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Olympia, Washington

Popular teacher of Irish dance dies

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KETTLE FALLS -- Deirdre Haran Abeid, who popularized Irish dance throughout the Inland Northwest, has died at her home near Kettle Falls, her family said.

She was 48 when she died of cancer Saturday.

Abeid started a dance school in 1992 in her husband, Simon's, shop building at home.

That was later expanded to Haran School of Irish Dance studios in Kettle Falls and Spokane.

Many of the school's 350 students have performed around the Pacific Northwest, as well as in Japan and Austria, as the Haran Dancers.

Abeid was "absolutely central and pivotal" to Irish dance in the region, said Carlos Alden, a founding member of Spokane's Celtic Nots band.