Welcome Irish Dancers To Your Wellness Academy.

Chloey, originally from England and now living Stateside, toured the world as the principal lead dancer in Riverdance for 12 years, co-founded the weighted activewear brand KiloGear CUT and is a qualified personal trainer, 500 hour yoga instructor, meditation teacher and flexibility coach, with 20 years in the fitness/wellness industry.

"Towards the end of my professional dance career, I would often think of ways in which I could give back to the Irish dance community. Between thinking of the things I was doing well throughout my career and then the aspects I needed a lot of help with, from managing stress and anxiety to flexibility for example, the academy was then born! The expert team we have are just incredible at what they do. As well as there being many tools in the academy on demand library to help dancers and teachers to optimise their practice in the studio, outside of the dance studio we are absolutely the place to be.

I truly believe in taking care of the human being so that the dancer can then also thrive."

Today, Chloey also advocates positive mental health and wellbeing through various workshops and classes both online and in person. "Some personal highlights so far include speaking at The Mental Health and Wellbeing Summit in Dublin, Ireland. Delivering my Resilience talk to Littlewoods Ireland, TTM Healthcare, and a Wellbeing workshop for the Irish Olympic Boxing team as well as a number of Irish Dancing schools across the world."

Frances specialises in helping dancers harness the power of connecting brain and body. Through sensory and nervous system work, movement patterning, and adaptive conditioning methods; she helps dancers understand how to overcome their challenges, and optimise their performance both athletically and technically. Also a current lead dancer in Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance, she hopes to educate, enlighten and empower dancers in their journey. To equip them with skills and attributes that transfer to all areas of life, and help them understand how to achieve any goal they set their mind to.

Dr. Mitch DeSimone is a retired professional and competitive Irish dancer and holds both a masters and doctoral degree in Sport & Performance Psychology. A Certified Mental Performance Consultant through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, he actively works with professional, collegiate and youth performing artists and athletes and all those who support them to help develop mental habits and routines that simultaneously promote elite performance and positive mental health. Mitch is a Performance Psychology Specialist at the United States Military Academy West Point, working to support elite performance and mental preparation for US Army cadets, officers and athletes. In addition, he teaches Irish dance and operates a small private practice in performance psychology.

Dr Meghan Brown is a Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Nutrition, with particular expertise in Dance Nutrition. She completed her PhD in the area and continues to research in a range of topics to advance our understanding of how nutrition can support both health and performance. Alongside her teaching and research commitments, Meghan is passionate about improving nutrition knowledge and providing nutrition support to dancers as a registered Sport and Exercise Nutritionist.

Maggie has a lifetime of experience within the Irish Dancing world. She began dancing at the age of 3, and went on to win many titles including the World Championships in solo dancing as well as teams. As a professional Irish dancer she has toured the world for over a decade with the Grammy winning production Riverdance, as their principal dancer. Having always approached life and dance with the idea of “everything in moderation”, she is excited to join the head to toe team promoting a more balanced and mindful place for dancers. Maggie has always believed cross training and trying new things is important to be successful in life as well as dancing. She is a 200 hr yoga instructor as well as Barre instructor and is excited to offer classes that promote balance and stability with the body for dancers.