Trinity Irish Dance Company | Casting February 28, 2026

MARK HOWARD (Founding Artistic Director / Choreographer) For three and a half decades, this Emmy Award winning choreographer has been transcending craft to produce art that simultaneously represents the past while looking to the future. Born in Yorkshire, England and raised in Chicago’s Rogers Park, Howard began dancing at eight, teaching at 17, launched the Trinity Academy of Irish Dance at age 20, and coached the first American team to win gold at the World Championships of Irish Dance by 25. Howard would go on to redefine what was possible for American teams, becoming the first to win gold in all team categories. In 1990, the non-profit Trinity Irish Dance Company was formed to celebrate and further Howard pioneering his distinct movement genre, ‘progressive Irish dance’. In the late 80s and early 90s Howard was a regular guest on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson and has worked extensively in TV and film, including with a wealth of celebrities from Tom Hanks and Conan O’Brien to Jimmy Fallon and Oprah Winfrey, to name a few. His work has brought numerous grants and awards, from choreographer’s fellowships with the National Endowment for the Arts to his recent induction into the 2023 Irish American Hall of Fame. This year, he was named by Irish America Magazine to the Top 100 Irish Americans for the fourth time.

CHELSEA HOY (Associate Artistic Director / Choreographer / Dancer) Chelsea Hoy’s diverse skill set and affinity for connecting with her community made her uniquely equipped for a career in the performing arts. Over the past decade, she has become a major player in the performing arts world. Hoy’s work as a choreographer and dancer has been celebrated by audiences and critics worldwide - from New York City’s Joyce Theater to Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre to Tokyo’s Orchard Hall. A Denver native, Hoy joined the Trinity Irish Dance Company (TIDC) in Chicago in 2014 and was named TIDC’s Associate Artistic Director in 2018. As a formidable performer, choreographer, Associate Artistic Director, and organizational leader, Hoy has been at the heart of shaping and evolving this important cultural organization throughout the past decade. She recently celebrated the world premiere of ‘The Sash’, her third co-choreographed work with Howard, following ‘An Sorcas’ (2018) and ‘Taking the Mick’ (2024). This year, she was named to the “40 under 40” by the Irish Echo. A powerful activist and artist, Hoy is proud to join Howard as they spearhead the future of this cultural art form.

BRENOSHEA (Guitar, vocals, and composer) is a singer-songwriter originally from Killarney, Ireland who moved to the United States in the late 90′s. Since then, he has become a veteran of New York City’s songwriter scene and has released five albums that have garnered praise from critics and press around the world. TIDC’s lead singer for over 25 years, with or without a guitar in hand, O’Shea excels at drawing people in. His latest album Midatlantic Ghost, a beautiful acoustic record with songs of leaving and of love, is available on iTunes. Visit www.brendanosheamusic.com for more info.

CHRIS DEVLIN (Guitar and vocals) is a Chicago-based musician who began playing guitar at 8 years old. He has since grown as a multi-instrumentalist and is a professional analog recording engineer and producer. Devlin has been a collaborator with varied musical acts across the country and was a key member of the band Rookie, which saw nationwide success as a touring rock band. Dedicated to community and culture, Devlin is a founding member of the Treehouse Collective, which owns one of the most prestigious analog recording studios in Chicago. Devlin’s dream is to open “The Workshop”: an accessible studio for Chicago artists in need of a space to create. Devlin took his first trip to Japan with the company in 2016, and is incredibly honored to share his talents with TIDC on international stages.

JAKE JAMES (Fiddle and bódhran) is a two-time All-Ireland fiddle champion, bodhrán player, and dancer from New York City. He has been called “one of the finest and most accomplished young musicians around,” and his 2018 album Firewood was deemed an “outstanding debut solo recording” (The Irish Echo). Since then, he has released In Reel Time with fellow NYC flute player Brenda Dowling and become a member of The Consequences who released their debut album When You Weren’t Looking in summer 2023. Jake has performed at various venues including the Irish Arts Center, BB King's, Gracie Mansion, and Carnegie Hall. Additionally, he has a Masters in Composition from the Aaron Copland School of Music. Visit jakedjames.com for Jake’s performance schedule and more info.

