The Huntsville Irish Dancers is a certified regional branch of the The Nashville Irish Step Dancers (NISD), and is under primary direction by Mary Moran, TCRG. The Huntsville branch is also directed by champion dancer DeeAnna Heym, with assistance from her husband, champion level Ceili dancer Jason Heym.
The Nashville Irish Step Dancers (NISD) and the Huntsville Irish Dancers (HID) branch encompass a dance school dedicated to sharing the love of Irish Dance with people of all ages, genders and ability levels. We are a unique dance school because we offer classes and instruction for all levels of interest. We offer some of the best training in the southern US for competition at the regional, national and world levels of Irish Dance. We also provide certified-quality instruction and fun opportunities for anyone who just wants a healthy form of exercise or to perform in front of local audiences. Classes are available for ages 3 to adult in Nashville and Huntsville. Come give Irish Dance a try!
NISD was founded by Mary Moran in 1990. NISD was the first Irish Dance school operating in Middle Tennessee and North Alabama to win awards at both Regional and North American Irish Dancing Championships. At the 2008 Southern Regional's NISD won an impressive 17 top awards in both individual and team competition with 11 national qualifiers and 4 world qualifiers. At the 2009 Southern Regional's NISD had a 100% recall rate, including 9 soloists.
NISD has performed at the famous Ryman Auditorium and become a tradition at the The Grand Ole Opry going on 10 years now. NISD has had the honor to perform with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Irish fiddle extraordinaire Eileen Ivers and Irish legends and multi-Grammy winners The Chieftains and Cherish the Ladies. NISD was privileged to be featured guest on the Chieftains final original cast performance at the Historic Ryman Auditorium. This performance was released on DVD Down The Old Plank Road. NISD and Mary Moran have been featured in various print publications including Irish Dancer Magazine and the U.K. Irish Dancing Magazine.
The Nashville Irish Step Dancers perform in their solo competition dresses at the Grand Ole Opry in 2009
The Huntsville Irish Dancers has followed NISD's tradition by performing with local Irish bands and groups including SlipJig., Kinvara, Maple Hill, Henri's Notions, The Huntsville Community Chorus and traveling groups including Grammy award winning Cherish the Ladies and fiddle extraordinaire Eileen Ivers. We've hosted a workshop taught by Riverdance lead dancer Marty Dowds. We've peformed in regular events including the The Tennessee Valley Scottish Society's annual Scottish Festival, the Huntsville Christmas and St. Patrick's day parades, Athens Art on The Square, and The Paul Stroud Concerts by the river in Decatur.
Several of our Huntsville dancers have recently achived strong competitive success, placing 1st and 2nd at Irish Dancing competitions (feisanna) in Nashville, Atlanta and St. Louis, resulting in several now qualified to dance in the prizewinner division. All of our dancers are eligible and encouraged to compete at competitions sanctioned by An Coimisiún le Rincí Gaelacha (CLRG) and The Irish Dancing Teachers Association of North America, the two largest and most respected organizations dedicated to promoting Irish Dance in the USA and worldwide. NISD is currently the only Irish Dance school in North Alabama providing certified instruction and sanctioned competition opportunities.
We teach Irish Dance with the firm philsophy of individual attention to each dancer's needs and first conditioning the body and teaching proper technique before requiring dancers to perform complex steps or choreography. For example, we feature small class sizes and combine technique drilling, stretching and pilates into regular classes. This establishes a proper foundation and helps our dancers progress rapidly with minimal risk of injury. Mary Moran has overwhelmingly proven this philosophy based on the number of dancers Mary has trained from pure beginner to regional and national champion.
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| Wee Ones (3-5 year old) 4:30 - 5:00 pm |
Private lessons 4:00 - 5:00 pm |
Private lessons available | Private lessons 4:00 - 5:00 pm |
no classes |
| Beginner I kids/teens 5:00 - 6:00 pm |
Beginner II soft shoe kids/teens 5:00 - 6:00 pm |
Intermediate soft shoe 5:00 - 6:15 pm |
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| Beginner adult 6:00 - 7:00 pm |
Beginner II hard shoe kids/teens 6:00 - 7:00 pm |
Intermediate hard shoe 6:15 - 7:30 pm |
Irish softshoes (ghillies) aren't required until a student is ready to perform. Students can initially use ballet or jazz shoes if available to get started. If not they can start in their socks, the priority is to be able to point and rise onto the balls of the feet unhindered. T-shirts and shorts are the required attire. Leggings or tights can also be worn in colder weather, but not pants. It is important to be able to see the alignment of the feet and legs, and pants can obscure them.
Our beginner costume consists of a black t-shirt (summer) and black long sleeved leotard (winter), and a black and turquoise skirt with an embroidered satin turquoise sash. Students will need this costume when they are ready to start performing.
Our advanced costume consists of our embroidered school dress that comes with a cape, blouse and headband. Students will be advised when they are ready for these costume levels. See Ms. DeeAnna for all costume details.
Boys and men will wear jazz shoes without heels, and later with heels as they advance. Jazz shoes without heels can be sourced locally. Reel shoes with heels are purchased online. Beginner costume for boys consists of black t-shirt and shorts for outdoor performances, pants for indoor performances during the summer. Winter costuming is a black dress shirt and pants with a turquoise tie.
The advanced costume consists of the same elements of the beginner costume but with a turquoise vest and tie in winter. Students will be advised when they are ready for these costume levels. See Ms. DeeAnna for all costume details.
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We promote and teach Irish dance because we truly love it. We have dedicated our lives to teaching Irish Dance and to our students. Between Mary Moran, DeeAnna Heym and Jason Heym, we bring several decades of Irish dance experience to the Huntsville and Madison area. NISD is one of the world's top Irish dance schools in terms of competition and performance successes, opportunties to learn regardless of age or abiilty, positive attitudes and profesionalism.
Our dancers are taught a solid technique foundation followed by both traditional and modern material. All dancers are taught proper, competition-quality technique from the very beginning, even if they only seek a fun hobby, exercise or the occasional performance. Improper technique, once learned, is not only extremely difficult to unlearn later, it also raises the risk of injury. Irish Dance involves a tremendous amount of body movement without the aid of the arms. This makes proper lower body technique exceptionally important. We encourage anyone that has learned or wishes to learn Irish dance to have their dancing regularly assesed by a TCRG-certified Irish dance instructor to ensure safe and proper technique in order to provide a lifetime of enjoyment.
We provide a fun, rewarding and healthy experience for all our students, regardless of age, ability and interest level. We create opportunities for our dancers to express themselves. In 2010 our Huntsville dancers peformed in 18 public performances in and around Huntsville.
Anyone who has enjoyed Riverdance and Lord of the Dance knows Irish dancing is exciting to watch and listen to. It is even more enjoyable to perform and can be learned quickly given proper instruction. Once one masters basic technique and the structure of the music, Irish dance is very hard to give up. It can be practiced innexpensively in one's home. It is a phenomenal form of exercise and promotes good cardiovascular health. When danced with proper technique on proper flooring it offers much less impact to the joints and lower risk of injury than many sports. As is such, Irish Dance is enjoyable by people of all ages and truly provides a lifetime of enjoyment.
