An Clar School Brings Irish Dance to the Community

BYRAM, NJ — Lexa Hickey grew up practicing the art of Irish Dance, dancing competitively, and eventually touring with the 15th Anniversary River Dance Tour, at the conclusion of which she became a certified teacher and opened the An Clar School of Irish Dance in 2011.

“Somewhere in college, I started doing side-lessons, and I just kind of fell in love with the process of it,” Hickey said. “It was just the natural order after I finished touring to take my exam. I wouldn’t say it was planned, but it feels right.”

When the initial lockdowns first began back in March of 2020, the School was in the height of its season — March is its busiest month with St. Patrick’s Day, and that activity bleeds over into parts of February and April as well.

“We were actually gearing up to do the Morristown St. Patrick’s Day Parade and the Albany Parade,” Hickey said. “On that Friday, we got the call that everyone was canceled for that weekend and then we were going into the two-week shutdown. I went right into survival mode — I was on that Monday on Zoom.”

Figuring out how to take something that the students were so used to doing in-person online did, however, present a challenge.

“I just jumped headfirst into it to figure out how to do it,” Hickey said. “We were allowed back in the studios in July which was a breath of fresh air, but we have squares on our dance floor and the kids are six feet apart. They’ve had to learn how to dance with masks on. But they’ve been resilient, to say the least.”

And though the kids have been able to stay active and in practice, for two years in a row now the St. Patrick’s Day Season has been canceled, in addition to World and Regional Championships.

“We are hopeful that our National Championships will be happening, so that’s what we’re gearing up for,” Hickey said. “But it’s been an adjustment, to say the least. I consider ourselves fortunate — I have colleagues around the world who are still in lockdown and can’t even teach in the studio, so I count my blessings.”

Where a lot of schools and businesses have been able to make a seamless transition to Zoom, teaching Irish Dance virtually presented more of a challenge — for most students, the Zoom cameras are focused on their feet so that Hickey can examine footwork, the hallmark of Irish Dance.

“I had to focus more, especially with kids not being in ideal practice spaces, I had to adjust what we were doing. We did a lot of focus on drills and small movements and a lot of repetitions,” Hickey said. “We also really focused on making sure that the kids were doing it safely to avoid injuries.”

Now with the studio running a hybrid model, Hickey has set up TVs and monitors in the studio itself so that dancers can Livestream in and attend class.

“That took some arranging but it’s been pretty seamless,” Hickey said, “other than internet issues. It’s definitely been a blessing.”

More recently, the school ran its first online competition.

“The ability that we’ve been able to utilize the technology available to us in this last year has just been a big positive,” Hickey said. “We recently had our national convention online and the attendance for that was huge because no one had to travel for it. I found that to be a big positive. While I would probably say I’m a little Zoomed-out at this point, I still am very grateful for its abilities and opportunities.”

Despite the move from in-person classes to online and eventually hybrid, the majority of dancers remained with the school throughout the lockdown. And throughout virtual lessons, Hickey has worked hard to create a new sense of normal for her students in a time that has certainly been abnormal.

“Sometimes I just let them talk and that’s all they need, and you can hold onto that piece of normal a little bit,” Hickey said. “I think that’s what kids need, we all need. So I’ve just worked really hard to continue keeping our normal in some way, shape, or form.”

For Hickey, this meant virtual performances and recorded dance compilation videos to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in place of their usual parade. And looking ahead, Hickey is staying positive.

“I think we’re going to learn to appreciate things more,” she said. “We’ve been thankfully getting back to some in-person competitions — which are running nothing like we were used to — but we’re appreciative of it now. We appreciate getting to do that and to compete and to perform. I’m looking at it positively. We’re moving forward. We’re doing what we have to and we’re still dancing, so it’s all good to me.”