TERESA HESENER, TCRG
Owner and Director
Teresa Hesener is the owner and director of Aisling Mor Academy of Irish Dance. She started dancing at the age of 10 and quickly moved through the levels of competitive Irish dancing. She achieved the status of Open Champion at the age of 15. Among her competitive achievements include a Regional (Oireachtas) Championship title, 9th place at the World Championships, 6th place at the British Nationals, several top 10 placements at the North American Nationals, and several recalls at the All Ireland Championships.
Teresa passed her TCRG exam to be a registered and vetted teacher with An Coimisiun Le Rinci Gaelacha (CLRG) in August 2012. She has been an active teacher ever since and has taught students of all levels from beginner through world qualifier.
In addition to her TCRG, Teresa also has a Bachelor of Science degree from the Pennsylvania State University. She majored in Business Management with a minor in Business Law.
ASSISTANT TEACHERS
Emily Simanton
Emily has been dancing for 15 years, since the age of 4. At age 13, she achieved the status of Open Champion. She has competed in both solo and team competitions at the regional, national, and world championship levels. She has completed grades 1-10, and is on track to complete 11 and 12 in the next year. Emily has been a teaching assistant for 4 years, and has experience teaching with ages 3-14. She loves to share her passion with others and help children reach their goals. She strongly believes that every dancer should have a fun and positive experience learning Irish Dance. Along with competing and teaching, she loves to perform for her community, especially during St. Patrick’s Day. Emily is a freshman at Monmouth University where she is studying Marketing.
Mairin McDonnell
Mairin has been dancing for 14 years and has been training with Miss Teresa for six. She achieved the status of Open Championship at a young age, and has since competed with top-ranked dancers all throughout the world. Mairin has qualified for the world championships 6 times throughout her dance career. She has completed grades 1-6 and is looking forward to continuing preparing for the TCRG exam. Irish dance has always been a huge part of her life, and she has loved every second of teaching. In the future, she hopes to become a TCRG and expand the dance school.
Eryn Casey
Eryn has been dancing for almost 20 years, starting at age 4. She became an Open Championship level dancer at age 16 and has enjoyed competing both across the United States and Internationally. Eryn has competed both on teams and solo at the regional, national, and world championship level. Her proudest dance achievements include placing in the top 10 at the Regionals, recalling at Nationals, and earning round recalls at the All Ireland Championships in Killarney. Eryn has completed grades 1-8, and is eager to finish her grade exams and continue studying for her TCRG exam.
In 2021, Eryn earned her Bachelor of Science degree from West Chester University. She majored in Elementary Education and is certified to teach grades PreK-4. She also minored in Civic and Professional Leadership.
Eryn enjoys being able to combine her love for Irish Dance with her background in teaching to foster students’ social, emotional, and physical growth. She strives to create a safe and welcoming studio environment for all dancers to enjoy.
Hope Renner
Hope is a 25 year old retired dancer. She began dancing ballet in kindergarten and Irish at the age of 7. In Middle school, Hope decided to retire from ballet to focus on Irish and begin competing. Hope made it to Nationals and ended at the highest competitive level, Open Championship. While dancing, Hope would help Teresa in some of the younger classes.
Aside from dancing, Hope has her bachelors degree in Early Elementary Education and is currently half way through her Master's degree in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to get her Board Certified Behavior Analysis (BCBA). After several years away from dance, Hope was excited to come back as a teacher and hopes to get her TCRG in the future.
Margaret Mayorga
Margaret began Irish dancing at the age of 3 with the Gray School of Irish Dance in Fairfield County, Connecticut. She fell in love with the dance, performing in the local area and competing in the New England region on teams as well as solo dancing, under the direction of Iris and Maura Gray with the Gray School of Irish Dance. Margaret became an Open Champion at age 13, competing at the regional, national and international levels, and qualifying for the Worlds multiple times.
Returning to the dance after a long hiatus, Margaret passed the grade 12 exam with distinction in 2020 and hopes to take the TCRG exam in the future to become certified to teach. She is so excited and grateful to be able to assist at AMA. Margaret holds an MPH in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from New York Medical College and works as a health outcomes researcher. She has lived in Bucks County for the past 15 years with her husband and daughterwho also loves to Irish dance.
Abby Lefebvre
Abby was raised in the Lehigh Valley, where she Irish danced for 16 years during which placed 13th at Worlds, 7th at Nationals, 2nd at the Oireachtas (regionals), and 9th at Great Brits. She attended the University of Dayton where she continued her dancing career with their intercollegiate team and graduated with a bachelors in biology and minor in psychology and chemistry. After, Abby attended NYU where she recently received her Doctorate in Physical Therapy. Currently Abby works as a licensed Physical Therapist, a Certified Strength and Conditioning specialization, and Rock Steady Boxing trainer. For fun, she enjoys reading, partaking in anything outdoors, and playing rec volleyball.