|
 Born
and raised in Baltimore Maryland, I always had a passion for dancing, but was not interested in Tap
or Ballet.
Because my Mom was born and raised in Co Mayo,
Ireland, I decided to look into Irish Dancing. I began
Irish Dancing lessons at the age of 9 and loved it from the first
minute. Later I started lessons with
Peggy Thompson, TCRG in Annapolis, MD. I quickly realized
Irish Dancing it was more then a passion it was my life and I wanted
to teach. In the early 1980's, I
was talked into teaching Ceili, Set and Step dancing to adults in Baltimore,
I've loved every second of teaching from the start and feel so
fortunate to have had the opportunty to touch so many lives. Over the years, hundreds of people
have taken my classes and had the chance
to practice their newly found talents at their Weddings, the Emerald Isle Club
monthly Ceili's and local Pubs like the long gone Gandy Dancer and
still at J. Patrick's Pub Locust Point. Later I decided to also teach
children's step dancing and took my teacher's exam, offer by the
Irish Dancing Commission.
My certification was received from
An Ciomisiun le Rinci Gaelacha
(The Irish Dancing Commission) of Dublin, Ireland. As a
registered instructor, the School is subject to all the rules and
regulations set forth by the Irish Dancing Commission. These are applied
by The Irish Dance Teachers Association of North America,
Southern Region.
The school no longer offers
adult Ceili, Set or Adult Step dancing,
I gave it up so I
could place all my energy into children's classes, plus enjoy
some family time on the side, I'm married to a wonderful Italian and have three children,
twins Olivia & Nicholas that are three and a son Andrew who is six.
The McHale School of Irish Dance was founded to offer classes
affordable classes to
children 5 years and older. Classes offer a wide range of
levels: beginners, intermediate and advanced. Class are currently
taught in Marriottsville/Randallstown & Lutherville, Baltimore,
Maryland.
Students learn all the aspects of Traditional Irish Dancing in a
fun loving environment. Some students opt to compete in a FEIS
(competition) while others love the performance opportunities.
No matter what the child's passion maybe we certainly support each
student to obtain those goals.
Our school goal focuses on learning Irish Dance while having fun,
no wild costumes or wigs found in this school. Kids are
allowed to be kids........ without all the Feis (competition) pressures.
CO-Instructor
Beth Schell Balog
Beth was introduced to Irish
step dancing at the age of four after seeing a
performance at a local Irish Festival. She spent the next
thirteen years performing and taking part in competitions, enjoying
every moment. When some dancers age out after they
finish high school, Beth quickly realized her love of Irish dancing
was huge part of her life. She decided to change the focus to
the next generation of young dancers. Over Ten years ago Beth
started assisting Linda McHale with her classes. Today Beth is
a co-teacher in the Lutherville location, helps with choreography
and takes part in all of our performances. Her enthusiasm and dedication to the next generation is obvious when
you watch her with the students, whom just adore her.
Beth finds teaching enjoyable and extremely rewarding.
Beth is Married, works full time as an Occupational Therapist
and has a toddler Colleen running around at home.
Student Teachers
In both locations I
have students that will help with the beginners classes, this helps
to break-up groups allowing a better pace for individual students.
This allows us to keep those advancing quickly challenged. The
youngsters enjoy spending time with the older advanced dancers.
I find they become a role model and encourage the students to strive
for learning more. With the hopes that they too someday will
be helping with a beginners class.
** I am present at every
class, if I'm unavailable class is cancelled. **
MISSION STATEMENT
Our
school mission is to teach Traditional Irish step dancing in a
productive environment with focus on students self worth.
Which will become a positive growth experience for the student while
taking part in a activity that he/she enjoys. We support
all students in their efforts should they decided to compete,
perform, or just dance for recreation. Our belief is to
have a young students remain individuals, enjoying themselves, so we
do not focus on the non important such as hair (some schools
require wigs) , make-up and lavish costumes. We
try to make classes and school costumes affordable as
possible. We have a non-investment policy, we don't
recommend you purchase anything until you're sure this is an
activity your child likes and would like to stay involved with.
Learning
to dance at our school is not about pressure or the fuss and muss of
extravagant dresses or wigs, or even competitions but
about the individual journey and where one wants to take their
Irish Dance experience!
Dance Recital April 2008
Photo by W. Bishop
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Straw Boys stop by
for a few laughs |
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2009 Maryland Irish Festival
Timonium Fairgrounds! |
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