Alisa Ranum Belew’s chin lifts and her eyes brighten as she traces the generations of Healy Irish Dance Studio instructors.
“My great-great-grandfather William J. Healy came to San Francisco in 1870 from Kilcorney, County Cork, and introduced Irish dance to the community. Then he taught his son William Patrick Healy and his granddaughter, my grandma, Ann Healy.
“In those days, the 1910s and ‘20s, the kids would come in after school and put a quarter on Grandma’s piano to pay for their lesson. Ann Healy taught my mother, Patti Ann Ranum, and she taught her five boys and girls. I’m the fifth generation, and we’ve all danced competitively.”
Belew and her siblings practiced their dancing before breakfast, before school and at afternoon dance class. When it was time for the regional competitions in Southern California, the whole family packed into the car.
“It was never boring, but I never imagined dancing as a career,” Belew says. “I just loved the traveling. I went to my first world championships in Ireland when I was 9 or 10. I enjoyed the competition, the thrill of putting on a show, and I loved my dance friends.”
So it really was a lark when, at age 16, Belew auditioned for the Trinity Irish Dancers between rounds at a national competition. The performance company, based in Chicago, offered her a professional touring slot.
“It was an opportunity too good to pass up,” she says. “In seven years with them, I visited Japan, Taiwan, Central America, Canada and all the United states but two. We were complete rock stars in Tokyo. We were so mobbed by autograph seekers that they had to set up tables between us and the fans……
Read the full article on the PressDemocrat.com
Visit the Healy Irish Dancers website for more
Video is of the Healy Irish Dancers at the St.Patricks Day Parade San Francisco 2011
Healy Irish dancers at AT&T Baseball Park, San Francisco
Healy Irish Dancers performing at the first Fairfax Feis CA, 10/15/1
Hello Alisa, I used to go to Cazadero when I was a boy where I met your grandmother and her brothers Tom and Joe. I was very good friends with Joe. What a crazy guy! My name is Tom Threlkeld (aka Thrailkill), and we share some history. My grandfather’s first cousin was Nora Boyle Cook who taught Irish dance in Pacifica for 40 years. She sent her daughters to Ann Healey’s and now they also teach. They are your grandmother’s age, I’m sure they danced together. I just love the Irish dance and the culture it represents. My great grand father Edward Boyle was born in 1852 in Glenties, Co. Donegal. He married in Philadelphia in 1874. He and his wife brought the family out to San Francisco in 1912. His sister Annie had come in 1906, the year of the Great Fire. So, we share some history. I’m going to Ireland for the first time this June. Please tell your grandmother hi for me. My one regret is that I didn’t get to see her dance in her hey day.