STEVEN RUTLEDGE (Percussionist) is a Portland-born, Chicago-based freelance musician and music instructor with a strong passion for playing and teaching music. Growing up in Portland, Steven studied at the University of Oregon and received a B.A. in Drum Set and Percussion Performance from Columbia College Chicago. While there, he spent three years studying privately with Chicago-based musician Tom Hipskind, who is currently one of the most sought-after drummers in the Midwest. Rutledge has worked as a performing, recording, and touring artist for several premiere Chicago acts, and is currently working on projects with artists such as Abolish Victory!, Juno Dunes, and Ari Lindo. He is also the owner and manager of Rock Start Lessons, a Chicago-based educational organization that offers in-home and virtual music lessons. He joined the TIDC band in 2018 for his first tour of Japan and will be entering his 8th touring season with the company.

TOBY ELLIOTT (Percussionist) is a Chicago-based freelance drummer, percussionist, and teacher known for his versatility across a wide range of musical styles. Equally at home in jazz clubs, concert halls, theaters, and rock venues, Toby performs everything from straight-ahead jazz and classical orchestral repertoire to rock, pop, and experimental music. He currently studies at the DePaul University School of Music, where he receives formal training in both jazz and classical performance, developing a broad musical vocabulary and a flexible, detail-oriented approach to rhythm. Toby has performed with many Chicago groups including the Gershwin Opera Theatre, Kokandy Productions, and The Toby Elliott Trio, to name a few, and remains an active presence in the Chicago music scene. This is Toby's first appearance with TIDC.

MICHELLE DORRANCE (Choreographer) is a New York City-based artist who was mentored by Gene Medler (North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble) and many of the last master hoofers of the jazz era. Career highlights include: STOMP, Derick Grant’s Imagine Tap!, Jason Samuels Smith’s Charlie’s Angels/Chasing the Bird, Ayodele Casel’s Diary of a Tap Dancer, and Mable Lee’s Dancing Ladies. Company work includes: Savion Glover’s Ti Dii, Manhattan Tap, Barbara Duffy and Co., JazzTap Ensemble, and Rumba Tap. Solo work ranges from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to commissions for Martha Graham Dance Company, Vail Dance Festival, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Center and James Lapine’s Flying Over Sunset on Broadway. A Doris Duke Artist, Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow, MacArthur Fellow, and a Jacob’s Pillow Dance Awardee, Dorrance has also been supported by United States Artists, The Joyce Theater, the Alpert Awards, Princess Grace Foundation-USA, The Field, American Tap Dance Foundation, and the Bessie Awards. Dorrance holds a Bachelor of Arts from New York University and an honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of North Carolina. She is a Capezio athlete and was recently named an Associate Artist at Sadler’s Wells.  

JAMEY HAMPTON and ASHLEY ROLAND (Choreographers) have been collaborative partners for over four decades. Together they were co-founding members of MOMIX, co-founders of ISO Dance, and for the past 28 years, they have been co-artistic directors of BodyVox in Portland, Oregon. Hampton and Roland have taken their art to virtually every continent around the globe. They have toured their work to Paris, Tokyo, Rome, Milan, Lyon, London, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Los Angeles…the list goes on. Hampton and Roland have both won Emmy’s and American choreography awards. Their work is known for its wit, humor, emotion, physicality, and its unique use of props, costumes, rigging, and theatrical devices. They frequently incorporate film into their productions, and have made several award-winning short and long length films. Ashley has made two works in the past for Trinity Irish Dance Company. Pasture Bedtime/Bleating Hearts is their first collaborative work on Trinity Irish Dance Company. 

