February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Caroline Duggan, 29, is from Crumlin, Dublin, Ireland. She developed a love of music from a very early age: singing at four years old, playing the flute at ten, the violin at 12, and the piano at 13. She graduated from Trinity College Dublin, with a Bachelor of Music and History education and a masters of the arts.
In 2002, Duggan moved to New York to teach music at P.S. 59 in the Bronx. While teaching full-time in the school, Duggan started an afterschool Irish dance program, The Keltic Dreams. The group is made up of 38 students of predominantly Latino and African-American heritage. The first costumes for the troupe of dances were nightshirts which Caroline found in Carrolls gift store in Ireland. With the help of parents she made them into dresses. The dancing shoes were donated to the group.
The Keltic Dreams won an award at the 2006 Irish Connections Festival in Boston. In 2007, the group performed in the NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade and at City Hall, where Duggan was presented with a proclamation by NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn. In May 2008, Duggan traveled to Ireland with the Keltic Dreams troupe. During their visit, the dancers performed at Stormont for Martin McGuinness. Tyrone Productions, the group behind “Riverdance,” produced a documentary on the Keltic Dreams, called “A Bronx Dream,” which aired in Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day 2008.