NYC Irish Dance Festival 2021

Niall O'Leary (dancer) is a former All-Ireland and World Champion dancer from Dublin, Ireland. His teachers included Kevin Massey, proclaimed by Michael Flatley to be “the greatest ever Irish dancer,” and Rory O'Connor, the first man to do Irish dancing on radio. The Niall O’Leary School of Irish Dance has been building the Irish dance community and training champions since 1995, and currently has locations in New York City, Miami, and Mexico. Based in New York City for more than 20 years, O’Leary performs regularly as a solo artist, in duet with Darrah Carr, with Mick Moloney’s Green Fields of America, and with his professional company, the Niall O’Leary Irish Dance Troupe. He is a performer, choreographer, master instructor and adjudicator in Irish dance, and most recently a performer and instructor in Celtic Tap Improv, a new genre he created. He is the artistic director of the New York City Irish Dance Festival presented by Irish Arts Center in May each year. O’Leary was honored to be an adjudicator for the 2018 World Irish Dance Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. He has recently recorded a new video, Celtic Tap Improv: Introduction, Instruction and Deconstruction. O’Leary is a regular feis adjudicator and musician, playing piano-accordion and keyboards; he also plays spoons and bodhrán. He was founding chairperson of Úll Mór CCÉ, the first Manhattan branch of Comhaltas (1997), and served as president of the Irish Business Organization of NY Inc. (2010-11). He is founding president of the new Manhattan branch of Conradh na Gaeilge (2017). Additionally, O’Leary practices as an architect. O’Leary has been honored by Irish America magazine as one of the Top 100 Irish-Americans of the Year, and by the Irish Echo as a community champion. 

Photo credit: Amanda Gentile

The Gardiner Brothers (Matthew and Michael) are five-time World Champion Irish dancers who were born in Denver, Colorado, and began Irish dancing at the age of three. They moved to Ireland in 2006 and continued at the Hession School of Irish Dance. During their competitive career, they have won more than 50 major championship titles, including five World Championships between them. They made Irish dancing history in 2015 by winning their respective World titles in the same year in Montreal. They are members of Riverdance and have toured internationally with the company. They have also become viral on social media (@gardinerbrothers) with their Irish dance videos set to myriad styles of music. Matthew and Michael both now teach and choreograph for schools and events around the globe, and love sharing their talents and the Irish culture with the world! They also take part in online workshops and seminars for culture and dance, and have appeared on national television and radio multiple times. Matthew is also currently studying civil engineering in the National University of Ireland, Galway, and Michael is a qualified architect.