Two great Irish dance schools merge:
O'Connor-O'Brien School of Irish Dance
 DANCERS with the O’Connor-O’Brien School of Irish Dance outside the West Vancouver class location. The dancers are excited as they prepare for the North American Championships in Orlando, Florida this July.
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VANCOUVER – The O'Connor-O'Brien School of Irish Dance was formed in the summer of 2009 with a merger of two pre-existing Irish dance schools. O'Connor-O'Brien offers classes in four locations in Vancouver's Lower Mainland (North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Vancouver, and Ladner), and locations on Vancouver Island (Victoria and Nanaimo), as well as Toluca, Mexico.
The merger brings many dancers together under the same banner, with the opportunity to make friends not only within their own classes, but with OCOB dancers at all locations. The larger school means there is more opportunity for dancers to participate in workshops with both teachers.
“The camaraderie and energy at competitions and performances is very noticeable. The dancers are enjoying, not only the dancing, but each other's support, and it shows in their dancing and results.”
The O’Connor-O’Brien School is taking 29 dancers who qualified at their Regional Oireachtas last fall to the North American Championships in Orlando, Florida this July.
The dancers are excited to be attending the prestigious event, which is expected to have over 2,500 dancers attend. The school will have dancers competing in solo categories, eight hand ceile teams, and dance drama. For some, this will be their first time attending a North American Championships.
Terri and Mairead are very proud of their Mexico class, who had the most first place medal wins at the recent Acapulco feis (33 firsts with a 30 dancer entry, followed by the next highest achieving class who had 31 firsts with an entry of 82 dancers).
They are also proud of Marisa Nava, their instructor in Mexico who, with Terri and Mairead's help, successfully passed her TMRF exam this past January.
She is now an official teacher with An Coimisiun le Rince Gaelaha. O'Connor-O'Brien is happy to welcome back Marika Karajalainen of Finland, as an assistant in the Vancouver class in September 2010.
Marika has a masters in Ethnomusicology, and attended classes with O'Connor for data collection for her PhD in 2008. She will be studying, and writing her TCRG (Teacher's Exam) under the O'Connor-O'Brien banner.
Carolyn Phillips-Cusson who assists in Nanaimo, will also be studying for her TMRF exam. Carolyn is a certified Highland dance teacher and adjudicator with the Scottish Official Board, and is the director of CeltFest.
Registration has started in all locations for fall 2010. If you would like more information on classes, please contact Terri (Lower Mainland) at (604) 506-2589 or Mairead (Vancouver Island) at (604) 340-2370.
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