Take two 20-odd year old girls from Waterford City who specialise in hip-hop dancing, and ask them what they’d like to do in the All-Ireland Talent Show. Becky Grice writes

The answers you’d expect to receive might include hip-hop dancing, more hip-hop dancing and, perhaps – this is only a guess – hip-hop dancing.

And you would, for the most part, be right.

What you may not expect is for these two girls to dress as 75 year old women, and then perform songs, dance and skits to the tunes of the Pussycat Dolls, Missy Elliott and Lil Wayne.

Then again, Sinead Gould and Louise Durand aren’t just two hip-hop dancers from Waterford, they are, in fact, the Ghetto Grannies.

What started out as a favour to a friend during a benefit night, to raise funds to send said friend to college in London, has now turned in to a fairly full-time career (one where stockings, hair rollers and a copious amount of red lipstick are all part and parcel of the package).

Earlier this week, the East Cork Journal caught up with Sinead Gould, one half of the Ghetto Grannies, as the duo prepare for their live performance on the All-Ireland Talent Show on February 7th.

‘It really all started out as a bit of a laugh,’ Sinead states on a break between from work, ‘We were asked to MC a benefit night for a friend of  ours and for some reason that neither me nor Louise can remember we said “Why don’t we dress up as grannies to do it?”’

‘We went out to charity shops to pick up outfits and performed that same night. The reaction from the audience was great, and it just went on from there really.’

But weren’t people surprised when you started dressing up as senior citizens?

‘No, not really,’ Sinead laughs, ‘although I’m not sure if that says more about us or our friends and family! The benefit night was done totally last minute, we made up lyrics to some well-known hip-hop songs and did it on the fly.’

As Nanny Ned (Louise plays her counterpart Nanny Nay-Nay), Sinead is a student in Waterford, currently on a TEFL course, while best friend Louise is studying Geography and Economics in UCC.

In between their studies and jobs, the girls don’t find that much time to rehearse but are adament that their performance on February 7th will be something to look forward to.

‘We started hip-hop dancing really, really young,’ Sinead enthuses, ‘We’ve been best friends since we were four years old and, when a dance school opened in Waterford we were there.’

Taking part in – and finally teaching – as part of Bright Beat, the girls got to train children from the age of five all the way up to adults who fancied themselves as the next Pussycat Doll.

‘We’ve always had a taste for dancing and music,’ Sinead continues, ‘I just don’t think either of us ever expected to be dancing like this in cardigans, hair nets and head-scarves!’

To drum up support for the Ghetto Grannies, the girls are holding a fundraising evening in Mason’s Bar in Waterford and will also be performing guest appearances at UCC, WIT and some secondary schools.

‘We’re promising something special on the night,’ Sinead raises the game. ‘We pre-record the rapping, dancing and voice-overs and act it out. Rapping is a lot of fun as you can change current music to suit whatever you want to say.’

But are the girls scared of falling into the same trap as another Irish duo recently seen on the X-Factor?

‘We LOVE Jedward,’ is the definitive response, ‘Maybe, if we’re lucky and everyone in the South supports us, we’ll get to sit down with them for a cup of Barry’s tea in the near future!’

The girls first auditioned in September 2009 and can’t believe how time has flown since then, when John Creedon chose the Ghetto Grannies as one of his top 8 to represent the South in the All-Ireland Talent Show, with a top prize of €50,000 at stake.

And for the Ghetto Grannies, €50,000 is a whole lotta hairnets.

The Ghetto Grannies will appear on  the All-Ireland Talent Show on Sunday, February 7thn on RTE One, live from Ardmore Studios, Bray, Co. Wicklow.

Becky Grice
Editor
East Cork Journal

Tel. (021) 4638 022
Fax. (021) 4638 927
Email: editor@eastcorkjournal.ie