The children at San Juan School, dressed in green and sporting
shamrocks on the cheeks, applauded loudly for the Irish dancers
performing at the school last week for St. Patrick’s Day.
The children at San Juan School, dressed in green and sporting shamrocks on the cheeks, applauded loudly for the Irish dancers performing at the school last week for St. Patrick’s Day. The dancers were students from the Barnes Academy of Irish Dancing in Hollister. Their teacher, Allison Barnes, had the San Juan students clapping and cheering with the music.
Barnes discovered the joy of Irish dancing at a school performance when she was in kindergarten. She loved the elegance and how the dancers looked high on their feet. “I went home after school and tried to demonstrate to my mother what I thought I had seen, kicking up my heels and jumping around,” Barnes said. “She didn’t know quite what to make of it, but she made some calls and found me an Irish dancing teacher.”
Barnes doesn’t have a drop of the Blarney in her; her heritage is Portuguese and Spanish.
Barnes started competing when she was six years old and continued to enter and place well in competitions until she started her school. “I got to travel around the United States and got to compete in Ireland twice. Irish dancing is a lifetime of learning.”
Her teacher thought Allison would make a great teacher, but she was not that interested at first. Seven years ago she decided to open a school in Hollister, and discovered she loves teaching.
“The students and their parents are like a second family to me, I get to see them grow,” Barnes said. “I got started at the right time, Lord of the Dance and Riverdance were getting very popular. I began with one student dancing on the carpet in my living room!”
The Barnes Academy of Irish Dancing now has more than 60 students, boys and girls, and adults. Many of the students are in competition and two of her students, senior Jenna Nelson and nine-year-old Aubrey Champagne, went to the Regionals last year. “My students learn quickly and in two years the school really moved along. Competition is a great experience for the dancers, they get to meet other dancers, and they realize they are not the only ones dancing; some competitions can attract over 1200 competitors,” Barnes said.
Irish dancing can be much more than a hobby, but Barnes stresses that her classes are all about having fun. “My teacher was very good, but she was very strict, I didn’t want to be that way,” she said. “I’m a very nice teacher! I praise them and I’m very proud of their achievements.”
Irish dancing consists of two types of dances: soft shoe and hard shoe. Soft shoe dances originated from people dancing in bare feet on their earth floor homes, and hard shoe developed when the men took the doors off the front of their homes and laid them on the ground to dance on more aggressively and to give a steady beat.
“Soft shoe is more like ballet and hard shoe is like tap. Special shoes with fiberglass heels and sides are used to make the beats in the hard shoe dances,” Barnes said. “The dances can be challenging to learn, but the students seem to like the variety and that helps keep them motivated.”
Barnes offers classes four times a week, and students come for one hour a week. The fee is $50 per month, and she offers discounts for multiple-children families. She teaches children and adults. Plans are under way to expand The Barnes Academy of Irish Dancing to other area cities.
For information, call Allison Barnes at 831-634-1650.
