SOME locals may remember Geraldine Ryan (née O’Shea) OAM, the indefatigable Irish dance teacher who used to run regular weekly classes at St Mary’s Hall - she passed away last Saturday, November 25, aged 93.

Geraldine was known for being seemingly tireless with her travel throughout regional Victoria, usually using public transport to visit towns and teach, covering about 3000 kilometres each week to locations as far as Mildura and Wodonga.

She was a pioneer - the first person outside of Ireland and England to become a registered teacher with An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha (Irish Dance Commission) and went on to become the longest-serving instructor in the world – at about 80 years.

She was covered in The Spectator in March 2013, having already taught here in town for 12 years, and that same year received the ‘Gradam’ award from the Irish Dance Commission of Dublin for lifelong dedication to the promotion and teaching of Irish dance.

One of her local students, Nyah Bester, said she was “incredibly grateful for the time I shared with Geraldine and the wealth of knowledge she passed on” and called her “remarkable”.

“Geraldine was incredibly passionate about passing on her wealth of knowledge and dedicated her life to teaching Irish dancing,” she said.

“She taught myself and my sister, Lily, for almost 10 years and also taught my other siblings for quite some time. With her guidance we were able to travel to various locations across Victoria and the world to showcase the world of Irish Dance.”

Fellow dancer, Grace Kearney, echoed the sentiments and remembered Geraldine as always saying, ‘If I can do it, you can do it!’ - “and she could!”

“In class she would shuffle her pump shoes on the floorboards and repeat a dance step until everyone got it right,” Grace said.

“The sequence would then be repeated until it became embedded in our minds, rewinding her CD music until she was satisfied.”

“She was a strict teacher but such a kind and generous person who truly loved what she was doing.

“If anyone’s siblings were watching the class and Geraldine needed another person for a dance, they’d be called over and slotted in. Despite having absolutely no clue what to do, she wouldn’t take no for an answer and would be showing them the steps anyway.”

Geraldine was known for scoffing at the word ‘retirement’ and sadly, the only reason her classes ended in Hamilton was due to a change in bus timetables during COVID, but she was still travelling to other locations and teaching from her base in Mount Waverley until six weeks before her passing.

She was awarded an Order of Australia (OAM) medal in 2020 for service to Irish dancing and was often visiting Irish Festivals across the state, including Koroit, and planning overseas trips with groups with the same goal.