It’s easy to assume the youthful Gille is one of the school’s older students, helping out with the younger performers for the day. However, these and the approximately other 100 dancers at corda mór ages 4–19, are Gille’s students—she is the owner and director of this popular Irish dance school. 

Not many people find their life’s passion at a young age, but for Gille, 26, discovering her love of Irish dance determined her future. “I had always been athletic and played soccer, skated and things like that,” she says. “But when my parents signed me up with my sisters for Irish dance when I was 14, I fell in love with it.” 

By the time Gille was 19, she had gotten as far as she could in her instruction in Minnesota and began training with a top instructor in Chicago. Under her tutelage, Gille achieved her goal of qualifying for the World Championships before deciding to retire to pursue a teaching certification—a rigorous process consisting of written and oral examinations, performance and teaching. Gille received her t.c.r.g (Teasgicoir Choimisiuin Le Rinci Gaelacha) certification at the age of 20—one of the youngest in the Irish dance field to do so. She jokes that she had to “retire” from competing and performing once she reached that level. 

Then in 2002, Gille became the franchise co-owner—with one of her Chicago teachers, Amy Moran—of another Irish dance school in Edina called Anam Mór. Three years later, Moran transferred ownership of the Edina school to Gille and corda mór—Gaelic for “great heart”—was formed. Gille’s goal is, and always has been, to provide top-notch training for Irish dance competitions and shows.

The students from corda mór have done well in competition. They attended the North American Nationals in Nashville, Tenn., last July, and they are now preparing for the regional competition in November in Columbus, Ohio.

“I have a lot of kids who are working really hard right now,” Gille says. “They’d love to make it to the World Competitions in Belfast, Ireland, next spring.”

Many of Gille’s more advanced students take classes up to four times per week, but her philosophy, which applies to students of all ages, is that she wants them to “take ownership” for the dance skills they acquire by practicing on their own. 

“I really believe that classes are for receiving instruction, but it’s up to them to work on what they are learning at home,” she says, adding that many families create staging areas in their basements where the young dancers can practice.