Born in Yorkshire, England, and raised in Chicago, Mark Howard began his dancing career at age nine. Becoming a North American Champion Irish dancer himself, he launched the Trinity Academy of Irish Dance at age 17. Experiencing great success, the school has won an unprecedented 32 World Championship titles for the United States-the first when Mark was only 25. In nearly thirty years since its inception, the Trinity Academy has grown from a dozen students practicing in a church basement, to the largest Irish dance program in the world.
The Irish Gold
In 1985, Trinity attended their first world championships in Malahide outside of Dublin, Ireland. "We went over there to try and see green fields, eat black pudding and rediscover our roots as Irish Americans," recalls Mark Howard. "Up until that point, American Irish Dance teams were like the Jamaican bobsled teams: fish out of water." Mark was only 23 years old at the time and, as a young coach, his main goal was to not be an embarrassment to the country. "I just didn't want us to come in 19th place out of 19 teams," he said. In the months leading up to the championships, Mark worked feverishly with the dancers. "We pushed neurotically hard," he explained, "because we didn't know how hard we should work." The goal of 'not-to-perform-badly' drove them. All that hard work paid off brilliantly. Instead of the expected 19th, in their first outing overseas, they came home with a silver medal. "It was an unbelievable feeling." Mark recalled. "I remember running through the streets so excited. My sister was the captain and I remember we called my dad [a native Irishman] from a payphone. He had told us that it would be hard for the Americans to get 'respect' in Ireland. So telling him how we placed was wonderful. It made us feel that anything was possible." Back home with silver in hand, they worked even harder knowing anything could happen. And it did. The following year Trinity returned to take silver again. However, this was offset by their junior team being disqualified for pushing the boundaries of Irish dance.
The Most Disqualified School in History
"In 1986, we went back to Ireland with two teams," Mark says. "A senior team who won 2nd place and a junior team who came in last." This comment is not said with disappointment. On the contrary, anyone who was part of that team is said to wear it as a badge of honor. As a young teacher, Mark had seen a team win the US National Championships with contemporary music. "Since the judges were part of both the US and European commission," Mark says, "we thought using contemporary music would be accepted under the same rules." Unfortunately, there were inconsistencies between American & European judging with the use of non-Irish music becoming the point of contention. And the reason for the disqualification. The scene was chaos: the media had been alerted and it was the talk of the weekend. Mark had come up with an innovative comedic dance called "Altar Boys" using music from The Blues Brothers and the crowd loved it. This homage to their home town, Chicago, came complete with a character based on Saturday Night Live's Father Guido Sarducci, a nun-with-a-bum called Sister Posterior, and a "Book of Rules". Father Sarducci even encountered the legendary "Blues Brothers." While they won the crowd and would have won the championship, Mark is proud to say all the dancers and parents went back to the hotel to celebrate coming in last place in the world. "We totally turned it around and bragged from there on that we came in last. Little did we know that eight years later in 1994 we would be disqualified again for pushing boundaries. This makes us not only the most winning but the most disqualified school in the world."
Ten years ahead of their time, a cutting edge team in their formative years, this and many other events lead to pushing the edge of Irish dancing and a constant reinvention of the art form.
After the Trinity team won gold at the World Championships in 1987, Mark started to send video tapes and letters to Hollywood. His dream was to get Trinity on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Back then, Johnny Carson's show was 'it' - Carson made people's careers. He was the king of late night programming and one guest spot was all you needed to 'make it'. David Letterman, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Roseanne, Sam Kinison, Albert Brooks and dozens of others all made breakthrough Tonight appearances. The idea that a kid from a Chicago neighborhood could be on that show was a dream few people thought possible, believing it was 'misguided' enthusiasm. Like the gold, it didn't happen overnight, or even in the first year. "It got to be any time I would bring it up, my roommates or friends would basically tell me to give it a rest," Mark remembers.
Here, Mark tells the story himself:
Back then it wasn't sexy to say you were an Irish Dancer teacher. And my roommates always teased me. They were also notorious practical jokers. So one day, I got a phone call and the person was leaving a message on the recorder. The voice said 'This is The Tonight Show and we got your letter. We'd like you on our St. Patrick's Day show.' Thinking it was one of my roommates playing another joke, I picked up and started calling him on it. After some back and forth, I finally realized this might be real.
"Are you serious?" I asked.
"Yes - we want your dancers. Your letter said you won the championships."
I remember this vividly because it was so exciting. We were just a little dance school being asked to appear on this great TV program.
I remember sitting in my apartment trying not to scream with joy. This news was amazing and I was dying to tell everyone. Unfortunately, it was 2 PM and no one was home. I called my parents and sister and every single person was out to lunch or not home. I had to hold on to this information for FOUR hours. Practically an eternity. I went outside and starting conversations with everyone because I just had to get it out. The fire station, the grocer, even the older ladies taking an afternoon walk soon knew that Trinity was going to be on The Tonight Show.
