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Shawn Silver is a native Newfoundlander
who comes from a strong traditional dance background, following in his grandfather’s footsteps. Shawn is a professional
Irish dancer, and performer in St. John's, Newfoundland. He is artistic director of iDance Inc. established in 1998,
IDance is dedicated to preserving, promoting,
and strengthening the traditional form of Irish dance, music and culture in Canada and around the world. It provides opportunities
to young people and emerging artists to become part of the exciting international world of traditional dance, music, and culture
through teaching, competition and performance.
In 2007 Shawn became a featured dancer and production coordinator
with Magic of Ireland, Canada’s only touring Irish dance show. Shawn is also working with the renowned College of Piping
in PEI, developing a traditional Irish dance program and is PEI's current Provincial step dance champion 2007-2009.
Other notable career highlights include
choreography and performance for Cape Breton Gaelic recording artist Mary Jane Lamond’s award winning Canadian hit The
Stepping Song(Suas É) and video (1998); feature performance and interview for The Stowaway, a 1999 History Channel
documentary exploring his family’s Portuguese heritage and immigration to Newfoundland; Featured performers at The 2002
Juno Awards: Choreographer and production coordinator for Bloomsday Cabaret, an Irish Newfoundland film about James
Joyce and music (2004); Featured dancers for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) Janeway Telethon (2003, 2004,
2005); Choreographer for critically acclaimed Newfoundland Labrador Touring Opera Ann & Seamus (2006); Choreographer for
CBC’s television comedy Rabbit Town (2005); Featured performer with principals from Riverdance, Lord of The Dance, and
Magic of the Dance (2002-2007); and featured performers at 2007 Salmon Festival.
Ireland’s
Brid Falconer a graduate of Trinity College Dublin with a BA in Early and Modern Irish
and Teaching Diploma
Currently on a career break from post in NI Civil Service where she was working as an Irish Language
Officer and Translator
Also currently completing my MA in Translation Studies for the Irish Language in Queens University,
Belfast
Awarded the ICUF Scholarship 2009 by the Irish Government to come to St Johns, Newfoundland to teach Irish
at MUN
Brid has also taught at secondary school level and have worked with international adult learners at Oideas Gael
in Donegal.
While living in Belfast Brid became involved in the Irish Language Radio Station in Belfast (Raidió
Fáilte), doing interviews on current affairs for the daily News programme.
She has been writing for the
BBC NI (Ulster) while living in Newfoundland also write a regular column for Nuacht 24, the Irish language online newspaper.
Brid has also travelled extensively, and has taught Irish to anyone and everyone who is interested along the way,
including an Irish language summer camp in the Snowy mountains in Australia.
Somewhere in between all of the above
Brid has also had a career in IT for over 10 years working as a business analyst.
In 2009 Brid Falconer and NL’s Shawn Silver have partnered to form Celtic
Roots. This provinces and this country’s only centre dedicated exclusively to Traditional Irish Language, Dance, Music
and Culture. This summer Celtic Roots will officially open its doors to cultural enthusiasts from all over the province, and
special guests from around the world.
Geoff
Meadus is born and bred and educated in Newfoundland Labrador. As a professional musician Geoff has toured the country
and continent as drummer with many well known bands, Marguerita's Calling and Glyd amongst others.
Geoff has played professionally for 17 years and has showcased at the coveted Music
Industry Awards, East Coast Music Awards and The Juno's and has performed live for thousands around the country and is a regular
feature with many local bands here in Newfoundland. His newest venture is Tamamh an Eisc (Irish for Newfoundland)
In
addition to being a professional musician/drummer and entrepreneur, Celtic Roots is delighted to announce Geoff as the drum
insturctor for our summer program.
 Greg Eustace grew up in St. John's Newfoundland,
graduated from McGill University with an M.A. in Music Technology, and from Concordia University with a BFA in Electroacoustics.
His education and
experience as an audio engineer, includes sound recording, processing, mixing, and mastering. His graduate work in audio science
research focused on computer programming of music and audio applications for purposes that include sound synthesis, music
information retrieval, and human computer interaction.
Greg is also educated in
traditional music theory, history, and ear training. His own compositions marry elements of electronic, popular, and classical
music.
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