The Early Years

Glenn Simpson grew up on the stage, competing in and winning many national and international dance competitions including 5 All-Ireland and 7 Ulster championship titles. Growing up in Derry City, northern Ireland, Glenn attended the Mary McLaughlin School of Irish dance and it was under her tutiledge that he amassed his extensive award collection. He also attended the James McCafferty school of music where he studied singing. He turned professional at the age of 19 after Michael Flatley requested him for a private audition in Dublin and cast him in the original cast of Riverdance when it first opened in London in 1995. He quickly progressed to lead understudy and toured the world twice with the company.

In 1998 Glenn travelled to Sydney to work as Dance Captain with a fledgling new show "Gaelforce Dance" with whom he extensively toured Canada and U.S.A. In 1999 Glenn was Dance captain for the company and also played the character "Oisin" in Jean Butler and Colin Dunne's Irish Dance production "Dancing on Dangerous Ground". This new show opened to critical acclaim at the Theatre Royal - Drury Lane, in London's West end and had a sell out run at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

TV & DVD

Glenn has been featured in numerous DVDs including Riverdance - live at Radio City, Riverdance - A journey, Dancing on Dangerous Ground, Dare to Dance, and a Documentary film about the progression of Irish Dance. Glenn has performed on many major television shows in Ireland, England, North America and around the world including the Late show with David Letterman, Good Morning America, the Today Show and many other shows on BBC such as Blue Peter and Noels House Party and RTE Irish National Television.

At the age of 15 glenn was chosen to give a private performance for HRH Prince Charles and his staff during an historic visit to Northern Ireland and on two separate occasions performed at the Royal Variety Performance for HRH The Queen. He has performed for King Hussein of Jordan, Princess Diana with the two Princes in London as part of Riverdance in 1997 and in Washington D.C. at the Kennedy Honor Awards for The President and Mrs Clinton later that year,

He was part of the Guinness world record of the most people performing the "Riverdance" step at the same time at the BBC studios in London. The St. Patricks Day celebrations at Gracie Mansion for Mayor Gullianni in 2000 featured Glenn and his colleagues from the show, Dancing on Dangerous Ground.

Glenn started working as stage manager at Waterside theatre in Derry 2002 and then moved on to work at the Playhouse Theatre later that year. After being promoted to Theatre co-ordinator, overseeing many different visiting show and companies.

He worked with Jean again in 2004 on "Jean Butler Irish Dance masterclass DVD" which is proving to be a great practise aid for young dancers. Glenn has most recently been working on RTE Irish National Televisions hit TV show "Celebrity Jigs and Reels" where he is a featured professional dancer and choreographer.

He took many acting workshops with visiting acting teachers, and started working with "Daredevil" Theatre group. In 2004 Glenn debuted on stage in the smash hit comedy play "The Divorcee's Support Group" selling out a 2 week run at the Playhouse and a tour of Northern Ireland. Now he lives and studies in Toronto where he is pursuing a career in acting.

Choreographer

As Dance Captain with two major dance companies Gaelforce Dance & D.O.D.G. and regular master classes around the world, Glenn has earned himself the reputation of being a great teacher and an innovative choreographer. With his dance performance at the "Festival of Truth" in San Salvador commemorating the death of Oscar Romero and teaching dance workshops at the University of Central America in El Salvador, Glenn learned alot working the contemporary dance faculty at the university. His performance for Richard Branson at a Virgin Airways Gala in New Delhi, proved to be a massive success. Glenn performed with a company of indian bollywood style dancers during the gala event and even danced with Mr. Branson himself during the finale. He recently choreographed a project in Ireland for the Playhouse Theatre Derry called "The Port Pagaent", a story of immigration from Ireland to Canada and U.S. and worked as guest choreographer on the hit Irish TV show Celebrity Jigs and Reels.

Designer

As a Designer, Glenn studied General Art & Design and later graphics, costume design and Spatial/Interior Design at North West Institute in Derry City where he specialised in graphics and illustration. He has worked extensively as an interior design consultant and is skilled in specialised paint effects and also childrens themed wall murals. He has worked with his family costume design business since an early age, designing celtic graphics for the dance costumes.

Now a renowned designer in his field, Glenn has designed costumes for not only world and national champion dancers and also costume accessories lead dancers of the Riverdance companies and other dance shows. He has designed class costumes for more than a dozen irish dance schools around the world.