The Timm Family resides in a quaint Dublin neighborhood with lush green trees and closely attended landscaping. A cozy home, spacious backyard and basketball hoop in the driveway give the impression of a traditional family, but there’s more to what meets the eye.
This energetic family of four spends their evenings teaching Irish Step classes and rehearsing for weekend competitions and festivals. As deeply devoted Irish Step Dancers, the Timm family is the portrait of committed, highly driven individuals.
“One of the things that I’m most thankful for was all the time, how it brought our family together. We traveled together, we spent time together,” says John, who fills the shoes of husband, father and dance instructor. “It was a mutual love of the culture, the music and the dance, and the ability to make friends from all over the world.”
John and his wife Heather Timm met a little more than 30 years ago at their dance studio through rehearsals which led to decades of dancing and making a life together.
The beginning
“I am 53 years old now and I’ve been Irish dancing since I was about three and a half years old,” says John.
John is the son of a Scottish mother who immigrated to America when she was 16 years old. His mother was determined to keep him from causing trouble, so dance classes were the immediate solution.
“My mother wanted to put us into Scottish dancing. We lived in Dayton at the time, and she couldn’t find a Scottish dance instructor,” he says. “But she found an Irish dance instructor and she was like, ‘Oh, well close enough.’”
Heather is a fourth-generation Irish descendant. As the middle of five kids with several dancer siblings, she started dancing at the age of 6, which is common for competitive Irish dancers.
Attending the same dance school and learning from the same instructor, Heather and John slowly got to know one another. Their connection grew over the years, with the help of being partnered up by their instructor, eventually leading them to get married in 2001.
After moving to Dublin in the late 70s to teach at what is now Richens/Timm Dance Studio, John and Heather continued their Irish Step dancing career while growing their family, eventually introducing their children to dance as well.
Their son, Donovan, 17, has been in dance since he was five, while their daughter Danica,14, has been dancing since she was four and a half years old.
“I was kind of born into dancing, I mean I was born and then three months later I was at my first dance competition in Glasgow,” says Donovan.
Family of champions
Although they have always enjoyed the art form itself, their skills took them far, leading John and Heather to win countless competitions and championships around the world.
John won the Oireachtas regionals 10 times, the North American Championships twice and currently holds one win at the World Championships. Heather has won the Oireachtas regionals four times and was runner-up at nationals and at All Irelands championship, and placed fifth on the podium at the World Championship.
“As I always say, once is all it takes to be able to call yourself a world champion for the rest of your life, right?” says John.
A year after earning the title of World Champion, John graduated with a dual degree in marketing and management from Wright State University in 1994. Heather graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a Bachelors of Business Administration in Finance and no intention of teaching Irish Step dance full-time, but that changed for both of them.
“John and I had gotten married the year after I graduated, and the dance school was getting busier,” says Heather. “After two years I ‘retired’ from banking and have been teaching full-time Irish dancing ever since.”
As a state runner-up in volleyball, Donovan was faced with the decision to choose between his love for dance and his desire to pursue team sports.
“I had to make the decision whether to travel volleyball and not dance for six, seven months to use my time to be the best part of this team that I can be or do to continue dancing and then go to the worlds,” says Donovan.
Finding balance between dance and other hobbies is something both kids have faced. As successful dancers and talented athletes, they’re learning the importance of time management. As a school record holder for various track events, Danica has found that dance allows her to accelerate in sports.
“I do love hearing them talk about their favorite accomplishments being some things other than dance because it reminds us that we’re giving them a holistic approach to their life,” says John.
Dancing fever
Amid the competitions and championships, the Timm family has been dancing at festivals all around the world. From Cleveland to cruise ships, the Timms have an unquenchable love for Irish Step dance.
From Aug. 2-4, the whole family will be seen performing at the Dublin Irish Festival. Amongst the lengthy list of festivals, they attend annually, the Dublin Irish Festival holds a special place in their hearts, and they return every year.
The Timm family has no plans to slow down when it comes to attending the Dublin Irish Festival or the various competitions, they spend their weekends at. Dancing is an integral part of their lives, as well as their commitment to each other.
“Trying to find balance in our family’s life – you have to make a conscious effort to try to find balance because, everyone wants a little bit of your time,” says John. “But you have to try to strike a balance as a family to kind of have a sense of normalcy in your life.”
While John and Heather continue investing time into their work, Donovan and Danica are actively pursuing goals to place at regionals with the hopes of winning World Champion titles.
“It’s the foundation of our family, of who we are,” says John. “I say that to the kids all the time, this is who we are, this is what we do.”
Amber Phipps is a contributing writer at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at aphipps@cityscenemediagroup.com.
