Date: Fri 19-Mar-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Grey-School-Irish-Maura-Iris

Full Text:

A Dance School Dedicated To Its Founders' Irish Heritage

(with photos)

BY SHANNON HICKS

Dance teachers of any persuasion will tell you there are some students who

pick up steps and perform from memory, while other students - and there is a

visible difference - will take in information, reinterpret it, and dance from

the heart. These latter students are the ones who enjoy dancing, who may

perhaps start instruction at a young age and continue to perform, perhaps even

professionally, through their adulthood. And these are the students whose

performances are the most enjoyable to watch by an audience.

Likewise, while Iris and Maura Grey may be certified to teach Irish dance, it

is obvious when the two sisters - the owners and founders of Grey School of

Irish Dance in Newtown - teach and perform that they are doing so from the

heart. Their school has been offering dance instruction in Newtown for over 15

years, but the school has been in existence for 24 years.

Iris Grey Sharnick has been a resident of Newtown for about six years; her

sister Maura divides her time between Boston and Newtown. The dancers grew up

in Danbury, where their school originated.

The sisters teach Irish dance classes every Monday night in the gymnasium at

Edmond Town Hall in Newtown. They also teach two days each week in Danbury,

and one day in Ridgefield, in halls and gymnasiums they rent for their

classes.

The Greys are hoping to expand their schedule to include another day's worth

of classes in Newtown before the end of the year, and also to begin classes in

Southbury by the fall.

"It's amazing," says Maura, "we see students who travel from Easton,

Fairfield, Westbrook, Oxford, Bridgewater and New Fairfield for these classes.

Tons of kids are enjoying this, and they're traveling a good distance for

their lessons."

Grey School currently has just one adult class, and Iris and Maura say this is

only because of a lack of hall time. The adults-only class is in Ridgefield on

Thursday nights, but like the younger dancers, adults are traveling from all

over to get to Ridgefield for their lessons, including a few from Newtown.

Iris and Maura are both certified teachers. To become certified, every teacher

must take an exam with the dancing commission in Ireland. Years ago, all exams

were in Dublin, which is where Iris received her certification. Now the

commission also makes an annual trip to Newark, N.J., to administer the exams,

which was where Maura took hers.

There is a written part to the exam, because the commission requires its

teachers to retain much of the history and heritage of Irish dancing,

explained Iris. Parts of the exam cover step, Gaelic and group dancing; there

is a music exam, also. The exam takes three full days to complete.

"It's a long exam, it's very intense," said Maura.

Anyone who is a member of the international commission is also required to be

a member of the local branch of the organization, so Iris and Maura are

members of the New England Region of Irish Dance Teachers. They are members of

the North American association of Irish dance teachers as well.

"Of course, we like to see anyone that is teaching to be certified," said

Maura, "but there are teachers who aren't [certified]. In order for your

children to dance in anything competitive, however, they have to be dancing

under a certified teacher."

The Grey School offers classes in traditional and contemporary Irish dancing.

They have students who are very involved in competitions, and others who

simply enjoy taking the lessons.

"You don't have to be Irish to take these classes," the sisters said with a

smile. "And you don't have to be involved in competition."

Classes begin with students lining up and stretching for at least ten minutes.

Basic drills are performed, usually a rudimentary jig and a reel. These are

traditional dances done with soft shoes. Each class then breaks into a number

of smaller groups, according to the level students have attained and what

dances each group may be working on.

The school has its annual recital each June at Newtown High School, but

performs throughout the year for special events. March, of course, with its St

Patrick's Day holiday and connotations of all things Irish, is the busy season

for the school's students.

Running the school is a full-time job. When Maura and Iris aren't teaching,

there are schedules to be arranged, paperwork to be processed, appearances to

arrange, and competitions for their students to be entered in.

"We're never not busy," said Maura, who uses much of her commute time between

Newtown and Boston to choreograph steps in her head. "Some of my best stuff

happens in my car, as far as thinking through dances."

Along with Iris and Maura, the school depends on a number of certified

teachers to keep each class running smoothly. The school's staff includes Mary

Beth Hines, Julie Logan and Colleen Manion, all of whom are certified, along

with a few assistant teachers.

"Anyone teaching or assisting is a top-level dancer," contends Maura. "There

is never a class in place without a certified teacher."

Katie Woessner, a sophomore at Newtown High School, is a student teacher for

Grey School. Now age 16, she has been dancing for 12 years, all with Iris and

Maura's school.

Miss Woessner describes Irish dancing as "very cardiovascular, with a

competitive feel to it." She agreed with the idea that learning how to dance

is not something that can be taught to just anyone.

"This is not really something you can make a kid do," said Katie, who has

noticed that while classes are primarily composed of female students, "there

are starting to be more boys coming in, especially with the younger groups.

