By Jeff Sherman OnMilwaukee.com Staff Writer Published Sep 20, 2006 at 5:08 PM
The nearly 2-year-old McMenamin Irish Dance Academy, now located at 1926 E. Capitol Dr. in Shorewood, has entered into a lease agreement for property at 3948 N. Maryland Ave. -- the space formerly occupied by Napoleon's just south of Capitol Drive.  Napoleon's, at one time one of the largest game stores in the Midwest, was a one-stop shop for board games, puzzles, chess sets, role-playing games and more.  It closed in March 2005 after 25 years of business.

The new McMenamin Irish Dance Academy studio, which is more than double the current space, will open in October 2006.  Construction and renovations are currently underway.  The larger studio will enable McMenamin Academy to expand its class offerings for beginning and advanced dancers.  It will also allow the instructors to implement new training and fitness programs and provide dancers with state-of-the-art facilities for instruction and training for competitions and performances throughout the world.
 
Last week, the Shorewood Foundation approved a $5,000 grant to help support the growth and expansion of McMenamin Irish Dance Academy to the newly acquired space in the Village of Shorewood. “We are most grateful to the Shorewood Foundation for their support of our school,” said McMenamin-Johnson.  “We are pleased and proud to remain part of the Shorewood community and are humbled by the support and confidence of the Shorewood Foundation.”

McMenamin Irish Dance Academy was founded in January 2005 by lead instructor Aine McMenamin-Johnson.  With nearly 100 students enrolled for classes, McMenamin Irish Dance Academy is the only Irish dance school based in Shorewood and along the North Shore.  McMenamin also has a studio in Brookfield. 
 
Jeff Sherman OnMilwaukee.com Staff Writer

A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.

He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.

Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts.  He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.  

He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.

He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.