"OUR MISSION IS TO PROTECT AND GROW THE SELF ESTEEM OF OUR DANCERS, ENHANCING THEIR LIVES WITH SELF BELIEF, HONESTY AND THE ETHIC OF GOOD HARD WORK"
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Elaine Walker ADCRG is the founder of The Elaine Walker Academy of Irish Dance. Elaine was born in England to Irish parents and danced competitevly all her life, qualifiying and dancing at Championships including The An Coimisiun Worlds. Elaine learned her first steps from her Grandfather and then danced for the prestigious Anne King Academy. After moving to Germany and settling down with her family she started a performance group in 2000.
After being introduced to the fresh, new, open, transparent and above all European based WIDA philosophy of Irish Dancing, Elaine recognised that the opportunity of devoloping dancers within a school setting was now actually a reality in the Stuttgart area and decided to become a qualified Irish Dance teacher. She opened her school in 2004. Since then her dancers have regularly and successfully attended Feiseanna and Championships. Elaine also hosts WIDA sponsored feiseanna including the Stuttgart Open Feis - run in conjunction with The Irish Dance in Sindelfingen e.V. The highly polished performance groups within the Academy are trained by Elaine and perform regularly in the area.
Victoria Reier is our newest teacher and fresh out of solo competition at the 2009 WIDA Worlds (where she took a wonderful 3rd place for her slip jig). Victoria is working hard on her accreditation as a WIDA teacher, having passed her first level for the TMRF - ceili teacher - in spring 2009 and the second and third levels in spring 2010. In May 2010 she successfully completed the first three parts of the TCRG, the step- teacher certification and is working hard to be finished and fully certified by the summer of 2012. We are very happy to have her as an assistant for many classes each week! Sharon Stenhouse TCRG is our second-in-command, and advisor on all things for Elaine. No stranger to competing in Irish dance growing up in Ireland, Sharon joined our ranks just a few years ago and quickly danced her way up to Open level, coming in second at the 2008 WIDA European Championships. After that, she hung up her solo costume, but continued in ceili and figure dancing until 2009 when she happily welcomed her first child Jessica. Sharon successfully completed her Teacher Training program in April 2011 and is now a certified TCRG. The Academy also regularly brings in Consultants from the extended Irish Dance World to ensure that the steps and choreographies it teaches are right up to date and technically perfect. |