New Studio Celebrating Irish Dance, Cat Rescue Steps Off In Mattituck

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In addition, the plan is to also offer Irish fiddle and tin whistle lessons — as well as the popular kitten yoga classes that have already garnered a loyal North Fork following.

Irish step dance lesson enrollment has started and anyone interested in fiddle or tin whistle lessons can register on or after September 21, she said.

(Courtesy Virginia Scudder)

Scudder spoke with Patch about how the dream for the new business was born. “I’ve been rescuing on the East End for a long time now,” she said.

Originally, her goal was to open a vintage store to help get the word out about her rescue mission — incorporating adoption events with her Rescue Vixens pinup girls, who attend fundraisers such as car shows in retro garb and help to educate about animal rescue.

But, when she heard that Lademann would not be returning to the North Fork, Scudder said her own daughter, who has been studying Irish step dance since she was four-and-a-half years old “was crying,” and the other kids were equally upset.

Scudder said she decided to create something new and imaginative — a dance studio that would offer not just Irish step classes, but kitten yoga, pinup photography with vintage clothing, and fiddle playing, embracing Gaelic culture.

Scudder said she still shares the space with a ballet teacher; for now, Gaelic Grooves is offering classes one day a week but the plan is to expand upon the schedule as additional student sign up.

Her daughter has competed in the World Championships of Irish Step Dancing. “She loves it,” Scudder said.

And so, when the news about Lademann’s departure broke, Scudder spoke with Gutis, her husband, and her rescue team. “I said, ‘I know this is out of the box, but what do you guys think?’ Everyone loved the idea,” she said.

And so, she said, “We saved Irish step on the North Fork — the kids could continue Irish step dancing, but we’ll also have other aspects of Gaelic culture. This is an amalgram of a lot of things.”

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But most of all, Scudder said, there is one mission, one heartbeat, that connects all the plans: “All of this is to help the animals,” she said.

Not only will 100 percent of funds raised at kitten yoga and Rescue Vixens events benefit the rescue, so will a percentage of proceeds from the Irish step dance classes.

The vision is one she knows dear friends, now gone, would have applauded: Scudder once told her friends Joanne Goerler and Keri Stromski— Goerler died in 2022 and Stromski,in 2021, both after fierce battles with cancer — about her vision.

“We had an event with both Joanne and Keri and I said to them, ‘I really want to find a way to be creative, combining all my passions for vintage wear and throwing animal rescue into the mix somehow, to advocate,'” she said. “Keri said, ‘All, right, Scudder, I don’t know how you’re going to do it, but I know you will do it — because every time you say you’re going to do something, you do it.'”

Stromski, she said, “was always somebody’s cheerleaders. And when she said that to me, it stuck.”

And so, the dream took shape, her goal to make the studio “into something the North Fork has never seen before. Something creative.”

Although she can’t keep animals in the studio, because it’s rented and shared with another dance teacher, Scudder said she’ll have events there to help educate and advocate.

Education about the dire need to help cats on the North Fork is critical, Scudder said.

“There are so many cats on the North Fork now,” she said. “It’s gotten so bad. The North Fork is a dumping ground for cats.”

There are so many things about feral cats that the public simply just doesn’t know, Scudder said. “People don’t understand that with feral cats, you can’t just take those cats and put them in another location — it’s illegal to do that,” she said.

Also, she said, “Cats are sensory, they get confused. They will run and hide, and then, may not have a food source,” she said.

Although helping four-footed felines is her passion, Scudder said she is exhausted, some nights to the point of tears. “I’m tired,” she said. Rescue, she said, involves many layers and much work; it’s a multi-faceted endeavor that involves not just feeding and trapping, but cleaning up after the animals, taking them to the vet — and paying astronomical vet bills — mourning when a colony is threatened by development or a cat dies tragically or must be euthanized due to illness.

But she is not alone in her tireless quest to help. “I’m blessed with a fierce team of men and women, and I’m so proud of them,” she said. “We all work together, and try our best to support each other.”

The volunteers share a group thread, exchanging “ideas, pictures, tears when a foster passes away,” she said. “It’s a lot. It’s not easy. Rescue is not just transport; it’s a combination of so many aspects. You see things you don’t want to see and hear things you don’t want to hear. The North Fork is just overwhelmed with cats. Every time you think you’ve done something, chipped away at a colony, you find another one — and someone new calls you for help.”

Her group was organized with a focus on advocacy and education, Scudder said.

“That’s where my heart is. I’m a teacher. I try to encourage people. They have to know that if they see an animal in need, they should call for help. Because that one cat can have so many litters by its first birthday — sometimes having up to 34 cats. It’s insane.”

The number one misconception that Scudder would like to shatter is that feral cats, or “community cats,” as she prefers they be called “are not wild animals. That’s a misconception. They’re domesticated animals that unfortunately have been given a bad break and have had to fend for themselves.”

Through education, Scudder hopes to see others reaching out to help. “We know the world is full of some terrible things. But it takes one good person, to do one good thing for one living creature, whether human or animal, two legs or four — and it can change the world for good. Why not? Why turn your back?”

Cats on the East End, she said, are suffering, many abandoned in carriers or left behind when their owners, who live in other areas, go back after the summer and leave the cats behind. “It does happen,” she said.

The problem is only growing worse, she said. “We live in a disposable society. Everything is disposable. People think, ‘I’m done with this T-shirt; I’m going to throw it away,” or ‘I don’t need this phone, I’m going to get a new one.’ We do that, unfortunately, not just to material things to animals — and they don’t have a voice. They can’t use words. They need us.”

Incorporated in 2015, Scudder’s organization has worked for years to educate and advocate. “We’ve rescued thousands of cats, and ‘trapped, neutered and released’ close to 4,000,” she said.

Even during the pandemic, when many rescues ceased operation, Scudder continued her valiant mission to help the animals who desperately need care.

Scudder said on the darkest of days when it’s easy to wonder if her message is being heard, there are rays of affirmation, such as when she was honored with a proclamation by New York State Senator Anthony Palumbo recently.

“I was so surprised but so happy, to know that our message is being heard, someone recognizes what we are doing,” she said. “We all give up a lot of our own time with our families to do this – we just want people to realize how much goes into rescue.”

And, too, she hopes to convey that the expenses continue to mount. Even though funds are raised at events, those monies are quickly spent on veterinary bills, so the next fundraiser must be planned and executed.

Despite the challenges, the exhaustion and heartbreak, there is the joy of helping, one cat, one animal, at a time. And so, Scudder will continue her rallying cry, a veritable melody for change, with every step the dancers take.

She wants to teach children, too, about caring for animals, about nurturing and empathy.

“We want people to know that when they send their kids to Irish step dance, that not only are we embracing Gaelic culture, they’re helping to continue our mission and be part of the rescue in a creative way. They may not be fostering a cat or doing transport, but every time those students’ feet hit the floor, they are helping an animal. We went these kids to know they are helping the mission.”

Looking ahead, she said, “We are hoping we can enroll more students, and help them all to understand that while we are saving the studio, there is this whole other level of advocacy. We are hoping they will enjoy the arts and advocating for animals as much as we do.”

Gaelic Grooves is located at 445 Pike Street in Mattituck. For information and to sign up for classes, email [email protected] or text 631-655-8538.

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