About the Triallta Irish Dance Company
Why Triallta?
Performances and classes for kids, adults & families
Triallta began as a creative outlet for its two directors and their fellow Joliet Junior College students. It quickly grew to encompass Faye’s youth classes in Lemont and Orland Park. Sticking to our roots as we expand, Triallta continues to offer equality of opportunity to youth and adults. We are dedicated to joy, hard work, and balance.
Encouragement, acceptance, creativity
Your journey with us is just that—yours. Though we do prefer you get outside of the classroom to perform or help throw candy at a parade, neither performing nor competing is required of Triallta dancers. (Dedication to improvement, however, is expected from all of our dancers.)
Never too late to start!
Are you a teenager or an adult? It’s never too late to bring joy into your life through Irish dancing. And we mean it! Both of our directors began as teenagers. Don’t worry or overthink—join in now and have a blast!
Roots and Wings
The root of Triallta is the Joliet Junior College Irish Dancers, a popular club with a three-year run at the college. Through JJCID, our instructors and former members (including those who are now members of Triallta) have:
- Visited the New York City Irish Dance Festival — taking workshops with Niall O’Leary and Donny Golden
- Participated in Relay for Life at Lewis University
- Performed many times for the JJC Spring Fling
- Performed twice at the JJC Madri-Gala Christmas Dinner
- Danced at other local events, such as Saint Margaret Mary Church’s Celtic Tradition Concert in Naperville
Since becoming the Triallta Irish Dance Company, we have performed at Gaelic Park, Joliet Union Station and Ruffled Feathers Golf Club, and competed at the First in Flight Féile in Dayton, Ohio. We had our first public performance under the Triallta banner with youth and adult dancers at the Manhattan Irish Fest in 2006. And that’s just the beginning!
Our Directors
Lauren Faye Cruse
Faye began instructing classes in 2003 at The Dance Workshop in Orland Park and the Nazarene Arts Academy in Lemont. She continues to be the primary instructor at our Lemont location.
College & Career
Faye is a full-time student, studying Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois at Chicago where she currently works as a coordinator for Intern Housing. She can be contacted through lfcruse@gmail.com and (815) 545-6823.
Ashley Middleton
Ashe will began teaching for the Park District of Oak Park this September, and will begin teaching in Berwyn this October. She also taught an all-boys class in New Lenox in Spring 2006.
College & Career
Ashe is a full-time student, studying Graphic Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has maintained Diochra.com—Discover Irish dance! since 1998, which has been featured twice in Irish Dancing Magazine. She can be contacted through ashleymidd@gmail.com and (815) 931-8298.
Flickr Photo Gallery
Learn Irish Dancing
Nazarene Arts Academy
12725 Bell Road
Lemont, Illinois
708-349-0454, ex. 32
chicagofirstnaz.org
Rialto School of the Arts
15 E. Van Buren St
Joliet, Illinois
815-726-7171 Ex. 203
rialtosquare.com
Fox Center, Oak Park Park District
640 S. Oak Park Ave at Jackson St
(2 blocks north + 1 block west of the Oak Park Blue Line Station)
Oak Park, Illinois
oakparkparks.com — Fox Center
Peggy Rose Dance Academy
6829 W. Stanley Ave
Berwyn, Illinois
708-788-8960
peggyrosedance.com