Tiernan Irish Dancers

We are an Irish dance troupe in Helena and Butte.  As a sister school of the Trinity Irish Dancers in Chicago, Illinois, we wear their colors of red, black, and white.  Our allowable age range for students in Helena is 3 through 20, but we do not offer instruction meant for adult-level dancers.  We and our dancers collectively honor the many and varied heritages of our individual students.

Our dancers may choose to compete throughout the region, but our first love is entertaining those in our hometowns.  We put on dozens of shows throughout the year at schools, festivals, assisted living facilities, and many other locations.  We have a Booking Form for requesting performances in Helena.

Though our website domain is tiernanmontana.com and we have some ties to the Butte school, this website pertains only to our Helena school, which is operated by different people than the Butte school.  You can find information about the Butte school at this link: Tiernan Butte.
We are not associated with any other dance schools in Montana.

Our History

Our traditional Irish step-dancing school and performance group was founded in Butte and Helena, Montana, in January 2004.

Mark Howard, the Trinity Academy of Irish Dance founder and artistic director, first saw Montana children dancing in 2003 at An Ri Ra, the Montana Irish Festival in Butte.  He was impressed by their “passion to learn.”  After years of requests by Irish dance organizations in Montana, Trinity became the first Midwest/Eastern program to answer the much-needed call for elevated consistency, professionalism, and expertise.

The name Tiernan (which is a synonym for Trinity and means “God”) was chosen, and the Tiernan Irish Dance organization was born.  Tiernan is now the sister school of Chicago, Milwaukee, and Madison, Wisconsin’s Trinity Academy of Irish Dance.  Trinity has won dozens of world titles for the United States and is considered to be one of the most widely recognized Irish dance programs in the world.