Chloey Turner

Lead Dancer

English born, Chloey started Irish dancing at the age of 8. Her competitive career with Jenny Flower (Matthews Academy) has seen her compete at national and international feiseanna and qualifying for the world championship every year since.
Chloey is also a keen athlete and a qualified Personal Fitness Trainer and believes the fitness and nutritional techniques she has learnt and developed have been invaluable during her dance career.
Chloey joined The Corrib Company in 2008, touring Europe, Japan and China. She has toured extensively with Riverdance and one of highlights was performing at Radio City, NY.

Within two years she was selected for the Principal Role, with her first performance at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin.

Patrick Barnett

Irish Dance Troupe

Patrick was born in Orange County, California and began dancing at the age of 9. During his years of competing, he won numerous regional and national championships including the North American Nationals twice and placing 3rd in the World Championships.

Patrick finished his competitive career and began touring with Riverdance in 2005. He has toured America, Canada, and Mexico and one of his career highlights was performing at Radio City Music Hall for Riverdance’s 15th anniversary.

Jessica Baffa

Irish Dance Troupe

Jessica began dancing at age 12 with Steven Masterson in Cambridgeshire, England. She then moved back to the US, dancing for Kevin Broesler in New Jersey. Jessie was the 2008 All Ireland Champion, and placed 2nd at the 2008 World Championships. She won the Southern Region Oireachtas for 6 consecutive years, also placing top 5 for four years in a row at the American Nationals.

Jessie joined Riverdance right out of high school in 2005. She also toured with Lord of the Dance and Feet of Flames in 2008.

Jessica is aspiring to become an Irish dance teacher after she receives her TCRG’s.

Nicola Dempsey

Irish Dance Troupe

Nicola began dancing at the age of three, training in ballet, tap and contemporary in London. She started Irish dancing at eleven, placing highly at regionals, national and international competitions including the world championships.

Nicola has toured with numerous shows over the past 6 years including Celtic Legends, Dance of Desire and Lord of the Dance. She has recently passed her TCRG and is an accomplished classical flautist with a degree in Music, she hopes to teach music and dance in the future. Nicola is delighted to join the cast of Riverdance.

Aisling Drennan

Irish Dance Troupe

Aisling began Irish dancing at age four with the Jackie Scanlon Academy in Ennis, Co. Clare. When Riverdance exploded onto the scene, she thought it was the most fantastic show she had seen and was determined to be part of it. She successfully auditioned and has since performed with Riverdance around the world covering 43 countries over a period of seven years.

She has performed for royalty, Heads of State, film and football stars but the highlights have been dancing for President Mary McAleese at the Great Hall of the People in China, for President Putin in the Kremlin, the Crowned Prince of Dubai and Comic Relief 2009.

She is very proud to be part of Riverdance and is currently studying for her B.A in Fine Art at G.M.I.T. in Co. Galway.

John Grimes

Irish Dance Troupe

John Grimes began Irish dancing in New Hampshire and was New England Regional Champion three times. He continued dancing while at university in Montreal, Quebec, with the Bernadette Short School of Irish Dancing.

During his competitive years in Montreal, John achieved two Eastern Canadian Championships, two top-five finishes and two top-ten finishes in the North American Irish Dancing Championships, and he recalled 10th in the All-Ireland Championships. Soon after graduation from Concordia University he received a call to audition in Dublin.

John joined Riverdance in November 2009 and is thrilled to be dancing the show.

Sarah Hopkins

Irish Dance Troupe

Sarah is from London. She began Irish dancing at the age of 6 after watching Riverdance on the Eurovision Song Contest. She joined Riverdance in 2009, and previously toured with 3 other shows, and performed as lead dancer in 2 of them.

Before dancing professionally she danced competitively and progressed to competing at world championship level on 6 separate occasions.

Her other passions in life are fine art and photography, and she eventually would like to be an art teacher and open her own dance school.

