
Hello!
Dance Life:
I grew up immersed in Irish dance & music with our family business, The Duffy Academy of Irish Music & Dance, based in East Hartford, CT.
The Irish love storytelling... If you'd like to know the silly, salty, slightly sappy & transformative tale... My grandmother, May Duffy, started the school after she came to America from Dublin, Ireland. She was the first certified Irish dance teacher in North America, a trailblazing business woman, a distinguished Irish dance teacher & adjudicator, a tough Dublin lass & I may have forgotten to mention to her... a mentor & best friend. I learned & taught alongside my grandmother & mother, Elizabeth Duffy. Ms. Liz, as the students fondly call her, is an incredible world championship dancer. She is still one of the most gorgeous dancers you'll ever see on the floor! Her ability to float through the air or make the floor thunder continues to make jaws drop. A talented & thoughtful dancer & teacher. I'm equally obsessed & envious of her dancing. She is still my favorite person to dance with. As much as I respect & adore them both...the family workplace was anything but a picnic, more like the worker ants that invade your picnic! Unloading, carrying & then reloading heavy hauls of boombox stereos, CDs, cassette tape cases (just in case), dance shoes, clothes, & whatever else was deemed necessary to each & every class we taught. Gram & I were close. So much so we bickered nearly as much as we said I love yous. I've yet to confirm this, but she'd said it was the Dublin girl in her that made her enjoy a "good row" (rhymes with cow). "Get's the blood pumpin! Makes you feel alive!" I bargain that it's because to her... there was no worse crime than boredom. The family business hours were: when Gram said/whenever work was to be done/all the time. The petite, but ferocious, top boss ran things militantly & was armed with well crafted, weighted opinions that could make the toughest bloke quake. Oh...& there's no clocking out because you all go home together. Lord help you if you had a tough day at the office. Did I mention there was no pay? That said...I wouldn't have traded it for anything. I learned so much & got to be with my favorite people almost every day. It created a closer relationship with my mother & both grandparents. There were adventures, bloopers, new challenges to brainstorm, & I loved working with the kiddos. Eventually Gram passed the school on to Ma, who had been lead teacher for quite some time. Gram's health had begun to diminish & I was dealing with cancer. Navigating family health issues, Gramp's death, a very long commute, a demanding career outside of dance, & the dramatically changed school dynamics... Ma understandably felt the need to retire the school. With Gram's blessing, after teaching generations of dancers for more than 60 years, we retired the school. Funny thing about "retiring" something that has been part of your whole life...doesn't tend to stick. I was grateful to have my Gram be just a grandmother for the first time. I was grateful to not have to share her or my Ma with throngs of people. Most of all, I was grateful for the opportunity to miss something that I thought was a predetermined way of life...so I could wholeheartedly choose it for myself & remake it as my own.
Duffy Academy in Western Mass:
In 2014 The Duffy Academy of Irish Dance opened a location in Northampton, MA. In 2023 the school became a non-profit, Duffy Academy Inc., to better support our students & achieve our community outreach goals.
Western Mass is home to my family. Look forward to connecting with & being of service to the community.
Dance Style:
A bit more storytelling... For those curious... Dances: The knowledge & preservation of traditional ceili & set dances is very important to me. I enjoy the challenge & excitement creating innovative choreographies to music our dancers are inspired by. Both are here to stay. Inspiration: I learned much from watching my Gram teach & adjudicated, but gleaned the most while snugged sidestage. We'd get fired up picking our winners before they even hit the floor. Who were they going to be on the floor? The beauty, the workhorse, who was the class, who was cheeky, who had snap & spark, but her favorite...WHO WAS THE ENTERTAINER?!?! In a sea of daily trained victory thirsty athletes...what makes a dancer the best? In my opinion... the one that captivates you. The one that made you part of the experience. The one whose dancing can take your breath, give you goosebumps, make you gasp or even cry. When an entertainer, "A real performer" as Gram would say, takes stage, it resonates at your core. No selections. You simply enjoy & acknowledge. "I'd rather watch a good dancer that entertained me than a great dancer that looks dead inside any day...so long as they're on their timing." Throughout my training & teaching experience, inside & outside of dance, there are some common themes that allow someone to tap into their inner entertainer. Some of the most positive being: that there is trust; that they feel seen; that they are encouraged to be their own best; & that they have so much fun that self doubt doesn't have a chance to stifle it. And there it is...
My style.
Preserving traditional dances & creating innovative, beautiful, badarse choreographies. Teaching while being genuine, excited, very silly, encouraging & invested. I ask to see more of "them" on stage...& use pool noodles, games, fake mustaches or whatever fun element helps to best bring it out.

My name is Alycia Duffy.
I look forward to Irish dancing with you!
Connecting with Community:
I love performing for the community. I love seeing the happiness it brings patrons faces to watch Irish dance culture, regardless of their own heritage. It is enriching to go to so many different areas & establishments. It gives a deeper connection to others & my own heritage. It offers a chance for my dancers to experience the same.
Most of all, I love teaching. The pride on a student's face after accomplishing a step or doing well in a performance is my soul food! I am committed to my students both on & off the dance floor. I believe a student can & will achieve great things if they have the right teacher. I hope to be that teacher so that I can support my dancers' goals well. I continue to learn & train because I enjoy doing so & so that I may have the resources to instruct my students with an adaptable approach.
It is my greatest hope to share the love & culture of Irish dance with my community.
It is my personal goal to strengthen the connection you have with Irish dance (whether it be fitness, culture, fun or something more) & foster a confidence in my students to dance whenever and wherever their hearts ask them to, not just at a performance or formal event.
At Duffy Academy you will learn traditional & contemporary steps & choreography, Irish dance history & culture, performance confidence, team collaboration & fellowship & hopefully so much more.
I am proud to bring about a new era of Irish dancing in the Duffy name & share new dance adventures with you all.
Thank you for this beautiful adventure...
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