FORT PIERCE FOLKS
39
Treasure Coast since1973
Kathleen Rondeau, right, founded the Rondeau School of Irish Dance in Fort
Pierce in 1978, and continues to teach Irish dance and co-direct the school
with daughter, Chanda Newman, left.
pride at her daughter’s dance class.
Kathleen, a septuagenarian native of Dublin, Ireland,
founded the Rondeau School of Irish Dance in Fort Pierce in
1978, and despite several knee and hip surgeries, still teaches
classes and co-directs the school with Newman, who has
been dancing since before she was 3 years old.
“My mom is my hero,” says Newman, now 42, who also
owns Chanda’s Diner and Dave’s Pizza, both in Port St. Lucie.
“I’ve been working with her every day now since I was
18, and her energy is amazing. Our school is a real family
affair, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
FIRST TEACHER
Kathleen Rondeau was the first certified Irish dance
teacher in Florida, as well as the first recording secretary for
the Southern Region Irish Dance Teachers Association. In
1990, she established and hosted Florida’s first feis, or Irish
festival, the Sunshine State Feis in Orlando. Her school has
produced champions in regional, national, All Ireland and
world competitions.
“When we first moved to Florida from Connecticut, no one
down here had ever heard of Irish dance, never even seen it,”
Rondeau says. “I left championship dancers in my classes up
there, so it was very depressing at first.”
When “Riverdance” came along in 1994, there was a surge
in popularity of everything Irish — the dance, the music and
the long, bouncing curls, which most performers accomplish
with wigs or falls.
“We used to have people call us and ask if we taught ‘Riverdance,’”
Newman says, smiling.
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