Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Hays.
Jason, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Like many dancers who grew up in the 1990s, I started Irish Step Dancing after seeing Michael Flatley and the casts of Riverdance and Lord of the Dance on TV. I remember turning to my parents and saying, “This is what I have to do.” My mother found the McTeggart Irish Dancers, and at seven years old, I began dancing in May 1999. I was a very natural dancer, and my dance teacher Maureen McTeggart-Hall recognized that quality about me and started pushing me more towards competing soon.
I competed at my first feis (pronounced “fesh”) only six months after I began and quickly moved up the levels of dancing to the championship level in less than two years of dancing. Irish dancing helped me learn how to be self-motivated and determined, how to accept and learn from critique and feedback, and what hard work can help you accomplish.
I was fortunate to have had an incredibly successful dance career and it was only made possible because of the mentors and role models that helped me along the way. My dance teacher, Mrs. Hall, sadly passed away February 2017, was the greatest person I have ever met and she deserves much credit and acknowledgment for how much she did for me.
Her father started the McTeggart School in 1939 in Cork, Ireland and Maureen and her three other sisters continued teaching and building the school. Mrs. Hall emigrated to California in 1955 and continued expanding the McTeggart School across the United States. Training under her direction and tutelage was the best thing and she recognized how much I could accomplish and pushed me beyond my limits.
During my competitive career, I accomplished:
– 14x undefeated Southern USA Regional Champion (record holder for most wins)
– 2006 & 2007 North American Champion
– 2011 All Ireland Champion — currently the only Southern Region male to have won
– 2006 & 2014 World Champion — I was the first Southern Region dancer to have ever won the Worlds, first Southern Region dancer to have it won it twice, and currently, only male Southern Region dancer to have won.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I have had numerous ups and downs, which is the nature of the game in a competitive sport. I have experienced injuries such as a strained Achilles tendon, a broken 5th metatarsal bone, and Osgood-Schlatters disease (inflammation of the patellar tendon) in my knee. Besides the injuries, there have been occasional when my own ego and nerves got in the way of me being successful.
Also, since Irish dancing is a subjective adjudicated sport, like gymnastics and ice skating, not getting the placement or score I was wanting has been a challenge. Not was I only training to be the best I could be, but I was training to be so good that a majority of an adjudicating panel would score me the highest. I learned that at the end of the day I cannot control someone else’s opinion of me, but I can control how well trained and happy I am with my own dancing and self.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the McTeggart Irish Dancers of North Texas story. Tell us more about the business.
The McTeggart Irish Dancers of North Texas is a non-profit dance school with our studio located in North Richland Hills. We only teach Irish step dancing and we were one of the first schools in the DFW metroplex to offer Irish step dancing. We are most proud of the high standard of dancing we have at our school. We have year after year produced World and National qualifiers, have sent numerous dancers to international championships and have not left empty-handed. We have won regional titles in both solos and teams, my list of accolades add to the prestige of our location.
Our school has a team of two teachers, myself and Aurora Averill, and a coach, Nyssa Milburn. We have all grown up together and have each had our personal success in both the dance and real world. We have taken all our training, and the direction of our teachers, and provide a high quality of teaching from the beginning of our dancers’ journey.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
We have had some bad luck (lack of available practice space, unhappy members of the school, etc.) but we have continued to persevere and have overcome some large obstacles in the last few years to now be at our most successful as a school. We have our own studio, our school is steadily gaining new dancers and families, and our students are moving up through the levels and winning and placing at every competition they attend.
Pricing:
- Intro/Beginner pricing – $72 base fee, $40 one time registration fee
- Pricing increases based on level, annual $25 registration
Contact Info:
- Address: 8401 Boulevard 26 Suite 7, North Richland Hills, TX 76180
- Website: danceirish.org
- Email: mcteggartntx@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/mcteggartntx
- Facebook: facebook.com/mcteggartnorthtexas/
- Twitter: twitter.com/mcteggartntx
Image Credit:
Milton Baar
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