Ciara-Lee Jenkinson

Billy Kanaly

Irish Dance Troupe

Billy was born and raised in Denver Colorado. He started dancing when he was 7 years old with the Reed School of Irish Dance, after seeing Riverdance perform in Denver.

He grew up playing all sorts of sports including American football, pole vaulting, and skiing, but Irish dance has always been his passion. It has been his dream since he started dancing to be in Riverdance and he could not be more thrilled to be a part of the show.

Tokiko Masuda

Tokiko Sarah Masuda started dancing at the age of six with the Smith-Houlihan Academy in Boston, Massachusetts and won numerous solo and team titles with the school. She also studied ballet with the Boston Ballet and is trained in the classical harp. She then moved to Ireland in 1998 and subsequently joined the European cast of Riverdance.

She became part of the original cast of the Broadway troupe and went on to perform in Asia, North America, and Europe with the show, dancing in venues including Radio City Music Hall in NYC and Hammersmith in London. She was also part of the original Broadway cast of The Pirate Queen.

Tokiko has also worked with MAC cosmetics and completed one year of Fashion Design. She hopes to continue on to study Art and Design/Textiles but is focusing on her dancing career at the moment and is enjoying her time with Riverdance.

John Lonergan

Irish Dance Troupe

John Lonergan grew up in Cork City in Ireland where he started dancing at the age of 6 through Primary School. He began classes with the O’ Brien School of Irish Dancing, then transferred to the Shiela Hayes School and then finally moved to the Kiely-Walsh Academy of Irish Dancing.

He has been lucky enough to be involved in Ceili Dancing as well as solo dancing and has won World titles on numerous occasions in Ceili teams.

Throughout his competitive career he has won the World Championships in solo dancing 4 times, All Irelands 5 times and the Munster Championships 9 times.

He has recently just finished a tour with Magic of the Dance and is delighted to be taking part in this Riverdance tour.

Laura Minogue

Irish Dance Troupe

Laura began dancing at the age of five for the Uí Ruairc School of Irish Dancing and continued on to achieve great competitive success at international level including the All Irelands, World Championships, British Nationals and American Nationals.

In 1998, Laura retired from her competitive career and began touring around the world with numerous Dance Shows. Laura joined Riverdance in 2003.
Some of the highlights of her seven year touring career with the show include performances in Radio City Music Hall New York, the Theatre Roayl Drury Lane and Hammersmith Apollo in London, the Kremlin in Moscow, the Acropolis in Athens and the Great Wall of China.

Sean Regan

Irish Dance Troupe

Sean started dancing at the age of 6 for the Burke School, Cheshire, England, where he competed until the age of 18.

Shortly after completing his A Levels, he started dancing professionally for Rhythm of the Dance and later joined Riverdance where he has toured extensively throughout Europe, North America, Australia and Asia.

From a young boy watching the show, it was always his dream to be dancing on the Riverdance stage. Now the dream is a reality and he is so grateful to everyone who helped him along the way!

Follow Sean on Twitter: @SNRegan

Anne Toner

Irish Dance Troupe

Anne began dancing at the age of 3 for the Breslin McLaughlin School in Belfast and she then later moved to the Lawrenson Toal Academy. She competed successfully in all the major competitions in An Comdhail.

At the age of 19 Anne joined “Rhythm of the Dance” for 2 years and toured all over Europe, America and Australia.

After turning 22 Anne went on to fulfill her greatest ambition and joined Riverdance completing tours of Ireland, America, Canada, China and South Korea.

Kincaid Stringer

Irish Dance Troupe

Born in Dallas, Texas, Kincaid began dancing when he was 7 years and eventually moved to Galway to dance with The Celine Hession School in Salthill. Throughout his competitive career he won 10 regional titles as well as placing in the top three in The All Irelands and the top five in The World Championships.

In the fall of 2010 Kincaid graduated from University with a First Class Honours in English Literature along with a qualification in Business Management.

Kincaid is both delighted and privileged to finally be a part of the Riverdance cast and is looking forward to seeing the world and experiencing life on tour.

