Remembering Gary Healy, age 47, Beloved Teacher & Adjudicator

In 2021, he shared with Irish Dancing Magazine memories from his days as a competitive dancer, “Like every dancer, I had my ups and downs, with numerous injuries, growth spurts and bad results. But you learn from the bad times, to cherish the good times and move on, which is what competition is all about? Isn’t it?”

After several years touring with Riverdance, he went onto train numerous champions winning regional and national titles, Great Britain, All Scotland, British National, and All Ireland Championship titles.

Among the many dancers he has taught, he has to date produced three World Champions, namely Nathan Dale, Orla Godley, and John Godley. He is among only a handful of teachers within CLRG, who has successfully won every category at the World Championships (female, male, ceili, figure and dance drama) and was the first teacher (along with his co-teachers) from North America to achieve such a feat.

Pictured: Gary Healy trained dancer Nathan Dale from his first dance steps all the way up to winning the World title

Pictured: Gary celebrating a happy moment with World Champion, Orla Godley, one of the many World class dancers he coached during his stellar teaching career.  

Over two decades, Gary taught hundreds of dancers at schools in Chicago and New York winning numerous titles and training many of the world's top champions.

 pictured: Healy with some of his original dancers in Chicago at the North American Nationals circa 2005. 

For the past several years, Gary has been an instrumental part of the DeNogla Academy's teaching staff and success. The dance school is based in New Jersey.     

pictured: Gary in 2018 with the DeNogla Academy teachers and dancers.

Gary and his dancers were featured in the documentary The Big Jig which aired on TLC in 2012.  He enjoyed the filming and in true Gary style he managed to train 30 World qualifiers including those vying for spots on the podium, all while partaking in the filming of the documentary. He shared with Irish Dancing Magazine’s editorial team that he had no regrets working on the film and loved every minute of it including his nickname “Scary Gary;” a name his dancers lovingly called him due to his remarkable work ethic and desire to push his dancers to perform their absolute best every single time they took the stage.

In 2015, Gary married the love of his life David Moskowitz-Healy and together the two built a life in Chicago while Gary continued to travel between New York and Chicago to work as an attorney and to teach Irish Dance.  

Pictured: David and Gary at their wedding in 2015.

Gary is survived by David, his parents, siblings, and countless others who are shattered beyond belief.  

Pictured: Gary with close friends and fellow dance teachers (l-r) Deirdre Penk O'Donnell and Mary Kay Heneghan

Featured in Irish Dancing Magazine many times over the years and most recently in 2021, Gary reflected on his dance life when asked if he had any regrets and he shared, “Life is too short for regrets; it is the future that matters. Learn from the past and move on. Remember, everything happens for a reason, and if you don’t learn along the way, then you will never get to where you are going.”