South Windsor Top Business Nominee: Scoil Rince Luimni

SOUTH WINDSOR, CT — Recently, South Windsor Patch asked readers to nominate their favorite local business for Business of the Year. Many South Windsor businesses have managed to navigate the turbulence of 2020 with steadfast determination and an unwavering commitment to the clients they serve.

Scoil Rince Luimni (pronounced scull ring-ka lim-nee) offers Irish dance instruction to boys and girls, from first time beginners to elite champions, as well as adults at its studio at 400 Chapel Road. Irish dancing is a traditional, cultural form of dance that has evolved into a highly athletic artistic sport.

The studio was established in 2014 by Courtney Jay. After spending four years studying at the University of Limerick in Ireland, she decided to name the academy after her Irish home.

"Although the pandemic has taken so much from our studio and our dancers - the types of dancing they can do, their competitions, and their performances - I am so proud of the strong community culture that shines through," Jay told Patch. "We take the trust that parents put in us to keep their children safe and healthy very seriously, and it is so rewarding to be able to keep our dancers' physical and mental health up, provide safe socialization, and keep some sense of normalcy for these kids. We've adapted and changed to accommodate families that can't be with us in person, feel safer at home, or need to quarantine but want to keep up with classes through our virtual studio experience. Our business continues to adapt to accommodate the changes we see in everyday life and culture, the restrictions on businesses, and to continually improve our programs. We can't thank our community of parents and dancers enough for riding out this wave with us."

Here are some excerpts from nominations forms submitted on behalf of Scoil Rince Luimni:

• "This Irish step dance studio has gone above and beyond during the pandemic to keep these kids dancing. Zoom classes, increased cleaning, working the schedule to reduce class size to comply with state regs and all the while keeping the kids spirits up and still motivated to keep dancing." - Judith LaDouceur
• "Exceptional support of children, teaching Irish dancing and building confident young people, both females and males. Variety of experiences all year long, including competition performance and just practice for pleasure." - Siobhan Jurczyk
• "SRL has been an amazing constant for my daughter. They transitioned to virtual classes in the spring and offered unique opportunities for her to advance her skills. Once they could open up again, they went above and beyond to provide a safe and enjoyable dance experience. They even found creative ways for the dancers to experience competition in safe ways. The organization and attention to detail is incredible. We love SRL!" - Colleen Guertin
• "The staff and proprietor have made every effort to ensure the safety and well-being of the children come first." - Mel Carter
• "My daughter has been taking Irish dance lessons for over five years, and the staff is very knowledgeable in this type of dance and kids can start from very young to pretty much any age. The kids all have fun and get along great. The studio has been particularly mindful of the current pandemic and should receive a major shoutout for all of the precautions and options that they have offered in the midst of the pandemic, all while continuing to operate. Specifically, zoom classes were immediately offered which kept the dancers dancing, and then all precautions were taken for students to safely return to the studio and/or continue on zoom, and the studio owner came up with creative but safe ways to allow students to continue working on competitions through online feises and a class feis. They have pretty much not skipped a beat during what would otherwise be a very difficult time for dancers and dance studios. I would fully recommend this studio to anyone that was looking to take Irish dance lessons." - Sheila Hall

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