Our Teachers
Tina Voronova is teaching weekly classes and Anna Barriscale is supervising the teaching and giving regular master classes.
Tina started to dance when she was 19. Her passion towards Irish dance started with Irish folk music.
Tina joined Triskal Irish Dance School in Saint-Petersburg in 2004. The school gave her knowledge of beginners' dances in soft shoes and some basics of hard shoes technique. In 2008 Tina moved to Kuopio, Finland. The absence of Irish dance classes motivated her to form own dance group with Evgenia Antonova and Maria Kozhinova, who are still actively taking part in the activities of the dance group. The group was named Kipeät Jalat, and was led by Tina until autumn 2013. During this time, Tina taught beginners' level course for all interested to learn Irish dance. The group was took part in various events and festivals around Finland. In 2012, Tina competed at The Nordic Feis and won Beginners Jig and Beginners Reel. She also successfully passed first and second grade examinations. After her moving to Helsinki in 2013, Tina started a new dance group, called Greenlights. By coincidence, most of the dancers from Kuopio moved to Helsinki around the same time, and despite the change of the name to Greenlights, the group still has almost half of the dancers from the Kipeät Jalat crew. During her first years of dancing in Russia, Tina had an opportunity to participate in a workshop of Breandan de Gallai. Tina continued learning Irish dance with other teachers in Finland, including Piia-Maria Aho, who was very helpful and inspiring. Starting from autumn 2014, Anna Barriscale became an official teacher for Tina and the Greenlights Irish dance crew. |
Anna started dance when she was 12 years of age with Russian folk dance group, called “Tangram”, Komi Republic. Whilst training in folk dance she practiced ballet technique as part of fitness and dance training.
Anna started doing Irish Dance in Saint-Petersburg with Triskal Irish Dance School in 2004. The School gave her a good knowledge of Irish Dance technique, great fitness and performance experience. During 4 years of doing Irish Dance in Saint-Petersburg Anna was successful competing within in European Irish Dance championships. After finishing her Sociology degree in Saint-Petersburg in 2008 Anna entered the MA in Irish Traditional Dance Performance at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick, Ireland. Whilst studying at the programme Anna got a fantastic opportunity to work with great teachers, masters of their art: Michael Ryan, Dr. Catherine Foley, Breandan de Gallai, Colin Dunne, Dr. Olive Beecher, and many others. After completing the course Anna continued competitive training with Michael Ryan’s School of Irish dance, Tipperary, Ireland. She qualified twice for the Irish Dance World Championships in 2009 and 2010, and successfully competed at the World Championships 2011 in Dublin. Through the masters course and a year after it Anna had an chance to perform with well known band The Chieftains, November 2008, at University of Limerick Concert Hall. In 2010 Anna joined dance troupe of Ragús Irish Music & Dance Show for their autumn tour throughout Europe and Asia. Anna is a current dancer with the show and joins the troupe for their international tours. Since 2011 Anna has been an advance dance course tutor at the Irish Festival of Oulu, Finland. In 2014 Anna has successfully completed the TCRG (Irish Dance Teacher’s Exam), and became a fully qualified dance teacher within the An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha (An Irish Dancing Commission). |