All the neighbors, students, moms and dads, everyone freaked out. Not only were the dancers going to be on but they wanted me to be interviewed too. They had the Chieftains once and Johnny was a big fan of Irish dance. The excuse then to have us on came when we won gold. Watching the videos showing Trinity dancers performing "Celtic Thunder" and "Treble Reel" convinced him that Trinity needed to be on the show. It completely grabbed him. Trinity was so progressive - no one had seen this.
With the day fast approaching, the big push was to get an original dance created. We made up the dance in four nights. And then we flew to LA. John Cusack was on the plane. The girls were excited because he was a teen star at the time. We had three stretch limos that greeted us. The dancers' limos had fruit and candy. The chaperons' had adult drinks. The limos had TVs and it just so happened that it was the end of Johnny Carson's show. So we watched and heard him say, "Tomorrow our guests will be Oprah Winfrey and the Trinity…" and we all screamed. Telly Savalas [famous for Kojak] greeted us at his hotel. The next day we went to Disneyland. A surreal moment for many of us.
The next day we went to the set and started a tech run-through. Mom wanted to get me a new suit to be on The Tonight Show. I was pretty young but I didn't get a new suit and tried to be just myself. In hindsight, it was the right thing to do. When it came down to the show - they put me in make-up and I got nervous about going out and talking to Johnny without ever meeting him before. So the Segment Producer worked it so I got to briefly say 'hello' to Johnny. I told him how excited we were to be there and said in passing - "We've gone from 'Bozo's Circus' to 'Johnny Carson'." It came out pretty funny - and Johnny laughed and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you." [Note: Trinity used to be on 'Bozo's Circus', a local kids program, many times.] Filming of the show began at 3PM. There was a huge TV in the Green Room where we waited and as Johnny did his monologue - it dawned on me that 10 million people would be watching. The segment producer came in and I explained that I was still a little nervous. So, thinking he was doing me a favor, he brought in Oprah Winfrey - somebody as equally as famous.
So I'm in the Green Room and still nervous. Oprah comes in the green room and couldn't be nicer. In fact after we were finished performing, she was the next guest and spent the first couple of minutes talking about us, saying how great we were. We also got a photo with her afterward. She loved the Trinity dancers so much, a few years later she utilized us for a 2-hour special called Dignity of Children. It was a huge deal with Trinity part of a ten minute segment - a great side-effect of being on The Tonight Show. The monitors in the studios are small, but in the Green Room there is a huge mahogany TV set - the kind you see in your family room. Seeing it there, you realize millions will be watching you. So here I was, freaking out. Soon it was my turn and the segment producer comes for me.
I walked down the hall (like Dead Man Walking) and pass the door where the dancers were waiting. On the door was a sign: "The Tonight Show - Trinity Irish Dancers." I took a moment to look in and the kids looked up with smiles and thumbs up. Seeing them really grounded me. In my mind, I thought, "I can't fail these kids. I have to come through for them. And you know what? I love these kids and if America doesn't love them - oh, well." Little did I know how revolutionary it was going to be. This was the moment that validated Trinity and the progressive art form we created. It truly was a turning point.
I was standing behind the curtain with a guy who had one hand on his ear piece and the other on the curtain. It's like a guy ready to open the door of a plane, ready to push you out. You hear a muffled voice and then you're walking through the curtain into huge noise and bright light. It's like dying and going into the light. Johnny grabbed and shook my hand, leading me into the chair. As he shook my hand, he whispered in my ear and we both laughed knowingly. For two years after, people asked me what he said and I made up stuff like "Let's go golfing after." What he said to me in fact was "Bozo's Circus and this show? It's the same thing." It made me laugh and reassured me at the same time.
Somehow I got through the first segment of the show, did a commercial, then we came back. When I look back at replay, I am amazed how really relaxed I was and that the brain was functioning. During break, you look at the audience through blinding light. Johnny went from totally interested to looking down shuffling cards. I turned to him and said "I hear you're going to Ireland for the first time?" I had heard his monologue and he mentioned it. But Johnny was completely focused on prepping for his next set of questions, and didn't respond. It became a little awkward. His side-kick Ed McMahon didn't say anything (Mark was surprised; he thought Ed would act sort of like a Tonight Show rodeo clown and run interference during the silence of the commercial break) and commercials are an eternity. Just then from the audience I heard a voice. It was Maureen Foster, one of the chaperons. I will always be grateful. She yelled out "You're doing great, Mark!" When I heard her voice, it took me back to Milwaukee and Chicago, hearing my Trinity parents - it empowered me. Just like now where we get such support through the Booster club: love from the bleachers. Well, I made it through the second segment and then Johnny introduced the dancers.
