Dancing and singing through the years

The fourth generation has begun to dance. I see a photograph of a five-year-old great grandchild tying the shoelace of a fellow dancer. It speaks volumes about this branch of the Hewitt family.

Joan Hyland married John Hewitt and with only a day between their births in 1934, you could almost call them twins. They became busy and loving parents to eight children, twenty-four grandchildren, and twenty-one great-grandchildren.

Both Joan and John now spend their days in the shelter of Rathkeevan Nursing Home in a sylvan setting just outside Clonmel town. During each visit Joan and John ask “Were ye dancing at the weekend.? Did ye win? Is there a show coming up?” The reply is always: “Yes, we have, and we did.”

Joan dances down the corridors and John (JJ) fills in any memory gaps for her; “I love music and dance, but John has a better memory than I have now.” In a recent video Joan is singing beautifully but apologises at the end saying; “My voice is hoarse because I was singing all day yesterday.” As one of her grandchildren noted, “Dementia has caused Nanny to forget many things but never music and dance.”

On Your Toes (OYT) Dance Academy, named after a musical then playing in London’s West End, was founded by Joan and John’s actual twin daughters, Majella (Madge) and Gillian (Gilly). It opened in 1989 in the Denis Lacey Hall. This was the very same hall that as eighteen-year-olds they had attended Geraldine Molumby’s dance classes after skipping out of a secretarial course in The Technical School next door. Geraldine did not charge them as she knew their dad had paid for their typing classes. Not even their mam knew.

The years danced on, children were born, dance classes given and taken by the whole wider clan. Gillian and Majella became mothers to six children between them. They asked that I include their deep gratitude to their husbands Jimmy and Max for their steadfast presence and encouragement. Gillian and Majella opened a purpose-built studio in Crann Ard business park in 2008. A photograph of Joan with a bandaged finger on opening night brings back a memory; “Oh yes! Mam was practising the Charleston a few weeks before and had a fall.”

Joan used to put cushions around her marble fireplace in their home in Baron Park to protect the twinnies' dance and gymnastic students: “Majella and Gillian were never off their feet, always cartwheeling around the kitchen and out the back.”

Joan and John made several trips to a talent competition in Clonea where the duo won first prize of a cabinet record player by dancing to In The Mood. While Joan was the driving force, John drove the car.

They travelled to Dublin for Live At Three and The Late Late Show, where they watched their granddaughter dance on The Toy Show. Joan asked Gaybo for a teddy, but he said no - perhaps he thought she wanted one for everyone in her family! When asked what she liked about her trip to The Grand Old Opry with Gillian and Majella and 35 OYT dance students in 1994, she replied “Being in Nashville, Tennessee, meeting people, and the dancing.”

“Our beautiful mam was always at our performances and we introduced her before every show in The White Memorial saying; ‘We would not be here only for one special person in our lives, our mam. She is right here in the corner seat, row D, to the left. Say ‘hi’ mam.’ That always received a rousing round of applause.

“She was never nervous for us, and she is still very proud of us. Before she took her seat she would have sold raffle tickets with her grandchildren by her side. Our OYT dance shows were family affairs with everyone chipping in.

“Our children showed people to their seats. They had no choice really! As our Mam said years ago when we wanted to drop out of an activity; ‘Keep going, when you’re in a thing, you’re in a thing.’ Dad has never come to a show. He silently supports us. A big proud handsome man.”

One of Joan’s grandchildren remembers the Sunday morning bus trips to competitions. “Going with mums, dads, grandmas, children from the town, so many of them related to me but it did not matter as the OYT dancers and their families were all one big family to me.”

Another grandchild said; “Walk through the town with either of them for five minutes and you will see how they have been a staple in so many young lives and even their parents' lives too. No one who has attended OYT Dance Academy is ever forgotten.”

This is reflected outside the studio by ‘Sarah’s Seat’ in memory of Sarah Dillon, a treasured student. Inside there is a picture of her smiling, holding one of her many trophies. This is a family with rhythm, a family steeped in teaching and performing. While being one of the largest and most successful dance academies in Ireland, theirs is a place where everybody remembers your name, where you live on forever.

The tiny statue of our lady that Joan gifted to Geraldine Molumby when she opened her first studio was regifted to her star pupils Gilly and Madge, and is now nearby guiding the flow. “Mammy always had great time for Our Lady.”

