Trinity Irish Dancers: From Chicago church basement to world-famous performers

Like fabled leprechauns, Trinity Irish Dancers are popping up everywhere this week. They have hundreds of performances on stages across the city leading right up to St. Patrick’s Day.

To understand how they became a household name, we need to go back 42 years to a church basement on Chicago’s North Side. 

In 1982, 20-year-old Chicagoan Mark Howard got a wild idea.

“I was just a young teacher and I had this dream to put us on the map (and) push the boundaries of what’s possible,” he said.

He looked to transform a traditional jig into a work of art, one so different, it would put Chicago’s Irish on the world stage. 

He set his sights on the emerald of all dance battles, the World Championship of Irish Dance.  Five years later, the Trinity Irish Dancers did something no other U.S. team had ever done. They beat the Irish at their own game.

“Being the first American school to win a world title and then dominating for so many years after that too,” Lead instructor Deirdra Kiely said. “Growing up in Ireland, everyone knows who Trinity is.”

“‘That was a big moment that lead to the rest,” Howard said.

Not only did Howard put his Chicago Irish dancers on the map, but on major stages across the U.S. and abroad. They group earned rave reviews for elevating the traditional dance into a stunning piece of contemporary performance art.

It is a story now memorialized in a hallway lined with more than 16 world trophies and four decades worth of dancers. 

Several of Howard’s former students now instructing the next generation.

Between charity recitals at retirement homes, Blackhawk games, school visits, parades and TV appearances, Trinity dancers do more than 150 performances in the month of March alone.

“I think the secret here at trinity is they’re taught the magic is in the doing. It’s enjoying being together. It’s enjoying working hard toward something,” Howard said. “We’re building a community of joy and it’s so critical in today’s world.”