STEPHANIE MARTINEZ (Choreographer), a Chicago-based choreographer, takes audiences on dynamic journeys driven by the kinetic energy of her award-winning works spanning 15+ years. Her creations have been commissioned by top companies including Joffrey Ballet, Ballet Hispánico, BalletX, Bruce Wood Dance, Kansas City Ballet, South Chicago Dance Theatre, Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami, and Milwaukee Ballet, with theater credits at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and American Repertory Theatre. Martinez’s bold, contemporary voice pushes the boundaries of ballet, crafting over 70 works for professional and collegiate programs nationwide. Recognized for her contributions as a female artist of color, she has received numerous grants and acclaim, with the Chicago Tribune hailing her as a “chameleon” of choreography. Martinez is the founder and artistic director of PARA.MAR Dance Theatre, established in July 2020.

SANDY SILVA (Choreographer) and her work stand at the vanguard of contemporary artistry in traditional music and dance. For the past thirty years, she has drawn from percussive dance practices from many regions, including Hungary, Appalachia, Cape Breton, and Andalusia, as well as the idioms of circus, contemporary dance, and theatre. Silva weaves a dialogue between these vocabularies, blending the local and the post-modern in an organic, bodily response to her world. The result is an incredibly dynamic and emotive expression at the crossroads of movement and sound. Committed to the craft of bodily rhythm making, Silva transcends the world of sound and gesture to engage emotionally with cultural form. She is a dynamic and consummate performer: her very presence can hush a crowd with the faintest whisper of a shoe against the floor or set the stage alight with blazing body rhythms.

PAUL MARSHALL (Filmmaker) is an award winning photographer and videographer from the North of Ireland. He graduated MFA Fine Art with distinction from the Belfast School of Art and operates a one-man suite of technical production services in photo, video, 3D, 360 and VR. Paul also now teaches video to photographers part time at the school of art. At heart, Paul sums up his role simply as ‘storyteller.’ Paul has a long history with Trinity Irish Dance Company spanning over 20 years as percussionist, photographer, and videographer, and is a former member of Different Drums of Ireland. Having grown up during the troubles, Paul brings a wealth of lived experience and a singular perspective to this work.

KEVIN SHARKEY (Composer) was born in the early 70s in Derry, Northern Ireland. Growing up during ‘The Troubles,’ Sharkey found himself too close to a bomb blast. While recovering from the injuries that resulted, Sharkey discovered a deep passion for music and a love of diverse cultures. He began playing drums in 1986, and has been playing professionally since 1990, with an eclectic mix of bands, recording projects, tours, and workshops, including Different Drums of Ireland, The Undertones, Emmylou Harris, James Galway, and Thom Yorke. Through four years with Different Drums of Ireland, Sharkey worked with the Peace and Reconciliation Society of Northern Ireland, bringing Protestants and Catholics together through music and the arts. Sharkey continues to create music as a way to bridge differences and foster harmony. Sharkey’s original soundtrack Alternative 12th was the inspiration for Trinity Irish Dance Company’s most recent work, The Sash.

TAYLOR YOCUM (Guest Dancer) began her dance career in Spokane, Washington studying ballet at Spokane Ballet Studio under the direction of Sara Donnelly. She graduated in December of 2021 with a BFA from SUNY Purchase College where she attended on a merit scholarship. During her time at college, she was selected to study abroad in Beijing, China at Beijing Dance Academy. Taylor is a company member and co-rehearsal assistant of PARA.MAR Dance Theatre. Taylor also serves as a choreographic assistant to Stephanie Martinez. Yocum has previously performed with South Chicago Dance Theatre and the Lyric Opera of Chicago as “Maneulita '' and as a dancer in the production of Carmen. Taylor has choreographed for Danceworks Chicago and Thodos Dance Chicago’s New Dances, COMMON Conservatory and Trifecta Dance Festival and she was the Associate Movement Director alongside Stephanie Martinez for A.R.T’s world premiere of Kate Hamill’s “The Odyssey.”

