Dance Director, Instructor
Lauren started dancing at age four - doing the usual tap, ballet and jazz - then saw Irish Dance in her recital, tried a one-week Irish Dance summer camp, and the rest is history!
She has performed all over the Twin Cities, for crowds from small retirement homes to 7000+ people at the Xcel Energy Center, and on the main stage at Irish Fair with Scottish/Irish trad band Mànran.
Lauren danced competitively for many years, travelling all over the U.S. and to Canada and Ireland for competitions, including the North American Open, the Canadian Open, the Irish Open and the World Championships. In February 2020, Lauren came out of retirement for one last competition and became the 2020 CRN Under 21 North American Champion!
Lauren spent most of her career dancing with Cumann Rince Náisiúnta (the National Dance Association of Ireland). She began studying to be a certified Irish Dance teacher in 2016, and in March 2020 she became just the eighth person in the U.S. (and the youngest American) to be fully certified with CRN! Lauren has taught Irish Dance since 2014, from Littles to Champions, including coaching and choreography for performance and competition teams.
She is a proud member of Irish Arts Minnesota (IAM), and received their Decade of Dance Award in 2016.
In 2022, Lauren received her Master's degree in Irish Dance Studies from the University of Limerick's Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. In 2021 she graduated from Macalester College with a double major in Education and English (and minors in Spanish and Linguistics). Lauren is also certified through the American Red Cross in adult and pediatric First Aid / CPR / AED.
Assistant Dance Director, Instructor
Margaret started Irish dancing at age 12. She danced for six years, performing around the Twin Cities and competing throughout the U. S. and in Ireland at Worlds in 2014.
Margaret took some time off from dancing during college, but during her senior year, decided to return to competition, and at Nationals 2018 she became the U23 North American Open Champion!
A few months later, after graduating from Augsburg College with a degree in Special Education, Margaret decided to concentrate on training to become an Irish Dance teacher with Cumann Rince Náisiúnta. She moved to Ireland in 2018 to train with adjudicator/instructor Ann English. While in Ireland Margaret competed in the Irish Open and World Open Championships. She achieved the designation TMCRN in 2019. In August of 2022, Margaret passed her last exams and became fully certified as ODCRN.
Margaret works as a social worker for children and adults with developmental disabilities and teaches at Rince na Gréine. Margaret is certified in First Aid and CPR. In her free time she can be found giggling over her cats or reading.
Instructor
Julia has been Irish dancing with CRN since age 7 and teaching Irish Dance since 2017.
She has performed for many years around the Twin Cities area, including at beloved MN events such as Irish Arts Minnesota’s Day of Irish Dance and the Irish Fair of Minnesota, and on stage with the bands Jig Jam and Ring of Kerry. In 2020, Julia was accepted to and attended the Riverdance Summer School. She has attended twice more since then, and last time she even got to learn the Female Lead choreography!
Julia began competing in the fall of 2017 as an U15 dancer. She qualified for the World Championships at her first Nationals in 2018. She became a Champion at the Canadian Open Championships in 2019. In 2022, she won the North American Open Championships in May and the Western Regional Championships in October. In June of 2022, she competed at the World Championships for her first time, where she placed 9th in her solo championship and was part of the Freestyle team that took 3rd!
Julia began teacher training in May of 2022. She received her TMCRN in April of 2023, and plans to continue studying and training with the goal of receiving her ODCRN. She says, "Irish dancing is one of the most important things to me, and being able to share my passion with young dancers is incredible. I hope to help young dancers grow into amazing, talented athletes, and also inspire them to chase their dreams!"
Julia attends Macalester College in St. Paul.
Instructor
Chrystal started Irish dancing at age 40, and her interest quickly snowballed into competing and teaching. As an Associate Member of CRN, she taught beginner and intermediate dancers from ages 3 to 60. She has a special love for performance choreography and team dancing.
A highlight of her Irish dance career was serving as the Assistant Coach for the Loring Leopards Irish dance team, an after school program at the Loring Community School in North Minneapolis. She has also taught adaptive Irish dance to adults with developmental disabilities.
Chrystal was also an Irish dance mom for more than a decade. (She recommends "spin pins" to keep that wig on!) She has two grown daughters, and lives in Excelsior with her husband Mark and dogs Cricket and Junie.
Instructor
Lillian is really happy to be part of the Rince na Gréine staff and is excited to keep learning new things and meeting new students. Lillian has been Irish dancing since age 5 and competing with CRN all across the United States since 2017. She qualified for the World Championships in 2019 at the Canada Féile.
Lillian also really enjoys performing. She has performed for many years around Minnesota, including with the bands Ring of Kerry and Jig Jam, and at the Irish Fair of Minnesota. In summer 2020, Lillian was accepted to and attended the Riverdance Summer School, where she got to learn numbers from the show from current Riverdance cast members! She went on to attend the Riverdance Christmas Experience in 2020, and the Riverdance summer school again in 2021.
Lillian began competing as a U13 dancer. She became a New Champion at the North American Championships in Spring of 2022. She became the U17 Western Regional Champion and North American Champion during the 2022-2023 competition season. Lillian had the opportunity to compete in the World Open Championship for the first time in 2022, where she placed 14th in the U16 Championship and 3rd in Freestyle. In 2023, she placed 12th in the U17 Championship and 2nd in Freestyle.
She is entering her senior year of high school and will graduate in June 2024. Outside of attending and teaching classes at the studio, she enjoys choreographing new steps on her practice floor at home.
Instructor
Elin Eve started Irish dancing at the age of four, and she’s been dancing ever since.
Elin began competing with Cumann Rince Náisiúnta (CRN) as a solo dancer, and as part of ceili and figure teams, in 2017. She became a World Qualifier at 14. Elin has achieved many of her personal Irish dance goals including attaining Craobhgrad status and becoming a champion dancer in 2020, and in 2022 she placed 2nd at the CRN North American Championships. She was part of the Freestyle team that took 3rd at Worlds and earned 12th place as a soloist in the U18 World Championships in Killarney, Ireland.
Elin received the Minnesota Irish Music and Dance Association (IMDA) “Decade of Irish Dance” award in 2019. She always enjoys performing in the community; some of her favorite memories are performing annually at the Day of Irish Dance (at the Landmark Center) and at the Irish Fair of Minnesota.
Elin is a 2022 graduate of Park Center High School in Brooklyn Park where she was actively involved in choir, band, theater as well as the PSEO (post secondary program). She attends Brigham Young University in Utah, where she studies acting and creative writing - and is an active member of the university’s Irish dance club.
Elin loves returning in the summers to continue being part of the Rince na Gréine Irish Dance family both as a dancer and a teacher.
Yoga Instructor
Yoga has been a part of Catherine's life for nearly 30 years. Her love of the practice inspired her to train to be a teacher. She has over 300 hours of certification (Registered Yoga School) through Brian Kest Power Yoga and Syndicate Yoga.
Catherine believes Yoga can be a wonderful complement to any dance style, certainly Irish Dance. She is excited to teach a class that helps each dancer to improve strength, balance and breath work.
Business Manager
Kim was a dance mom for seventeen + years, so she understands what the parents of our dancers want and need. She has managed a couple other dance studios and is thrilled to be fulfilling her dream of running an Irish Dance studio with her daughter, Lauren.
Kim graduated from St. Olaf College with a double major in French Language and French History & Civilization, and later got her Master's in International Management (MIM) from the University of St. Thomas.
Kim has been married to Michael Plehal since 1987, and they had two children, Tyler and Lauren.
