travel to the West End once a year to work with the Principals from such shows as "Billy Elliott", "Les Miserables", "Hairspray", "Sound of Music" and "Wicked". Gavin has also been busy modelling with Catwalk Modelling Agency in Galway. He has worked with Peter Dillon best known for his work in Martial Arts, stunts for TV and movies who has worked alongside stars including, Liv Tyler & Orlando Bloom. He has also played the lead role for three years running in the inaugural Performing Arts School Galway Panto Cinderella, Aladdin and this year's "Sleeping Beauty". Gavin has recently founded his own Irish college "An Chead Ghluin eile", located in his home town of Donegal, where students can learn the native Irish language through classes, activities, workshops from acting to traditional Irish dance. Gavin enjoys an active social life and is always up for fun, adventure and new challenges!
Gavin is delighted and very honored to be representing Ireland in this years Eurovision Dance Contest 2008, something he thought never possible especially in dance. His main goal now is perform to the best of his ability and with the help of Dearbhla do Ireland proud.

Dearbhla Lennon was born on June 30th in Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland, and hails from a successful Irish dancing family. Dearbhla's sister, Ciara, was dancing with Lord Of The Dance Troupe 3, and their mother, Mona Roddy, is a dance teacher. Dearbhla and Ciara's cousins are Patrick and Niamh Roddy, both "Riverdance" leads. The Roddys' dad, (Dearbhla and Ciara's uncle) was the first man to ever win three consecutive Irish dance World Championships. Dearbhla Lennon began dancing at the tender age of two. Having achieved multiple accolades at regional, national and World Championship level, Dearbhla went on to represent Ireland at numerous International & Celtic Festivals throughout the world, from Galicia to Zambia and many in between, dancing for both dignitaries and underprivileged, Presidents and orphans. Prior to joining the original production of "Lord Of The Dance" in 1996 in the age of 17, Dearbhla was studying languages and international marketing at DCU. With LOTD she toured North/South America, Europe, The Middle East, South Africa and Australia. After participating in "Feet of Flames 1998", she started sharing the role of Saoirse, the Irish Colleen with Bernadette Flynn. In the summer of 1999, she joined Troupe 4 at EPCOT, in which she also danced the role of Saoirse and Morrighan. After T4's stint was over, Dearbhla joined T2 as Saoirse, where she was reunited with her long-time boyfriend, 'Dark Lord' Cian Nolan. In early 2001, she also started dancing as Morrighan with T2. In June 2001, Dearbhla decided to move on and left the show. In 2005 after dancing with the Riverdance Flying Squad, Dearbhla has been promoted to lead dancer with the Corrib Company. You can see video of her Riverdance performance here. Dearbhla has also traveled the world in this capacity, performing in theatres across the Far East, Europe and Egypt. Later Dearbhla worked with Riverdance director John McColgan in his highly acclaimed production of the play 'The Shaughraun' for the Abbey Theatre Dublin.

Some of the highlights of Dearbhla's dancing career include performing on The Academy Awards, performing for Prince Charles at The Royal Gala in The Royal Albert Hall, The opening of the 2003 Special Olympic Games (in front of an 80,000 strong audience),The BBC Proms in the Park (where she performed as a soloist) and of course winning 2007s Celebrity Jigs N' Reels with her partner Gavin O'Fearraigh.

Dearbhla graduated with a first class honours degree in Journalism and Media Communications in 2004. She was also awarded "Student of the Year" at Griffith College Dublin. During her time at college, she worked as both a fashion model and dancing teacher, having obtained her TCRG exam in 2001. She continues to teach alongside her mother; their school being one of the world's most successful - last year alone, they took home 17 Gold World Medals. After a brief period as a print journalist, having had a number of magazine cover stories, Dearbhla began working in television in 2005 as a roving reporter for RTE’s The Afternoon Show. She is currently partaking in an Irish language series for TG4.

Dearbhla is very much looking forward to taking on a new challenge and opening up her dance experience to include the intricacies of ballroom and latin dancing! "This experience for me has been nerve-wracking because it's a public vote and no matter how well you think you've done, the public are going to vote for who they like. Last year we were very proud of our entry. I thought Nicola and Mick did brilliant to come third. This year we have the celebrity element which means the level of dance will come down a little bit but the viewing figures will be higher. I'm quite nervous thinking about it now because it is such an honour to represent your country", commented professional dancer Dearbhla.

"It's all about representing our own identity as a nation and that's why we felt it was important for us to stick to Irish dancing in what is going to be a very serious competition. "I've been dancing non-stop since the end of Jigs'n'Reels and I think by now people know me more for my dancing rather than as Conall of Ros na Run," added Gavin.

RTE's Marty Whelan and Brian Redmond, Managing director of "Spin Dance and Fitness", 3 times All-Ireland ballroom champion will be live broadcast commentators on RTE on 6th of September.

He said: "Gavin and Dearbhla actually have a really good chance, now you see Jigs 'n' Reels and what a natural dancer he really is and Dearbhla is just an astonishing professional dancer.
"The great thing for Gavin is that he is also frighteningly handsome and this will help him no end, he's got a lot going for him in this competition."

Last year Ireland came third and Marty thinks Gaoth Dobhair native Gavin will be able to use his Donegal charm to wow the judges.

Marty added: "The contest will be broadcast all over Europe so and at this stage I think we might throw a hat at winning the Eurovision and we really have a good chance.
"Irish dancing still has a great appeal all over the world and people do know it and I think this will have some bearing on it.
"I'm really looking forward to it and we need to get everyone around the country to show their support for Gavin and Dearbhla."