Eleanor Finneran-Grose recently received her TCRG certificate and opened her own dance school called Rince Le Nor in Sydney, Australia. She teaches 30 students twice a week in the evenings after working full-time and pursuing post-graduate studies. Eleanor had a successful competitive career in Irish dance herself and now aims to pass on what she learned from years of training and corrections. Several of her new students recently competed in their first feis just eight weeks after starting lessons with Eleanor. She is enjoying the challenge of teaching beginners but finds ways to engage them, such as having the students teach movements back to her.

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Dancing Down
Under with
Niamh Champion
Eleanor’s – Rince Le Nor
Receiving her TCRG certificate in
August 2012 after sitting the Brisbane
exam in May, some of Eleanor’s
students have even already had their first
feis! “I had no intention of starting a school
immediately,” says Eleanor. “But it just
worked out so wonderfully that I could.”
Working full time, while also studying
post-graduate qualifications in Sonography
– Eleanor already has a full schedule. But
on Monday and Tuesday nights she adds to
the mix a 45-minute journey from her work to
the studio, and then three hours of classes
before getting home at 10pm. “Yeah, I have
a lot on,” says Eleanor. “But I love it, and
it is definitely worth all the hard work.”
Eleanor is no stranger to hard work – she
was a competitive Irish dancer in Australia
for 18 years and started her first dance
lesson aged two-and-a-half. During her
competitive years, Eleanor reached top 10
rankings in the Australian Championships
multiple times, and reached the top
five at NSW State Championships for
her last four years of competition. And
in 2011 Eleanor competed at the North
American Nationals in Nashville placing
29th. But despite her impressive results,
Eleanor claims to never have felt like her
talent came naturally. “I don’t think I was
a completely natural dancer,” she says.
“Well, nothing came too easily to me.”
Eleanor believes it can often take a great
deal of hard work to perfect something, but
sometimes it is more beneficial to not get
it perfect right away. “Over the years I have
heard a lot of corrections, sometimes very
detailed corrections, and by having to listen
and work hard at perfecting placements
I think it will actually make me a better
teacher. From listening to corrections I
know what needs to be done, and how it
should be done – but I also know from a
student’s perspective what it is like to be
told something isn’t right when you do it.”
From 1994 until 2011 Eleanor danced
under the tuition of ADCRG Donna Halloran
and ADCRG Leanne Halloran from the
Halloran School of Dance, and believes
she learned invaluable skills from her
dancing down under 50 IDM www.irishdancing.com
www.irishdancing.com IDM 51
time there. At Halloran I studied jazz, tap,
ballet, hip-hop and Irish,” says Eleanor.
“And last year, while I was studying
for my TCRG exams Donna and Leanne
Halloran permitted me to teach some of
their Irish classes, so I had some experience
of teaching behind me.” But Eleanor says
teaching Irish dancing to beginners for the
very first time is a daunting task. “I was
intimidated at first – I had no idea what
to do. The thought of running a class of
beginner dancers terrified me! And I have
12 little children under the age of seven in
the junior class who are all beginners, so
they go wild if you can’t keep them occupied
with things,” she says with a giggle.
Eleanor is thankful for a few older students
who joined her school who have taken ballet
classes, which helps them with their turn
out, points and lines. But the beginners
are a bit more work as they need to learn
all the basics. Still, Eleanor is enjoying
the challenge that new students bring!
Just eight short weeks after opening
her dance school, seven of the school’s
new beginners have already experienced
their first feis of the year; competing in
the AIDA NSW St Patrick’s Day Graded
competition. Eleanor says she has
developed some strategies to help her
class continue to succeed. “I ask the kids
to teach back to me,” says Eleanor with a
smile. “As the saying goes – the best way
to
learn
is to
teach.”
After noticing some of her younger
dancers were not performing in time
to the music, Eleanor questioned if
they had a correct grasp of the skills.
“Sometimes I wondered if they actually
understood what they were learning,”
says Eleanor. “The younger kids couldn’t
do it as well to the music, so I would ask
them to teach me the over-two-three’s
or the hop-hop and back, and I think
it has really worked out well since the
kids are picking things up quickly, and
proving their learning along the way.”
With new challenges ahead, Eleanor is
now preparing her dancers to perform at
the NSW Sydney Royal Easter Show. “We
have so much to do, but it’s amazing!”
says Eleanor. “Teaching really is something
special, and I absolutely love it.”
As one of Australia’s newest TCRGs, Eleanor Finneran-Grose is off to
a cracking start. Eleanor, 25, started Rince Le Nor in January 2013 and
teaches 30 students twice a week after being invited to teach at a ballet and
Jazz school called The Edge Dance Centre in Sydney’s north west.
Lily and Sophia - Rince le Nor beginners