HM featurestory
MULLANE HEALY GODLEY’S IRISH DANCE ACADEMY Viola Pantuso is holding the 2015 Mid-America Oireachtas trophy that she received first place in for the girls under 13 competition.
H UP STEP
Mullane Healy Godley’s own Lord of the Dance By Kerrie Kennedy Photography by Jim Prisching
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HINSDALEMAGAZINE | Hinsdale60521.com
ow does a New York attorney suddenly find himself in Elmhurst teaching Irish step dancing? It’s a long story that begins in Birmingham, England, where Gary Healy, the son of Irish immigrants, grew up. When Healy’s sister was five years old, she began Irish step classes, a hugely popular pastime in the U.K. Strictly out of convenience, Healy tagged along; and like Mike in A Chorus Line, who steals his sister’s dancing shoes and says to himself, “I can do that,” Healy realized that he had found his calling. After Irish step-dancing his way through college (his parents insisted), Healy set off touring after graduating in 1997. By 1998, he was performing on Broadway in New York City, dancing with Michael Flatley in Riverdance. In between, this wunderkind managed to go to law school, easily passing the notoriously-difficult New York bar exam. And yet, like a siren song, the lure of his first love still called. One day in 2001, out of the blue, Healy received an invitation to do a guest workshop at a then-unknown Irish step studio in Elmhurst, now known as Mullane