Erin Cass - Owner

Erin began Irish Dancing at the age of seven with Mary Kay Heneghan, ADCRG, of the Rince Na Tiarna School in Buffalo, New York. She competed throughout New York, Ohio, Canada and more, before entering in her first Eastern Regional Oireachtas at age nine, placing 15th out of over 100 girls. Participating in teams was a significant part of Erin’s dancing growing up, and her choreography and drama teams took many Regional titles, as well as her 4-Hand and 8-Hand figure teams. While dancing with Rince Na Tiarna, Erin had the privilege of receiving solo and team instruction from Mark Howard, ADCRG of the Trinity School in Chicago, Aaron Crosbie, ADCRG of the Crosbie School in London, and Elizabeth and Rose McConomy, ADCRG’s, of the McConomy School in Ireland.

When Erin was twelve, her family relocated to Texas and she joined the McTeggart School of Houston. She competed throughout Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida and North Carolina. Erin has been the winner of the Paul Tynan Memorial trophy for two consecutive years, and the Dick Dowling Perpetual trophy for three years in a row. She competed in the first Southern Region Oireachtas and placed fourth, and continued placing in the top five in the following years, qualifying for the World Championships. In March of 2002, Erin traveled to Glasgow, Scotland to compete in the Worlds, and danced again the following year in Killarney, Ireland.

In 2003, Erin joined the Hibernia School based in Dallas, Texas under the direction of Erin Reid, TCRG, formerly of Dancing on Common Ground. Erin competed in the North American Nationals in the summer of 2004, and finished off her competitive career winning the Southern Regionals in December of 2004.

In January of 2005, Erin traveled to Los Angeles, California to take the Teacher Certification exam. She received passing results on St. Patrick’s Day 2005, and Cass Academy of Irish Dance became official!