I enquired if there had ever been tough times with such a big enterprise and if they ever had rows. “Covid 19 nearly broke us. We had a mortgage and insurance to pay with no money coming in. We stuck it out and got through (‘if you’re in a thing, you’re in a thing’ as Mam would say). We have never not talked, when we have a disagreement, we clean and tidy in silence in the office space or in the studio and we would be back in tune within ten minutes. There was only one ever fallout with mam and the pain of her not speaking for two days, I will always remember. I rang her but it was not her way to speak of it, so she bought us an angel each and that was that.”

Joan’s family say that their mother’s musical debut came when she was fourteen, singing with The Friary Choir. In that year her mother Catherine died. Modern research places emphasis on the healing power of music and dance and Joan seems to have lived this out since the loss of her mother when she was fourteen.

Joan brought her joy in musical theatre to her family and to the stage in her local town, and her twin daughters have brought it to so many children through dance and gymnastics in Clonmel, Fethard, and New Inn.

Her grandchildren are performing, choreographing, or project managing, both at home and abroad. There is a bond across cousins of all ages and stages. Within the OYT branch of Joan’s family, they emphasise how supportive Joan’s other six offspring have been to the dance academy. Joan still sings off her and John’s eight children’s name: Valerie, Rosie, Ann, Marina, Majella, Gillian, Barbara, John.

The Hewitt family know how to keep their feet on the ground and have worked hard for their success. They introduced dance into Banna Cluain Meala and fundraised for The White Memorial Theatre to honour Joan’s connection to musical theatre. Grandchildren remember their nanny bringing them to Irish dancing classes (grandad John driving) and her tucking old newspapers into toes of dancing shoes and rubbing Vaseline in to keep the softness.

They tell of staying on farms nearby to competition venues in Scotland, and another story of which their practical grandparents would surely approve: “We flew over to London to audition for a TV show and were offered the choice to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in the West End or to stay in a hotel. All agreed it was worth sleeping in the airport for!”

A chorus line photo recalls Joan’s dancing days in the Regal and White Memorial Theatres, with John staying at home with their eight children. Her family were all taught how to flick a fan compliments of The Mikado. Her party piece, Leaning on a Lamppost, was first performed in the 1937 film Feather Your Nest when Joan was three years old.

The song was included in the 1985 production of Me and My Girl. Here, thanks to modern technology, you can see Joan celebrating her ninety-first birthday this year leaning on a lamppost outside Hotel Minella singing and dancing whilst using her walking stick as a musical instrument. She went viral on TikTok in May 2025.

Her memory may be blurry,

her gentle caring eyes remain radiant.

She is painted on silk,

on the reflected faces of each generation.

Dance, dance, wherever you may be Joan and family

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Editor’s note: Since this story was written, Joan’s beloved husband John died at Rathkeevan Nursing home. We would like to extend our heartfelt sympathy to Joan and her extended family.

FAMILIES OF CLONMEL

Clonmel Applefest, in conjunction with The Nationalist, are delighted to share the ten stories that comprise its ‘Families of Clonmel’ book launched during last September’s Applefest.

Ten Families originally from or who have lived in Clonmel for at least 10 years are included in the book for which nominations were sought and secured after a lengthy selection process. For each cohort, the family head was interviewed in their homes with a final photograph by John D. Kelly included with the wider multigenerational family. Families come from a wide spectrum of backgrounds, from well-established Clonmel natives to more recently arrived families. Included in the book are: The Burkes, Caseys, Dempseys, Gleesons, Hacketts, Hewitts, Mcnamaras, Molloys, Purcells, and Sheikhs. All shared what they enjoy doing together and why family is important to them.

This project would not have been possible without the participation of a vibrant cohort of locally-based committed community writers who took an interest, interviewed and wrote about the selected families under the mentorship of Sean O’Connor, an accomplished writer and editor from Nenagh. This ambitious project was made possible with a grant from the Arts Council of Ireland and additional support from Age-Friendly Tipperary and The Museum of Hidden Histories.

The festival theme in 2025 was ‘The Ties that Bind’ and these stories demonstrate love, humour and caring in a very real and meaningful way. Copies of the book can be purchased for € 12 at Hickey’s Bakery, the Narrow Space Gallery and Chou’s Cottage (including via shops’ websites).

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About the writer:

Eileen, from the valley of Slievenamon, loves hearing people’s stories and is reachable at tellyourstorywitheileen.ie. Her debut poetry collection I Wonder was published in 2019. Eileen's recent projects include: A Sense of Place, Artisans of Clonmel; Elders of Clonmel books for Clonmel Applefest; spoken word events for Bealtaine; Clonmel Junction Arts Festival and Cahir Arts; poetry for Tosú Arís project with Tudor Artisan Hub; storyteller at Seanchoíche in Limerick; and storyteller at the Body and Soul Festival 2023.