HQA Staff

Mary Heavey-Quinn, TCRG | DIRECTOR

Mary Heavey-Quinn has been teaching Irish dancing for over thirty years. Mary took lessons in the Jamaica Plain/West Roxbury area for over 20 years under the guidance of Maureen Hansen Keohane. Through her dancing career, she competed throughout the United States, along with the World Irish Dancing Championships in Dublin, Ireland. She is a member of the Irish Dance Commission in Dublin, Ireland, the Irish Dancing Teacher’s Association of North America and the Irish Dancing Teacher’s Association of New England.

Mary started teaching Irish dance with her own teacher, and not long after finishing her competitive career, she received her TCRG certification from the Irish Dancing Commission in Dublin, Ireland. Kathleen Flaherty, who danced under Mary, received her TCRG and ADCRG with Mary's guidance. Dancers who have taken lessons from Mary have had opportunities to showcase their talents through many venues, including Studio 2 Stage, Riverdance Camp, and Walt Disney World.

 

Kathleen Flaherty, TCRG | ADCRG

Kathleen Flaherty, a former student at the academy, is a TCRG and an ADCRG. She is a graduate of the Dean College School of Dance, University of Massachusetts at Lowell and Emmanuel College.

Ms. Flaherty teaches elementary school in Lowell, Massachusetts, and holds the following licenses issued by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education: Elementary Education, English as a Second Language, Performing Arts, Reading Specialist and Special Education.

Brittany Beacham Tomascak, TCRG

Brittany Beacham Tomascak danced competitively for the Coogan School of Irish Dance in Connecticut for 15 years. Under the tutelage of Brenda Coogan O’Leary, she had the opportunity to compete in many National and International competitions including the All-Ireland, All-Scotland and World Championships. She received her TCRG in 2015 and was thrilled to join the teaching staff at the Heavey Quinn Academy!

Brittany graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2011 with a B.S. in chemical engineering and in 2016 completed a Master's Degree in biochemistry from the University of Saint Joseph. In addition to teaching, she works as an analytical development scientist at a local pharmaceutical company.

Ronan McCormack, TCRG | ADCRG

Ronan McCormack is one of the worlds most sought after Irish Dance choreographers. He began his training at the age of 3 in Dublin and before long was competing at feiseanna throughout Ireland and the UK. The following 20 years saw a competitive career, which included Irish, British, North American and World successes.

Ronan is also an accomplished musician and in 1994 graduated from the Waterford Institute of Technology with a B.A. Music degree. It was during his last year at college that he was chosen to be part of the original Riverdance troupe for the Eurovision Song contest and he subsequently toured the UK, USA and Canada with "Riverdance – The Show." Not only did he dance with the show, he also played keyboards with the Riverdance Orchestra.

He returned to Ireland in 2000 to sit the TCRG examination and followed this with the ADCRG – adjudicator's diploma. Since then, he has traveled extensively, choreographing for both competitive dancers as well as performing companies and is constantly in demand to adjudicate both in Ireland and internationally. At present, he coaches competitive dancers in Ireland, the USA, Japan, Norway and Russia and is on the faculty of the University of Limerick, providing master classes to the students of the Traditional Irish Music and Dance B.A. program.

Having also trained in tap and modern dance, Ronan has appeared regularly on television in Ireland. In 2004 he appeared as a "dancing giant" in the Miramax production "Ella Enchanted." In 2006, he choreographed and appeared in a production of “Playboy of the Western World” for the Norwegian State Theatre Company. He was one of the professional dance partners in RTE's "Celebrity Jigs 'n' Reels" – Ireland’s answer to "Dancing With the Stars." More recently, he was featured in the TV3 produced “Strictly Irish Dance” on TLC Network and was associate producer of the BBC/RTE series "Jigs & Wigs – The Extreme World of Irish Dancing."

Anthony Murnane, TCRG | ADCRG

Anthony Murnane hails from Auckland, New Zealand and was born into a famous Irish Dance family, "The Whitty's." He is part of the fourth generation of Irish dance teachers in the Whitty family – one of the longest familial associations to An Coimisiún le Rincí Gaelacha. Anthony's great grandfather, Harry Whitty, was the first person to introduce Traditional Irish Dancing to New Zealand from his native Co. Cork in 1906. His grandmother, Cecelia Whitty, became New Zealand's first certified teacher with An Coimisiún and later his great aunt, Alice Whitty ADCRG, was one of New Zealand's first adjudicators.

Anthony began dancing at the age of seven. He went on to win several New Zealand Championships from Junior Boys to Senior Men’s, along with numerous other competitions for both solo and Ceili/figure dancing, as well as placing in the top 10 in the World Championships. Having retired from competitive dancing, Anthony toured throughout Europe before settling in Dublin, Ireland.

Anthony obtained his TCRG diploma with honors in Dublin in 2004 and taught dancing there for several years. He received his ADCRG diploma in Derry in 2010 and has since adjudicated extensively around the world. Anthony is delighted and honored to be working with the Heavey Quinn Academy.

Kasey Fournier, INSTRUCTOR

Kasey Fournier is a 2010 graduate from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and holds a BSBA with a dual concentration in Marketing and Management. She currently works full-time at Dell Technologies as a Global Marketing Operations Consultant and a typical workday for her involves collaborating with colleagues located around the world. Her favorite pastimes include planning events, playing golf, and going to the beach.

Kasey's Irish dancing career began with the Heavey School when she was five years old at a church in Chelmsford center. Throughout her competitive career, she had the opportunity to travel to many competitions with her favorites being Nationals held in Nashville and San Diego. She has made many lifelong friends through dance and considers the HQA her family and “second home.”

Kasey began assistant teaching with Mary and Kathleen when she was in high school and continues to love working with dancers of all ages, even adults! Her fondest memories include preparing for the 2013 World Championships in Boston and the amazing surprise performance by dancers at her wedding in 2017.

Deirdre Morello, INSTRUCTOR

Deirdre Howell Morello began her dancing career at Heavey Quinn at the age of 4.  She has been teaching at Heavey   Quinn since  high school.  She graduated from Framingham State University and is a proud mom of two.  Throughout her   competitive career, she had the opportunity to perform and travel to many competitions throughout the United States  and Canada.  She has made lifelong friends through Irish Dance and continues these friendships as life moves on. 

 Deirdre has a special love for children which makes her a perfect fit as our Jump'n Jig Coordinator.  She loves to work with young dancers and to bring them along to see their success and share her love of Irish dancing!