Meet Kathleen Keady Walsh, one of the co-founders of the Harney Pender Keady Academy of Irish Dance, which has been serving the community for over 20 years. Kathleen is launching a new program called Little Jigz, a toddler class starting in March at the Darien YWCA for kids ages 1.5 – 3.5 and their caregiver. A former cast member of Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance, Kathleen has been dancing since she was four. Find out more about her path to becoming a dance teacher and why she finds it so rewarding.
How many children do you have and what are their ages?
I have one daughter who is 18 months old, and I am expecting a baby boy in June!
What brought you and your family to town?
My husband and I grew up in a small town with a real community feel to it, and we wanted something like that for our own children. Darien is a great town to raise children in and we have already been very fortunate to meet lots of wonderful families in our neighborhood with kids the same age as ours.
What’s your favorite aspect about being part of the community?
I love how this community is so child focused. There are so many local opportunities to get your child involved in just about anything that piques their interest. We have also been fortunate to meet a lot of great people since we moved here, starting with all the neighbors on our block. It’s the kind of community where I believe I will feel safe letting my kid’s ride their bikes to their friends’ houses, and where I feel like everyone in the neighborhood will look out for each other.
What’s your favorite family activity to do in the area?
We love going to Weed or Pear Tree Point Beach with a picnic on a nice evening and just letting our daughter, Bradley, play in the sand. Having a town beach was a big selling point for us to move to Darien!
When did your passion for dance start?
I started Irish Dancing when I was four. My dad was born in Ireland and my mom was the daughter of two Irish immigrants, and they wanted their kids to keep up with their heritage. Irish dancing became my true passion and I set a lot of goals for myself that I worked hard to achieve. Winning the Regional and National Championships were definitely career highlights, as was finishing second in the World Championships. But my best times as a dancer was touring the world in the original cast of Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance and then going on to perform in the Broadway production of Riverdance at the Gershwin Theatre. Those were both incredible opportunities that I will never forget! And since then, some of our own students have gone on to tour with both shows! Once my performing career came to an end, I knew that I wanted to teach, and here I am today!
What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
Over time, the most rewarding part of any person’s job changes as you change as a person. When I first started teaching, the competitive success of my students was where I really felt the most rewarded. Of course, we are still very motivated to see our students succeed in competition, but for me now, I find so many other things to be more rewarding. I love it when a struggling student has an “a-ha” moment and finally gets a step they thought they would never master. I love it when a kid who may not have been born with the most natural talent works harder than you thought possible and exceeds all of your expectations. I love it when young beginners grow up and become amazing student teachers and role models to the next generation of beginners. What makes this job special is that I get to coach the same kids for their entire dance life as opposed to a school teacher or sports coach who may teach/coach different kids every year. This enables me to really get to know these kids inside out and backwards and by the time they graduate they are like family! This job is truly all about having a positive impact on kids as both a coach and a mentor and I am very fortunate for the opportunity.
Do you think it’s important to keep toddlers engaged in activities?
Now that I have a toddler of my own, I am seeing first-hand the desire to get young kids out and moving and learning! I am also dealing with wait lists to get into classes and I can see a need for more things for the toddler age group to do! After participating in a variety of toddler classes with my own daughter I can now see that there is real value in putting them in a class setting at this age, even if you can’t see it at first. In the beginning they just seem to stare and learn nothing, but little by little you see them displaying skills you didn’t realize they were absorbing all along.
Tell us a little about the new toddler dance class.
Little Jigz is really a movement class rooted in Irish music and dance where we will work on coordination and agility via basic dance moves and footwork. By using repetition and some learning props, the kids will begin to follow along to the flow of the class, getting better at it each week! I’m really looking forward to starting up this class, I know it will be a lot of fun for kids and their caregiver to do together!
How do you balance work and motherhood?
Full disclosure on this question lol, as a pregnant mom of a toddler, who is basically a stay-at-home mom until 3pm and then faces the start of her workday in the evening hours, my survival tactic to help me be both a good mom and a good dance teacher is that I nap every day when Bradley naps. I don’t think I could start work at 3:15pm and make it to 8:30pm on some days without a little battery recharge! My home isn’t the cleanest and cooking dinner is definitely one of my biggest struggles, but for my mental health and overall well-being, I need that down time in order to re-boot and be effective and upbeat as both a mom and a teacher.
What’s the best advice you’ve received from another mom?
Take everything in stride. The life of a small child is just a series of phases and no phase lasts forever, even the difficult ones. They are all just a blip on the radar of life and before you know it your babies are off to college. So, I just try to enjoy every moment with my baby girl, because I know they are fleeting. She is already changing so much every day and time seems to be flying by. Sometimes I just want to freeze time!
Can you share advice for other moms considering entrepreneurship?
My advice would be to go for it! You’ll never know if your idea will work or not if you don’t try! But don’t be afraid to ask for help. Lean on the people in your life to support you in your dream!
We love to support local business. What are your favorite places in town to…
Place to eat with kids – Darien Diner, Without kids – Bodega, The Goose
Grab a drink with friends – 1020 Post
Have a Date night – Scena
Family time indoors – Open Gym at the YMCA, Stepping Stones, Family time outdoors – the Beach, the park
Spa or places to pamper yourself – Dolce for nails, Salon Halo in Norwalk for Hair
Grab Coffee – Caffe Nero, NEAT
MORE ABOUT LITTLE JIGZ AND INTRO TO IRISH DANCE CAMP
Register your little one for Little Jigz Irish Dance for Toddlers! 5-week session starts on March 1! Visit www.littlejigz.com for more details and registration! Follow @little_jigz on Instagram
Register your 4+ year old today for the Intro to Irish Dance Camp at the Harney Pender Keady Academy. Details and registration at www.penderkeady.com ! Follow @harneypenderkeady on Instagram