The Teachers

Terri Heckman T.C.R.G. Owner/Director - O’Connor Irish Dancers Terri comes from a family that has a fairly rich Irish Dance history. Terri's Mother and her 5 sisters danced for the Cunniffe School in Athlone Co. Westmeath, Ireland back in the 1940's and 1950's. Terri was a highly successful and respected dancer during her competitive years. Ever since Terri founded O’Connor Irish Dancers in September 2003, it has become a very accomplished dance school. Currently there are 120 families enrolled in Terri’s programs.

Previous to 2003, Terri taught for the highly successful Tony Comerford School of Irish Dance, where she taught (for 4 years) beginner to World and North American Championship qualifiers/placers, and the same time she was helping pioneer Irish Dance on continental Europe.

Terri has given workshops in Germany, Austria, Finland, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, USA, and currently has added O’Connor Irish Dancers, Mexico to her pioneering efforts. Terri taught for several years at Celtfest (Celtic performing arts workshops on Vancouver Island), and regularly holds and gives specialized workshops within her classes. During the 4 years Terri traveled to Europe giving workshops, she held the first ever feis competition in Vienna, Austria, that is still being held annually to this day.

The love of the dance form has driven Terri from an early age, and she feels that not only is it her responsibility to pass on what she has learned to the younger generations and groom dancers to be successful, but also to pioneer in areas were qualified Irish Dance teachers aren’t as accessible. This opens new doors for Irish Dance in general, Terri as a teacher, and also provides her current students opportunities to experience other cultures through dance exchange programs and workshops.

Terri states that Irish Dancing provides and has provided many, the opportunity to learn numerous life lessons, values, and skills that cross over into all aspects of life. The formula for success remains the same, not matter what the endeavour.

Marika Karjalainen Assistant Teacher Finnish born Marika Karjalainen is a music teacher with a degree from the Tampere Conservatory, Finland. After finishing her studies in piano and music theory she remained as a teacher at the Concervatory for 8 years. In addition to her classical training Marika has an MA degree in Ethnomusicology. Marika became interested in Irish dancing after seeing Riverdance and has been dancing since the late 1990's. She has attended many workshops overseas and has been coming back to Vancouver for Terri's classes ever since the first visit in 2001.

In 2003 Marika moved to Limerick, Ireland and danced for Anthony Nolan. It was an amazing experience for her to be able observe closely how some of the best dancers in the world are trained. In 2003-2004 she also studied Ethnochoreology and Irish dancing at the University of Limerick. While in Ireland she enjoyed being introduced to other genres of Irish dancing, such as sean-nós and set-dancing.

Marika has been closely involved with developing Irish dancing in the Nordic countries and she was amongst other things the head of the first ever Nordic feis committee in Finland in 2004 and a board member of the Nordic Society of Irish Dancers for many years. She has taught her own ID class in Finland and has competed in the An Coimisiún competitions in the Nordic countries, mainland Europe and North America.

Marika is currently working on her PhD in ethnomusicology/dance anthropology. Her main interest is the choreomusical relationship in the competitive Irish step-dance, in which she enjoys the possibility of combining her love for both music and dance in her research.

Terri is training Marika for her TCRG exam.

Courtney O'Brien Assistant Instructor Courtney has been dancing and competing since she was 9. She has competed nationally and qualified for worlds many times. Currently, she is training for the North American Championships in Nashville, Tennesse and also studying Business Administration at Simon Fraser University.

Carolyn Robinson Assistant Instructor Carolyn has been dancing for 12 years and has placed in the top three at both North Americans and other international competitions. Carolyn is preparing to dance at the North American Championships in Nashville this July. She is currently in her 3rd year of university at UBC and is studying geography to obtain her degrees in both Education and Geomorphology.