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Sharon's experience in Irish Dance began long, long ago, in 1969, when her father, the first president of the Tara Association in New Brunswick, NJ, asked the now legendary Joan McNiff Cass (TCRG/ADCRG) to provide dancers for one of the club's early meetings. As the father of several daughters, he realized that this dance form would be something they would all enjoy. Sharon (and her sisters) began Irish Dance shortly thereafter. Eventually, Joan gave up her New Jersey school, and her brother, the late, great, Cyril McNiff (TCRG/ADCRG), took over. Cyril was one of the founding members of the Irish Dance Teachers Association of North America (IDTANA), and the teacher of many of the finest Irish dancers in the history of US Irish dance. Sharon blossomed under his tutelage. With the McNiff school, and with her sisters, she performed at venues as small as the annual dinner dances hosted by the Tara Association, to venues as grand as Carnegie Hall. As an individual competitor, Sharon won numerous local, regional and national awards, and qualified regularly for the Worlds competition, then held annually in Ireland. College, career and life intervened, and she put her dreams of teaching Irish Dance on the back burner for many years. Then, in 2005, she discovered Kay Brown LaGreca's Shandon School of Irish Dance in Plano, TX. Again, Sharon trained, and easily won the adult competitions she entered. However, she knew that teaching was in her blood, and decided upon moving to Springfield, IL, that it was time to open her own school. She has since been actively involved with other Irish Dance organizations, and in 2009, was part of a team creating a new, strictly open platform group focused on the love and perpetuation of Irish Dance. More information will be released in March of 2009. Come join us as we all enjoy the demands and beauty of traditional Irish Dance! |
Sharon Stidham
Achill Academy of Irish Dance
1275 Wabash Avenue
Upper Center Office
Springfield IL, 62704
[email protected]
www.achillacademy.com