News!

July 1, 2009. Remember!! There will be class on July 4, and July 11 at our usual time. There will be NO classes on July 18th, July 25th, and August 3rd, since Sharon will be out of town. In addition, the time of our Saturday class is changing. Please watch this site for further updates.

June 15, 2009. Sharon will be presenting an Irish Dance Workshop on July 12, 2009 at the Red School Mall Dance Studio. Teaching techniques, strategies and choreography for the Novice dance will be the topic. It is designed for teachers, but students at this level are also welcome. Click here to see the details about this exciting opportunity!

June 1, 2009. Springfield Hypnosis is open for business at the Red School Mall at 1275 Wabash Avenue in Springfield, IL!! We offer Hypnotherapy and Personal Coaching services. Most people think of hypnosis for weight loss, smoking cessation, and fear reduction. Did you know that hypnosis is also incredibly effective for pain management, sports enhancement, academic achievement, eliminating bad habits, and for moving beyond the gerbil wheel of thoughts in your mind? Check out Springfield Hypnosis today and see how you can make your life better!

April 2, 2009. Springfield Hypnosis will be opening its doors at the Red School Mall in Springfield soon! Watch this space for the announcement!

March 29, 2009. Classes have resumed, and we are again accepting enrollments. We look forward to meeting new friends in our classes.

March 9, 2009. REMEMBER!! There will be no class on either March 14th or 21st, since Sharon will be out of town. We will resume our regular schedule on March 28th. See you then!

February 5, 2009. Join us on February 15th as we participate in the Dance-Yoga Project's Open House, from 3:30pm to 4:30pm. See you then!

January 28, 2009. We will be having class as usual on Saturday, January 31st after all. Sharon had been planning on teaching a Personal Finance Class at LLCC, but due to circumstances beyond her control, the class has been rescheduled to March 28th. We look forward to seeing you at dance!!

January 26, 2009. Our LLCC Ceili class starts on February 23rd. We will not be presenting the step dance class, but if you'd like to give Irish Dance a try in the Community College setting, see LLCC's website for all pertinent details!

December 21, 2008. Join us on January 4th as we participate in the Dance-Yoga Project's Open House, from 2:00pm to 3:30pm. We will not have class on December 27, but we will have class on January 3rd at 11:30 as always. See you then!

November 21, 2008. Hooray! We have a new home! We are pleased and extremely excited to announce that we will begin regular classes on Saturday, December 6th at 11:30am in the Red School Mall. Our gracious host is Dance-Yoga Project. For the moment, we will be having a single class on Saturdays. We are planning on adding classes as our attendance grows. We will also be participating in their open house on January 4th. Please see their website for details.

September 21, 2008. Hurry! Our classes start on September 22nd for this semester. We will be presenting these classes again during the second semester, if you can't join us this time. See LLCC's website for all pertinent details!

August 21, 2008. We will again be holding our popular classes at Lincoln Land Community College. See their website or the recently mailed brochure for all pertinent details!

July 24, 2008.  Coach Sharon's Personal Coaching is now open for business at the Golden Heart Hypnosis Center in Chatham, IL. What do we offer? HypnoCoaching -- Personal Coaching combined with hypnosis to make an unbeatable combination. You still don't understand? Well, imagine that you have a problem, and you have no idea how you're going to fix it. You need a new career; you've made some questionable financial decisions and now you don't know how you're going to keep paying your bills; you have lost yourself in your many roles in life, and have forgotten who you are and what you love; you're stuck and have no idea how to get better grades. If any of those sound familiar, stop complaining and come see us. We help people rediscover themselves, and regain their power, their passion, and their purpose. Deva Sojourn. Let us help you make your life better.

June 2, 2008. We will be running two summer sessions at LLCC during the IMSA weeks. Join us from July 21 through 24 or from July 28 through July 31 for our four-day introductory classes. Ads are appearing in the Illinois Times and the State Journal Register. Click here for the link to their summer schedule web page, and select the Summer Youth Schedule option.
And, we will again be presenting our popular ceili and step dance classes at LLCC during evenings in the Fall 2008 semester. See you there!

May 4, 2008. Sharon was in California at the beautiful Palomar Mountain Lodge near the Palomar Mountain Observatory during the week of June 9th. Update: We had a wonderful time. Brian Covington was our amazing host, and a fun time was had by all! See the photos page for pictures of the lodge and the surrounding environment.

March 15, 2008. The Achill Irish Dancers performed at the Nelson Center in Springfield, IL, during the last home game of the Springfield Junior Blues regular season. Our beginners did extremely well, and everyone was impressed. We may be Irish dancers, but during the hockey season, We Bleed Blue!

February 27, 2008. Sharon has completed her work and testing and has been awarded her Licensed Instructor of Irish Dance certification (TCRG)!! Thank you to everyone who has supported her through this effort.

January 19, 2008. We held our introductory workshops at Dance Arts Studio in Springfield. Thank you so much to everyone who came out to join us. We appreicate your attendance! We're looking forward to our regular classes, starting January 26th. See you then! Workshop flyer

November 9, 2007. We will be performing at the Waterford Event at the Macy's in White Oaks Mall in Springfield on December 8, 1:30 to 2:30. We are also proud to announce that the always-exciting band The Emerald Underground will be entertaining with us. Please come out and join us! We'd love to see you there.

October 16, 2007. We have a location! Join us starting in January of 2008 at the Dance Arts Studio on MacArthur Blvd in Springfield on Saturday afternoons for classes in Ceili and in step dancing. Email us for registration and other information. The flyer with the announcement is attached below.
We are honored to be part of the arts community here in Springfield.
Achill Academy Flyer

October 13, 2007. The AAIDT Gold Crown Feis was held in Smithville, NJ, with many dancers and teachers in attendance. The weather was beautiful for the national championships, and Sharon Stidham participated as the scrutineer for the event. We are fortunate to be associated with such a wonderful, positive organization.

October 9, 2007. Sharon conducted an Irish Dance Masterclass for the Springfield Ballet Company on October 21, 2007 at the Hoogland Center for the Arts in Springfield IL.

September 6, 2007. We will have an exhibit and will be performing at the 4th annual Multicultural Fair at Lincoln Land Community College on September 26, 2007, along with other ethnic and cultural groups. Look for our performance at 5:00pm. See you there!
Read LLCC's press release on the event here.

August 10, 2007. Join us in Campus Town at the Illinois State Fair on August 18, 2007. We will be performing with other LLCC groups. Look for us at 10:30am and again at noon. We will be dancing, having fun, and explaining the upcoming classes.

August 9, 2007. Lincoln Land Community College announces its new fall schedule, including our classes! Follow this link to their Community Education program, and click on the schedule link for more information.