"…And now please welcome the world champion Trinity Irish Dancers." Irish dancing would never be the same.
The dancers hit the stage, performing a dramatically new dance that had evolved over the course of several years at Trinity. We called it "The Treble Reel." [Note: Today this term, 'treble reel', is used to describe a style that was created and named by Trinity in the mid to late 80's.] So impressive was the dance that we were booked on the show by the segment producer, Jim McCauley, solely on its strength. Our 'treble reel' was danced:
• a cappella
• in a chorus line
• and at a furious pace
These three elements had never been seen in Irish dance before.
The curtain came up and there they were: our own Trinity Dancers. We presented several ideas no one had ever seen on Irish Dancers before: a chorus line dancing a cappella with a male/female duet. At one moment the ensemble faced each other in 'dual' or battle of rhythm. These were the early stages of what would become a style and presentation that launched the professional Trinity Irish Dance Company. Three years after and in many ways because of this appearance, the Company was born and the Irish dance genre's leap from the competitive stage to the concert stage was in full force. It would be 7 years before these influences would open up the commercial artistic pathways that lead directly to Riverdance. Had there not been a Trinity Tonight Show appearance there would not have been a Riverdance. It is perhaps Johnny Carson's greatest legacy that he launched so many careers and new ideas in show business.
The ovation from the audience was huge. Johnny's comments were great. I remember him saying "Well Mark, you must be very proud of those kids. Wasn't that remarkable?" he said to the audience. As soon as we walked back stage the segment producer (John McCauley) said, "Johnny absolutely loved them."
"Really?" I asked.
"You wouldn't know it, but when he looks down at the desk and shakes his head like that, it means he is blown away," said McCauley. And, of course, I was proud of them for even getting up there and doing their best at such a young age with no national television experience. It was indescribable at the time to explain what it felt like to have Johnny react in this manner…It was huge.
After that we celebrated a bit backstage. Looking on the monitors, Oprah walked onstage. In her first minutes, she couldn't stop talking about Trinity. "Weren't they incredible?." and "What discipline to work past the nerves of being on the Tonight show." She was very gracious after the show with the kids gushing over them and taking many photographs. She was very self effacing and complimentary.
We ended up leaving and going to dinner. It's a little weird walking in sunny California on St. Patrick's Day. First, it was bright out - not the overcast we're use to on a St. Patrick's Day in Chicago or Milwaukee. The show is actually taped in the afternoon which sort of throws you off. Coming from Chicago, the lack of anything Irish in Los Angeles on St. Pat's Day was bizarre. These twelve Trinity kids seemed to be the only Irish thing in the city. We were told to meet everyone at Des Reagan's, an Irish Bar…actually the ONLY Irish Bar in 1989 Los Angeles. So we met the Tonight Show crew there and the kids entertained the cheering crowd all night in spontaneous fashion. Jim McCauley was wearing a Trinity t-shirt the kids had given him. We drank and had fun until the show came on that night at 11:30 PM and it was thrilling to watch with the crew and a full bar/restaurant. And the idea that 10 million people were watching? It was the first time Irish dance had been seen on national television at that level and the impact seemed very significant.
That evening, I turned to Jim and asked, "What actually convinced you to have us on the show?"
He said, "I have seen a few Irish dancers in church basements and had the Chieftains on the show before. In the back of my mind, I had always hoped to one day present some Irish dancers but it did not exist other than a couple of kids doing the jig somewhere on St. Pat's day and the caliber, showmanship and entertaining material was not there. After seeing the video and letter you guys sent, and being the World Champions, it gave me the chance I was looking for." Then this guy - who had discovered celebrities like Steve Martin and Rosanne Barr - said, "It was a feather in my cap - finding Trinity. Besides, in the letter you said you were 'Dying to be on the show.'" He laughed, "We didn't want any deaths over our show."
Trinity's history with TV doesn't stop there. Trinity has performed in feature films by Disney, DreamWorks, Touchstone and Universal, working with directors like Ron Howard (Backdraft) and Sam Mendes (Road to Perdition). Trinity has also performed on The Martha Stewart Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Live with Regis, Good Morning America and CBS This Morning. Trinity has also been the subject of two national PBS Television programs (including "Trinity: One Step Beyond"), and was showcased in the ABC special The Dignity of Children hosted by Oprah Winfrey. Most recently, Trinity was featured in "Chicago's Irish", a documentary about the history of Chicago's Irish community, narrated by actor Aidan Quinn.
