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.
Owner, Dance Director, Instructor
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.
In 2024-2025 Lauren is again studying with the Irish World Academy at the University of Limerick, working toward her post-graduate certificate in Optimisation of Health for Performance in Irish Dancers.
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.
Marge 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 is the Assistant Dance Director 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 Cumann Rince Náisiúnta since age 7 and teaching Irish Dance since 2017. Her passion for dance extends from performance to competition to teaching!
She has performed for over a decade 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 the last time she attended, she even got to learn the Female Lead choreography! During her semester in Ireland, she attended two workshops with Reel Irish Dance Entertainment, where she had the opportunity to work closely with industry professionals and polish her performance skills.
Julia began her official teacher training with CRN in May 2022. She received her TMCRN certification in April 2023, and her full ODCRN certification in January 2025. Julia is excited to be part of the next generation of certified teachers, and plans to be a member of CRN when she retires from competition. She says, "Irish dancing is one of the most important things to me, and being able to share my passion with young dancers is something so special. I hope to help dancers grow into amazing, talented athletes, and also inspire them to chase their dreams!"
Julia attends Macalester College in St. Paul, where she is majoring in Statistics, concentrating in Human Rights and Humanitarianism, and minoring in Political Science. Julia spent her Fall 2024 semester living in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland, and attending Maynooth University, where she took classes about Irish cultural heritage and traditional music.
Julia also works as a Statistics Preceptor when she is at college, and as a Lead Teacher at a childcare center during her college breaks, where she cares for children ages 6 weeks to 5 years. She is certified in Adult and Pediatric First Aid and CPR.
Julia began competing in the fall of 2017 as a U15 dancer. She qualified for the World Championships at her first Nationals in 2018, and she became a Champion in 2019. She has since won many Championship competitions, including the North American Open Championships, Western Regional Championships, Canadian Open Championships, and Australian Open Championships. She has competed at the CRN World Championships three times: placing 9th, 4th, and 6th in her Solo Championship, and 3rd, 2nd, and 3rd in Freestyle.
Instructor
Chrystal started Irish dancing at age 40, and her interest quickly snowballed into competing and teaching. As an Associate Member of CRN, she has taught dancers aged 5 to 75. She has a special love for teaching adult dancers and coaching teams.
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, so she understands the dance parent life. She has two grown daughters, and lives in Excelsior with her husband Mark, and her 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 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 Open Championships in Spring of 2022. In the 2022-2023 competition season, Lillian was the U17 Western Regional Champion and the U17 North American Champion! Lillian has successfully defended her North America West Regional Champion title in both the 2023-2024 season and the 2024-2025 season, and she re-took the North American Champion title in February 2025!
Lillian has competed in the World Open Championships three times. In 2022, she placed 14th in the U16 Championship and 3rd in Freestyle. In 2023, she placed 12th in the U17 Championship and 2nd in Freestyle. In 2024 Lillian placed 8th in the U18 Championship, and 3rd in Freestyle.
She is in her freshman year of college at Macalester in St. Paul. Outside of attending and teaching classes at the studio, she enjoys choreographing new steps.
Instructor
Bernadette (Bea) has been Irish Dancing since age 5. She has performed all around the Twin Cities, and was chosen two separate times to dance with the Trinity Irish Dance Company at their local performance. She has also danced on stage with Jig Jam and Ring of Kerry.
Bea is a two-time North American Open Champion (2022 and 2024)! She has competed at the CRN World Open Championships 3 times, placing top 3 with the Freestyle Team all three years, and 18th in her solo championship in 2024!
Instructor
Dance has always been a presence in Allisun’s body from day one, even if it was just wiggling. Since her mother grew up Highland dancing, and her grandfather, Jay Willett, started the Brian Boru Irish Pipe Band of St Paul–Irish dance always seemed like family; like heritage. Allisun started Irish dancing, at age 5, with the Irish Heritage Dance Academy outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin. While dancing there, Allisun had the opportunity to dance and learn from members of Riverdance at a young age. She competed in her first competition at age 8.
Then Allisun’s family moved outside of Duluth, Minnesota, to a town called Brookston. This put a pause to her Irish dance journey since Duluth did not offer that. Allisun started training with the Minnesota Ballet Academy at age 11 taking jazz and ballet–and was surprised when they started using their arms!
Allisun has an extensive dance and theater background. She majored in Dance at the University of Minnesota, and after college, performed as a professional dancer in various shows and music videos, and taught at a local studio.
Allisun started Irish dancing again in the summer of 2022 with Rince na Gréine and she is grateful for finding a studio that feels like family. Since then, she has achieved Ardghrád level and qualified for Worlds at the North American Open Championships in spring of 2024. Allisun is currently working on her teacher training certification with CRN. She is very excited to join the staff and to dance with everyone this fall/winter! Outside of dance, Allisun is a competitive tournament chess player and is USCF rated. She also enjoys snowboarding in the long Minnesota winters and is an ASSI-certified Snowboarding instructor. Allisun is a firm believer if one is not feeling themselves to dance until they are themselves again!
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.
Assistant Instructor
Garnet started learning Irish Dance at age 8 and is one of the nine original students at Rince na Gréine. She has been competing since 2018.
Garnet became Worlds-qualified at age 16 at the North American Open Championships in 2024. She has a passion for hard shoe dancing.
Assistant Instructor
Linden started Irish Dancing in 2017 and was one of Lauren's original students when she started Rince na Gréine in March of 2018.
Linden started competing in November of 2018 at the CRN Minnesota Féile and has plans to attend Worlds 2025.
Assistant Instructor
Laci began Irish Dancing at the age of 4, started dancing with Lauren in 2016, and received her Decade of Irish Dance award in 2024. She attended her first competition in 2018 in Minneapolis, and became a champion in 2023 at the Central Illinois Championships Feis. She plans to attend the World Open Championships in the summer of 2025.
She has had such an incredible experience at Rince na Gréine these past years and is so grateful for Lauren and Kim!
Assistant Instructor Trainee
Maeve started Irish Dancing at age 7 and was one of Lauren’s first students at Rince na Gréine. She has competed since 2018 throughout the East Coast and Canada. Maeve can’t wait to attend the World Open Championships in the summer of 2025! Along with competing, performance has a special place in Maeve’s heart. She has performed all around the metro area including at Irish Fair of Minnesota and Irish Arts Minnesota's Day of Irish Dance. She especially loves getting to perform soft-shoe steps on stage. Her favorite dance is the slip jig.
Maeve loves working at Rince na Gréine and can’t wait to keep learning new things!
Owner, 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.