JIMMY KEANE (Guest Musician) Irish music accordion virtuoso Jimmy Keane was born in London of Irish-speaking parents from Connemara and Kerry. His late father Jimmy was a magnificent sean-nos (old style) singer, and along with young Jimmy’s mother Mary, actively encouraged him to take up traditional Irish music. Jimmy’s accomplishments are far reaching. He has achieved astonishing and unprecedented success in competitive playing, having won five consecutive All-Ireland titles on the piano accordion. He has always been an avid collector and arranger of old tunes and is becoming increasingly known for his original compositions, many of which have become part of the mainstream of traditional Irish music around the world. He also has recorded and produced numerous albums. Jimmy currently performs as a soloist and with his bands: bohola, and The Irish Rovers. Visit jimmykeane.com for more info. 

KATIE GRENNAN (Guest Musician) Katie Grennan's traditional fiddle playing carries the articulation of a gifted classical musician tempered by the soul of a champion Irish dancer. Her wide-ranging experience as an international touring performer in both live stage productions and television have given her a unique platform as an ambassador for the music of her heart. Katie was the fiddler in the popular Irish-fusion band Gaelic Storm for over five years, has recorded a number of solo albums, and currently plays in a number of musical projects at the forefront of the Celtic genre, including Reverie Road and The Bow Tides. In 2024, Katie was awarded the Musician of the Year by Chicago-based radio program Ireland Tonight. Katie is committed to sharing the gift of music with others. She is the current Executive Director of Sharing Notes, a Chicago-based non-profit that brings joy and comfort to hospital patients through the power of live music. 

PATRICK MURRAY (Guest Musician) has been playing the uilleann pipes for (almost) thirty years. He made his onstage debut at Steppenwolf Theater in John Singe’s Playboy of the Western World, and has toured with Trinity as far as Fairbanks. These days he’s mostly at home with his family, but might be considered a regular at several Chicago sessions. He teaches the flute, and makes his own reeds.

SEÁN CAROLAN (Guest Musician) Seán Carolan is a bassist who has taken the stage across North and South America as well as Europe playing Bluegrass, Jazz, and Irish Traditional Music. Hailing from the dynamic musical landscape of Chicago, he has been melded by both the sounds of the Irish and folk music history that is imprinted into the city’s cultural fabric as well as the robust Jazz community that serves as a global center for improvised music. Seán was a founding member of the Chicago based jam-band Mungion, and has also performed with artists such as Byron Stripling, Miles Over Mountains, Simone, Diana Ladio, Bobby Floyd, Dennis Mackrel (Count Basie Orchestra), Gary Smulyan, Mark Colby, Bobby Schiff, Michael Abene and Victor Wooten. Seán attended Elmhurst College where he had the opportunity to play in the renowned Elmhurst College Jazz Band directed by Grammy award-winning arranger Doug Beach.  When home in Chicago, Seán runs a community music school in Park Ridge, IL.

HALEY BURDETTE (Production Manager & Lighting Director) is a New York based lighting designer and programmer. This is her 4th season with TIDC! Haley has worked on and off Broadway, regionally, and toured throughout the US and abroad. Select credits include design for Yin Yue Dance Company’s Ripple, both the 2021 world premiere at 92St Y and the 2022 and 2024 European tours; and programming for DanceAfrica 2022, 2023, and 2024 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (LD: Al Crawford). Haley holds a BFA from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

ALEXANDRA STROUSE (Stage Manager) is a New York City-based dance stage manager, performer, choreographer, teacher, and arts administrator. Alexandra’s stage management experience includes her work as Production Stage Manager for HopeBoykinDance and Trinity Irish Dance Company. Alexandra’s recent work also includes her role as Production Intern for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Production Assistant Stage Manager for Ailey II. Alexandra has performed with companies including JKing Dance Company, Ballaro Dance, and JoyeMovement Dance Company and choreographers including Matthew Rushing and Lisa Johnson-Willingham. Alexandra graduated Magna Cum Laude from Elon University, earning her B.F.A. in Dance Performance & Choreography and B.A. inStrategic Communications.