The invention of the Treble Reel
As told by Mark Howard: As in everything we do at Trinity, this innovation came about by accident. I was in my early 20's - a know-nothing teacher/dancer with misguided enthusiasm - when I took our school to march in the St. Patrick's Day parade. We were behind the Shannon Rovers and it just so happened that their children trained with Trinity at the time. The Shannon Rovers were hugely popular and it being the busiest day of the year for Irish performers, they asked if I could help them out. "We have a gig at Blackstone Hotel and just can't make it. Can you substitute for us?" I was so honored and quickly accepted. When we got there though, we had a few challenges.
There was a band headed by a gentleman who was part of Lawrence Welk's troupe. Unfortunately, he didn't know any Irish music. To make matters worse, the band took up the entire stage and the space all around was carpeted. We had a bit of time, so on the fly, I got the hotel to rig up some small risers all in a row in front of the stage.
It's hard to believe, but in those days, only boys danced in hard shoe for the reel and girls danced it in softshoe. I use to perform a lot and the female dancers would come out to watch my steps. They were always curious about my "hard shoe reel" steps and would watch with intensity trying to figure them out. It took a while as there were no video cameras to slow the process down. Over the course of several years, they eventually learned most of my hard reel steps, but we never used it in competitions.
So with just a small amount of time left, I taught them my full 'treble reel'. A few rhythmic bars used as the chorus was followed by four dancers stepping forward for a few steps. Then the chorus was repeated followed by another four dancers doing different steps. Slightly elevated on the risers, in a straight line, they pounded out the rhythm used so prominently in the activity now.
I felt bad when they finished because we only gave the audience two minutes worth of dance - not the 45 minutes that the Shannon Rovers would have filled. I felt I had let them down. But the audience reaction was ballistic. They all stood up, clapped, cheered - an instant success.
Traditional Irish dancing is tightly choreographed and all attention is directed to the speed and accuracy of the footwork, the spacing of the ensemble, and the precision of the dancers' movements. The dancers' arms are held tightly to their sides. Dances are performed in hard shoes (jig shoes) and soft shoes (ghillies) with steps set to traditional reels, jigs and hornpipes. Hard shoe dances, or step dances, are noted for the thunderous beat from the tap-like shoes. In soft-shoe dances, the dancers execute small jumps, quick beats and ankle-twisting crossover steps. These dances are traditionally performed wearing wool costumes adorned with handmade lace and Celtic embroidery.
Irish dance dates back to historical references of ethnic traditions in 16th century Ireland. It is synonymous with Irish independence and cultural identity. Throughout history, these ancient dances were never documented nor recorded due to Ireland's occupation by England, which controlled the history's documentation. In Ireland, the British banned all Gaelic cultural traditions during the 400-year period known as the Penal Days. Through this adversity, a beautiful art form was born. Despite England's attempt to Anglicize the children of Ireland, step dancing evolved behind closed doors. Irish musical instruments were forbidden. Therefore, parents taught children Gaelic tunes with rhythms tapped out by their feet in front of the hearth. Irish music also survived through mouth music, or "lilting," an art form similar to the African American tradition of "scatting." Some historians believe that the stiff upper body seen in Irish dancing today came as a result of children being taught the footwork without moving their upper bodies so they couldn't be seen through the windows while they practiced.
At family gatherings, a sort of "one-upmanship" took place between family members. If the grandpa performed one click, the niece or nephew might show off a double click, and so on. The father and son would often try to out-step each other through a series of complex steps and rhythms. This tradition evolved into what is well known as a challenge in tap and hoofing circles. It was the competitive nature innate in the Irish people that allowed Irish step dance to evolve and survive.
After the Penal Laws were lifted in late 1800s, inspiring the Great Gaelic Revival, Irish dancing gained momentum. The 18th and 19th centuries saw the rise of the dancing masters, who traveled from town to town, teaching Irish dance for about six weeks in one place. Sometimes these masters competed for a teaching spot in a town. The dancer knowing the most dance steps won the position. They often used small spaces, such as the top halves of doors, as their dancing surfaces, frequently soaping the surfaces to make it more challenging. Most likely, these dancing masters were responsible for developing the ceili dances and the set dances.
The Potato Famine of 1845-1850 sent millions of Irish people to America in search of a place where they could make a better life for their families. As they began emigrating from Ireland to the United States, they experienced employment discrimination, meeting "No Irish Need Apply" signs on the doors of most businesses. Many resorted to careers in show business. On Broadway during the days of Vaudeville, the African American boot dancers met Irish step dancers, creating what we now call American tap dancing or "hoofing." Many of Vaudeville's earliest starts were Irish step dancers whose lineage ended with performers like James Cagney and Grace Kelly. Cagney's low-heel, grinding style had much to do with the basics he learned from the Irish step dance tradition.
