Lisa is the lead teacher of the Raleigh Rince na h’Eireann (RNE) school of Irish dance.  Lisa has danced, trained and taught under Sandra Connick (TCRG and director of all six RNE school locations) for the past 6 years. Surprisingly, Lisa did not start out as an Irish dancer, but as a competitive springboard diver and competed in National and International Diving competitions in her ten year career.  She made the NCAA Division I National Collegiate All-American All Star Diving Team for all four straight years.  She also just missed qualifying (by two tenths of a point) for the Olympic trials to represent the U.S. Olympic Diving team in the 1988 Olympic games.  Lisa was fortunate to be trained by three Olympic diving coaches over her years of “living at the pool” and she brings invaluable training and experience to the table in her preparing Irish dancers to be strong competitors. 

Lisa always had a dream to be a dancer, but knew she didn’t have the time with her diving training.  So after life slowed down a bit in her adult life, she took her first Irish dance lesson and has been hooked ever since.  She entered the competitive circuit as an adult Irish dancer and then entered the senior ladies competitions for a more competitive challenge.  She competed for 8 years and after finishing her last Irish dance competition at the North American Irish Dance Championships in 2007, she decided it was time for her to hit the books and start studying for her TCRG exams.  Lisa is honored to be representing one of the top ranked Irish Dance Schools in the Southern Region.