"You have to want to do this dance, but everyone comes in real enthusiastic,"

she continued, "especially because most of them are friends before they start

their lessons. They have a good time here."

Like any other trained discipline, Irish dancing can be as beautiful to watch

in performance as ice skating, but is as athletic as football and soccer, and

as tough as ballet to accomplish.

"It's a lot harder than people think," says Laurie Cahill, one of the school's

certified teachers. It may be difficult, but it is also quite enjoyable for

those who fall under its spell.

"They're so happy," Maura said of the majority of her students. "Ninety

percent of them, you can tell they obviously practice at home because a week

after being introduced to a new step, they come back to class and they have it

mastered."

"It's one of those things that gets into your blood," she added.

When the sisters' parents came to America from Dublin nearly 45 years ago,

Iris was still a baby. Although just age 2«, she was already taking Irish

dance lessons. Her sister began just as early in life.

The girls have two brothers, both of whom also dance. "We all danced as kids,"

Iris said recently. For the Grey School's 20th anniversary recital, all four

of the Grey siblings were on stage dancing.

"When we were young, girls didn't play softball and soccer... we danced,"

Maura pointed out. "And our brothers, they became very good athletes because

they're very coordinated guys thanks to their dance lessons."

Dance has already taken hold in the next generation of the Grey family. Iris'

daughter Kate made her debut performance two years ago in Vancouver, dancing

in the Under 8 competition at the nationals. And Maura's daughter, 8-month old

Kaela, seems to already enjoy the music that surrounds her at home.

"Her hands start going, her little toes flex," Maura said. "We think she's a

born dancer."

`An Intensely Musical People'

"The Irish have long been thought of as an intensely musical people," wrote

Nathaniel Harris in his book Heritage Of Ireland (A History of Ireland & Its

People) (Checkmark Books, 1998).

Step dancing - characterized by its fast, intricate footwork with the dancer's

arms motionless - can be traced back to the 18th Century in Ireland. In fact,

by that time dancing was unmistakably one of the most popular Irish pastimes.

The English traveler Arthur Young wrote in his journals, "Dancing is very

general among the poor people, almost universal in every cabin."

The cheap pastime's popularity certainly grew in large part thanks to its

availability to all income levels. Dancing was enthusiastically practiced on

Sundays, at weddings, wakes and fairs, in taverns and in the fields. "There is

energy ... there is nothing wild and careless in the Irish approach to

dancing," Mr Young noted.

Iris and Maura, along with their brothers, began dancing at such a young age

because of dance's popularity in their homeland.

"[It was] just assumed Iris would do Irish dancing," Maura said recently. "So

my mom taught her what she learned in school - they dance in school over in

Ireland - and then brought her to lessons. It works totally different over

there."

"When you go for a dancing lesson," Iris began, "they bring you in, you go up

to the teacher and you get your step, and then off you go. It's organized

totally different. Then once you're at a certain level, then you get into a

class like you do here.

"We organize our classes like any dancing school, with dancers of similar

levels dancing together. You're there for your set amount of time, whether

it's a 45-minute beginner class, 60-minute middle level, or a 90-minute

advanced level class."

Michael Flatley, the Chicago-Irishman who was leader of Lord of the Dance and

a creator of its predecessor, Riverdance, is credited with the phenomenon that

has been surrounding Irish dance the last five years.

The revival of Irish dancing, according to Mr Harris' book, began at Dublin's

Point Theatre in 1994, when Mr Flatley and Jean Butler led a seven-minute

performance during the interval of the Eurovision Song Contest. Warmly

received, that performance was the beginning of an interest in watching and

learning Irish dance by students and audiences of all ages around the world.

"It's great to see this going mainstream," said Iris. "It's nice to see kids

doing Irish dance."

Riverdance, she pointed out, is contemporary Irish dance at "a very, very

advanced level."

"We get some people who come in," she smiled, "who point at [Riverdance] and

say `I want to learn to do that.'

"Well, that's like wanting to run before you can stand." Most students

understand their studies are going to start with the basics, however, and the

majority are hooked from their first lesson. There are always a few students

who will try lessons for a year and then leave, the Greys admitted, but the

vast majority of their students are in classes for a long time. The Greys have

students that range in age from four years old to adult.

"A lot of people know so much more about Irish dancing now," Iris said. This

time of year, the school's students are in high demand for performances at

public and parochial schools, senior centers and convalescent homes. Many

people are also hiring Iris and Maura to perform and teach basic lessons

during their wedding receptions.

"We'd probably be lost without dance," Iris said. Her sister agreed.

"It's part of our life," nodded Maura.

The Grey School of Irish Dance can be contacted at 270-7001.