Creative Director of Malley Sport, Nicola Byrne
The Irish dancer behind Malley dancewear
ABOUT NICOLA
Co-founder and creative director of Malley Sport, Nicola Byrne, knows what Irish dancers want when it comes to dancewear and team apparel. Not only is she an award winning graphic designer and experienced Irish dance costume designer, she is a former lead dancer with Riverdance and a qualified TCRG.
Nicola started her dancing career as a very young child with the renowned O’Shea School in Dublin, Ireland. She went on to have a very successful competitive career including earning 4th place at the World Solo Championships and 2 time winner of the World's Mixed Céili Team competition.
She qualified as an Irish dance teacher, TCRG in 2004.
Nicola was lead dancer and dance captain of the Irish dance show Irish Thunder, Busch Gardens, USA, from 2001 to 2004.
In 1999 Nicola, joined Riverdance as part of the flying squad and and went on to perform the female lead role in the show from 2006-2009. She proudly performed her first show as lead dancer in her home town of Dublin, in the Gaiety theatre.
A video of a German TV performance from 2009, where Nicola and Alan Kenefick perform as lead dancers with Riverdance is one of the highest viewed Irish dance videos on Youtube with over 32 million views.
Nicola was chosen to perform as a featured dancer during President Mary McAleese’s state visit to Hungary in 2008.
Nicola was a choreographer and dancer on RTE’s Celebrity Jigs 'n’ Reels in 2006 & 2007 and won the 1st series with her partner, actor Killian O’ Sullivan.
At the first ever Eurovision Dance Contest in 2007, Nicola came 3rd with her partner Mick Donegan as they proudly represented Ireland.
In 2012 and 2013, Nicola was one of the featured choreographers with the Irish Dance & Music spectacular, Take The Floor.
Nicola holds an honours Bachelors degree in Design & Visual Communication from The National College of Art and Design in Dublin.
She has also completed a dress designing course in the Grafton Academy of Fashion design, Dublin.
Since the age of 16, Nicola has been designing solo and team Irish dance costumes.
Creative Director, award winning designer and former Riverdance lead Nicola Byrne came up with the idea of the Malley Sport First-Feis dress.
“Having danced all my life I saw the need for a really stylish dance dress for beginners and teams that would be very affordable but also very fashionable and functional. I have worked for years on the concept and am delighted to finally bring the idea to life and give young dancers the chance to wear a beautiful, high quality school team dress from the start of their dancing days! Any design is possible with our dress and because of its modern style and option of short or long sleeve, it is the perfect dress for shows and performances too!”
The benefits of the Malley Sport FIRST FEIS DRESS:
VERY AFFORDABLE
PERFECT FOR A BEGINNER DRESS/ TEAM DRESS, SHOWS OR PERFORMANCE
ANY DESIGN IS POSSIBLE- choose from our wide range of stunning set designs or let our creative team design a unique dress for your school
ANY COLOURS ARE POSSIBLE- we have a full range of colours including bright fluorescent colours.
DURABLE, PREMIUM QUALITY, TECHNICAL DANCETECH FABRIC with sublimated design.
EASY WEAR AND WASH
HANDY STANDARD OFF THE RACK SIZING FOR ALL AGES
LONG SLEEVE OR SHORT SLEEVE OPTION
WORLDWIDE SHIPPING
MINIMUM ORDER OF 10
MALLEY PREMIUM CREATIVE TEAMWEAR
Combining her experience and love of Irish dance and passion and skill for design, Nicola set out with a mission to revolutionize the Irish dance apparel and teamwear market. Malley Sport has rapidly built a reputation for its innovative approach to teamwear design, superior quality garments and excellent customer service.
Malley Sport is wholly Irish owned and operated from Dublin, Ireland. The malley creative design team works closely with dance schools worldwide to create unique apparel that gives each school an original identity and makes them stand out.
Our product range has been developed to fulfil the needs of the modern dancer from technical studiowear to fashionable team performance apparel.
We design innovative dance tracksuits, hoodies, tight fit leggings, yoga style pants, dance shorts, skorts, baseball tops, polo shirts, full zip tee's and skirts and are very excited to launch our new range of Irish dance dresses and costume bags very soon!
If you are looking for cutting-edge teamwear that will inspire and motivate your team and make you stand out, then look no further than Malley Sport- we will create your dream team look!