By Susan Gedutis Lindsay
Special to the Reporter

It all started at the Philadelphia St. Patrick's Day parade, 1979. That's the day Savin Hill resident Kieran Jordan, then just five years old, discovered Irish dance, and she's been dancing ever since.

Today, she has established herself internationally as a professional Irish dancer and choreographer in a niche that most would consider unlikely - most, that is, except her husband Vincent Crotty, an Irish native who chose an equally challenging but viable career as a visual artist. They are remarkably humble about their talents, but don't be fooled. Together, these Dorchester-based artists make a formidable team whose strength lies in their natural talent and their unflinching dedication to their creative visions.

Needless to say, St. Patrick's Day season is a busy time for this couple. Kieran will be performing three times on the 17th, at some of the most high-profile events in Boston. On the morning of St. Pat's, she'll be at the JFK Library in Dorchester presenting a free public performance with the Kieran Jordan Dancers and a new music and dance collaboration called Triptych, a trio that includes Laura Risk on fiddle, Paddy League on guitar, and Jordan's own feet as percussion. After the morning concert, she and Triptych will head to Boston's Back Bay for matinee and evening performances of the St. Patrick's Day Celtic Sojourn with Brian O'Donovan, who hosts a popular weekly Celtic music radio program on WGBH. They'll perform alongside Irish singer Sean Keane and guitar dynamo Tony McManus, as well as Beoga, a new, energetic traditional band from Northern Ireland.

Meanwhile, her husband Vincent Crotty will be featured at two simultaneous art openings on March 16; most artists are fortunate to get just one. In Andover, his work is part of a group art exhibition of Irish landscape paintings titled, "A Shade Apart." The opening reception takes place on Friday, March 16, 6:00 to 9:00 pm at the Lorica Artworks, 90 Main Street, Andover. South of the city, his work will appear at the opening reception of "The Dark Light Show," in conjunction with the Hingham Symphony Orchestra and the North River Arts Association, Hingham at 7:30. That exhibit will feature nocturnal painting.

Crotty immigrated to Dorchester in 1990, from the small Cork town of Kanturk. Since then, Crotty, now 41, has continued his studies avidly, not in a school or university, but rather over long hours at the easel painting figures and landscapes from life and in the studio. With immense talent and quiet focus, his career has grown steadily -so much so that he is able to make his entire living as a professional artist. In addition to painting, he has recently expanded into teaching workshops and classes from his studio in Rockland. His work spans a wide range, from the back streets of his hometown in Ireland to the back porches of his Dorchester three-decker neighborhood. He is currently working on a series of paintings of rural people in Ireland, as well as a series of portraits of the parishioners at Dorchester's St. Mark's parish. This summer, he'll be teaching an urban landscape painting course at the Fort Point Studio School and serving on the faculty at the 2007 Catskills Irish Arts Week in upstate New York.

Crotty will be there to support Kieran on Saturday night. He attends most of her performances and even occasionally joins her for a spin around the floor at a traditional ceili dance. That's just one reflection of the mutual support that makes it possible for the couple to remain self-employed creative artists in one of the most expensive cities in the US.

"The dancing, the choreography, and the painting is creative work - but crafting the career is the creative act too," Jordan said. "We don't have work colleagues to go to meetings with and have strategic planning sessions with, so we do that for each other, even though our actual fields are pretty separate.

"If he's having an art show that he's producing himself, I'm very much involved in helping with the planning, advertising, getting a venue, and publicizing it. And if I'm working on a big project, he's cooking dinner for my dancers-we're being the staff assistant that the other person needs."

While most of their collaboration has been behind the scenes, they've talked about doing creative projects together. Perhaps Crotty will do set design for a theatrical dance project or perform music for her dancing.

"It hasn't happened yet, but I feel very much that it'll come," Jordan said. "Teamwork is critical to running this life as two artists."

Catch Kieran live at the JFK Library event, which kicks off at 10:30 am. Admission is free but reservations are required. Call 617-514-1646.

Tickets are still available for the St. Patrick's Day Celtic Sojourn with Brian O'Donovan shows at 3 and 8 p.m., at the John Hancock Hall. Buy tickets online or by calling 1-800-514-3849. To see Vincent Crotty's work, visit his web site at vincentcrotty.com. Kieran also has a web site, kieranjordan.com.