Marita Martinez-Rey

Flamenco

Born in Úbeda, Jaén, Marita graduated in Spanish Dance from the Royal Conservatory of Cordoba in 2001 and a year later in Classical Ballet with AraLeo Moyano. She also studied Flamencology, Cátedra de Flamencologia de Córdoba, as well as BA (Hons) Music and History in the Universidad Complutense in Madrid.

Her professional experience started in the opera El Cid with Placido Domingo, performed in Seville in 1999. Later on, she moved to Madrid to join the Ballet Gallego Rey de Viana. She has worked with several companies: Luisillo, Rafael Aguilar and José Greco among others. She has also performed as soloist in the role Dulcinea in Delirios del Quijote by Sara Lezana. In 2005 she joined the Compañia Antonio Gades where she has worked in the productions Carmen, Bodas de sangre and Fuenteovejuna.

DeWitt Fleming Jr

Tapper

DeWitt Fleming Jr. is an acclaimed tap dancer, and has performed throughout the United States and abroad. DeWitt has danced as a soloist with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, and with artist such as Wynton Marsalis, Marvin Hamlisch, Christian McBride, and Wycliffe Gordon to name a few.
The New York Times says he is, “a non stop source of rhythmic variety and surprise….sparks seem to fly from those shoes!”
Tours: Riverdance(Lead Tapper), Cirque Du Soliel’s Banana Shpeel(Ensemble, featured tapper). Some Off-Braodway stage credits include: Cotton Club Parade(Lead/Nicholas Brother), Dance Bojangles Dance(Bojangles), Highlights in Jazz, Tribute to Tap Legends. Regional: Alliance Theater’s Sophisticated Ladies(Lead). He is the host, and also co-creator of the new Off-Broadway hit Broadway Underground.

So Danca  supplies shoes for the Riverdance Tappers

Guy Rickarby

Drums/Percussion/Bodhrán/Musical Director

Guy has played and recorded with Van Morrison, Roger Daltrey, Eleanor McEvoy, The Devlins and Juliet Turner. In 2004 he was in the house band for the BBC Music Live final concert featuring Katie Melua, Zucchero and Neil Hannon.

He has also performed with Sharon Shannon, The Chieftains, The Irish Tenors, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Colm Wilkinson, Brian Kennedy, and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. Most recently, Guy has worked with Duke Special, Gavin Friday and The Ulster Orchestra.

Pat Mangan

Fiddle

Patrick Mangan is from Brooklyn, New York, where the two-time All-Ireland fiddle champion studied with renowned fiddler and teacher Brian Conway.
At sixteen, Patrick appeared in Riverdance – On Broadway, becoming the youngest fiddler in the show’s history.

Patrick joined the John Whelan Band in 1999, with whom he toured throughout the US and Europe. He has also appeared with the Cathie Ryan Band, and with the neo-Celtic group Whirligig. Noted Irish Echo and Wall Street Journal music critic, Earle Hitchner, has stated that he “embodies all that is admirable and durable about the Irish tradition in America.” In Spring 2002, Patrick was awarded first prize honors for instrumental composition in the Bertelsmann Foundation’s World of Expression competition for his piece, “September Sky.”

Dave McGauran

Saxophone

Dave is a graduate of NUI Maynooth, where he received a BMus and a MA in Music (Composition). A multi-instrumentalist he plays Clarinet, Saxophone and Piano.

Dave was musical director and co-orchestrator for the world premiere production of Goodnight Mr. Tom: The Musical in November 2008 at the Civic Theatre, Dublin. He has worked as musical director for many prestigious Irish musical societies, and has conducted in venues such as the National Concert Hall and The Helix, Dublin. He recorded an album with the award-winning group, Keable Young Generation.

Dave has played in the orchestra pits of some of Ireland’s best known theatres, including the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin and the Theatre Royal, Waterford. He was in the orchestra for the musical Macbecks in the Olympia Theatre, Dublin and has played all over Asia, Europe and America as the saxophonist with Riverdance, as well as appearing in the DVD Riverdance Live in Beijing.