Mary-Elizabeth (M-E) MacGregor Chaney began dancing at the age of four when she attended
ballet classes with Eugenia Pankotan in Mt. Clemens, MI, under whose instruction
she studied until age eleven. At age nine, she began Highland Dance lessons with
Janis (Ross) Burkhardt in the Detroit area. Under Janis’s tutelage, Mary-Elizabeth
took part in numerous performances and exhibitions in the Detroit area with the St.
Andrew’s Pipe Band; particular highlights during the teen years were performing with
over 50 other Highland dancers in a mass Highland Fling during (a very muddy) half-time
at a Detroit Lions and meeting daredevil stuntman Evel Knievel at Toronto’s Canadian
National Exhibition!
In her mid-teens, M-E had the opportunity to attend dance camp and studio lessons
taught by the late Gladys Forrester. While travelling and competing in England and
Scotland, she also attended workshops with Jean Ritchie and the late Highland Dance
great, Elspeth Strathern. In addition, M-E participated in U.S. workshops led by
Members and Fellows of the British Association of Teachers of Dance (BATD) and passed
all levels of medal testing offered at that time. After eight years competing primarily
in Michigan and Canada, she headed to college, graduating from Alma, where she also
served as leader of the Kiltie Lassies her senior year and helped set in motion plans
by the college to offer Highland Dance for P.E. credit, which came to fruition the
following year and continues today. She also holds an MA in English from Northern
Michigan University.
M-E has taught Highland Dance, considered the most sophisticated form of national
dancing in the world, in Northern Michigan since 1997 and is a BATD and FUSTA Midwest
Member. She offers lessons at Vivace School of Music and Arts, Inc. in Harbor Springs
where she lives with her husband, Paul and daughter, Eleanor, who shares her mom’s
love of dance (and sometimes tries to teach it during lessons!) and takes lessons
in the Bluebells class. Her son, Andrew, is a recent at Albion College graduate teaching
English in South Korea.
Updated 2.2010