HENRY MAYR (Sound Engineer) is a New York based freelance sound engineer and designer specializing in percussive dance. He has worked with companies such as Dorrance Dance, Music from the Sole, Trinity Irish Dance Company, and Luke Hickey, and numerous productions at Lincoln Center, Little Island, Chelsea Factory, and Jacob's Pillow.

CHRISTOPHER MARC (Sound Designer) is a NYC-based Designer from Minneapolis, MN specializing in percussive dance. Christopher has designed works with Michelle Dorrance/Dorrance Dance, Music From the Sole, Luke Hickey Dance, Turn it Out With Tiler Peck, NYCTE, Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom, Flamenco Vivo, Lincoln Center Restart Stages, Luke Hickey Dance, and Michael Jellick, as well as several regional and off-broadway productions with the Kennedy Center, Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, IJB Productions, Aquila Theatre, and Mills Entertainment. Christopher also designs/builds custom floors for percussive dance and is owner/operator of @CMarcAudio.

JULIE E. BALLARD (Production Stage Manager / Lighting Designer) Julie E. Ballard, USA829, is a professional lighting designer, ETCP-certified electrician, and theatrical technician. She is affiliated with IATSE Local 2 and the Actors’ Equity Association. Additionally, Ms. Ballard is the owner/operator of OverlapLighting Productions, LLC, a freelance production company specializing in lighting design, production/stage management, and photography. She has designed for the Charlotte Ballet, Giordano Dance Chicago, Ballet West, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. She has freelanced for two decades in and around the Midwest, touring regionally, nationally, and internationally with Hubbard Street, Pilobolus, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, The Seldoms, and David Dorfman Dance, among others. Theatre audiences have seen her designs in the U.S., across Europe, Siberia, and South Africa. Ms. Ballard holds degrees in Theater (BA, 1999) and Lighting Design (MFA, 2004) from Kent State University and the University of Florida, respectively. Visit her portfolio at overlaplighting.com

ALBERT ROBERT CRAWFORD III (Lighting Designer) Al is a lighting artist, designer, industry leader, educator, entrepreneur, inventor, and manufacturer. General Manager City Theatrical Inc. (2 Years). Lighting Director AlvinAiley American Dance Theater (25 Years). CEO and founder of global lighting design firm Arc3design (20 Years). Lighting design for choreographers Judith Jamison, Robert Battle, Matthew Rushing, Hope Boykin, Garth Fagan, Ron Brown, George Faison, Mark Dendy, Trey McIntyre, Osnel Delgado, Jeanguy Saintus, Yori Possokhov, Melissa Hayden and many others. Knight of Illumination and Telly Award recipient. Al has served on the Board of Directors of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and Hemsley Lighting Programs as well as the Advisory Board of the Studio School of Design. Guest Faculty Lighting programs UNCSA and University of Connecticut. BFA University of North Carolina School of the Arts. USA 829 and IATSE Local 635. www.arc3design.com

TRINITY IRISH DANCE COMPANY STAFF
Artistic Director - Mark Howard
Associate Artistic Director - Chelsea Hoy
Training & Auditions Manager - Lydia Fredrick
Director of External Affairs - Gail Kalver
Business Manager - Cameron Heinze
Marketing & Development Associate - Katie McCoy
Development Consultant - Megan Sindelar
Website Design & Maintenance - Liam Dempsey
Marketing and Public Relations - Daly Communications, Solstice Communications, 
Carol Fox & Associates
Graphic Design - Anna Gorman
Costumes Artistic Tailoring & Alterations - Jayme Braverman

TRINITY IRISH DANCE COMPANY BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Shannan Hofman Bunting, Mary Santarelli, Daniel Paul, Matthew Abernathy, Megan Goldish, Margaret Keating, Denis Neville, Ryann Rase, Yvonne Orr

For more information visit us at www.trinityirishdancecompany.com, like us on Facebook or follow us on Instagram.
The creation of SÉseacht was partially supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

TIDC is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council.