Alliyah O’Hare: “I Never Go to the Worlds Expecting Anything – I Just Go to Dance My Best”

It’s 9am in Orlando, Florida, and the sun is already high in the sky. 

World champion Alliyah O’Hare appears on our Zoom call from her phone somewhere outdoors, sunrays blazing through the trees behind her. Shortly after competing at the 50th CLRG World Championships in April, Alliyah jetted off to the Sunshine State where she is currently dancing with the show Raglan Road at Disney Springs. The weekend before we speak, she meets some of The Irish Dance Globe team for our first ever on-location cover photoshoot, touring some of downtown Orlando’s most picturesque spots.

She’s all smiles this morning for our interview, still very much on cloud nine as we revisit the moment she secured her seventh World title win just a few weeks ago. “This one was extra special because it meant so much to come back onto the World stage after two years,” she says. “Anything can change in those two years.” The Irish Dance Globe was also in the auditorium at the Waterfront Hall the moment Alliyah was announced as the winner of the Ladies Under 19 competition.

In a sea of dancers, parents, teachers, and spectators, if there was ever any doubt as to where Alliyah was sat, it didn’t take long before she was launched into the air moments after she won, something that’s become a bit of a tradition for her and one of her teachers, Conor O’Sullivan. “He said this year, ‘I don’t know how I did that!’” she laughs. “I think because he lifted me up the first couple times now he’s just like, ‘It has to be done!’” 

Whether you’ve been in the room as it happens, or have watched a reaction video from previous years, seeing Alliyah win the Worlds is always like watching her win for the very first time. “[Like] the first time every time is the perfect way to explain it,” she says. “I think it’s because I never go expecting anything at all. I just go to dance my best. My age group is just so unreal as well, anything could happen. So it is genuine shock every time.”

After two years of cancellations and a three-year hiatus since An Coimisiún hosted their last Worlds, to stand back on the top of the podium again without missing a beat (no pun intended) was a truly impressive feat. Not only this, but she did it with a perfect score. Alliyah, now 19, has won the World Championships every year that she has been eligible. In holding a perfect winning streak, the experience of dancing at a World Championships is significantly different for her than it is for most dancers. “It does definitely give you motivation,” she says. “Because obviously, you know what it feels like, you know how good it feels. So you don’t want to lose that.”

There’s no doubt that Alliyah approaches every World Championships with an intense drive to maintain her title, but this inevitably brings a great deal of pressure, too. “I suppose it’s just more like managing it, because I know it will never go away,” she says. “I try to use it to push me.” Does she ever allow the “what ifs” into her mind? “I always say to myself, if you’re gonna go on the stage, you absolutely love what you’re doing, so just show that rather than thinking about all the nerves,” she says. “It’s definitely easier said than done! And I’m not sure if I actually follow my own advice,” she laughs.

But being able to share the burden of pre-competition jitters with those close to her also helps. “My family and my teachers are very good at helping me with my nerves,” she says. “They know all the little techniques to get me de-stressed on dance day.” But in the end, the responsibility lies with her alone, and reminding herself of why she does it all usually helps manage the emotions. “I genuinely dance because I love it; obviously the result makes it all the better.”

This year’s World Championships was a particularly emotional event for the whole Scanlon School, who are based in Birmingham, having recently lost one of their teachers, ​​Bertie Roddy. “It was very tough, especially not having him there, it was very different,” Alliyah says. “But it just made it all the sweeter when I did it, because I was trying to do it for him. We wanted it so badly, for him.”

It’s clear that dancing for Scanlon means being part of a very special bond between all the teachers and dancers. “My dancing teachers all inspire me so much, especially Conor because I think he’s so amazing at everything he does, and watching him train so hard, to then win the World title [in 2010] was just so amazing to see.” Many dancers will remember the video of Alliyah and Conor dancing together at her first World party in 2014. “I think we actually finished [the routine] like 20 minutes before we were supposed to go up and dance it!” she says. “I literally love that dance still to this day.”

While Alliyah’s love for the sport is infectious, it’s no secret that Irish dancing can break your heart (and body), no matter how much you adore it. But for Alliyah, her passion has been unwavering ever since she started at six-years-old. Whether it’s feiseanna, classes, or professional shows, she puts the same amount of love and passion into everything she does. She performed with Lord of the Dance in Taiwan this December, and A Taste of Ireland in summer 2019, but feising lights a particularly intense fire inside her. “I do love the competitions,” she says. “It’s definitely a competitive sport, so I feel like the competitions make it.”

Whether Alliyah has just won another World title, or if she’s in the middle of her dance day, many will have noticed that she always makes time for other dancers who might want a nugget of wisdom from the world champion. “It’s honestly incredible the fact that people come over and want to speak to me,” she says. “It’s so nice and I try to make so much time, because it’s so crazy to me that people want to come over and talk to me because I’m like, ‘It’s just me!’ But it’s so nice and honestly I love it. It really does stick with me.”

Alliyah is one of those special dancers that can bring a set hall to complete silence, as spectators crowd the aisles and pile in to find any last remaining spots to watch her phenomenal third round. But like the seasoned champion she is, Alliyah insists that she’s too in the zone to be aware of her surroundings. “I feel like in the moment, you’re so concentrated that I don’t really take it in,” she says. “I just concentrate on the dancing, getting everything right, and doing it all to the best of my ability.”

It certainly is a skill in itself to maintain the mental flow that allows dancers to give their best performances, but Alliyah is honest about the reality of the journey to get there. “I don’t want to say it’s all plain sailing, I do obviously struggle.” But every mention of a challenge is immediately followed by the reassurance that her love for dancing outweighs just about every tribulation. “You would probably look at me and think, ‘Is she enjoying herself?’” she jokes. “But the pressure seems to just disappear on stage and makes it all so worth it that, every time I speak about dancing, I just have to be so positive because I couldn’t picture my life without it.”

For a champion as decorated as Alliyah – who has also won every major title, and whose longest unbeaten streak was six years – it seems that growing up dancing in the social media age would also bring a different kind of pressure. Whether it’s the widespread sharing of results, practice videos, or the latest dress trends, the Irish dancing internet bubble inevitably makes it feel like the whole dancing community has its eyes on the same thing.

So how does this affect a world champion dancer? “It’s definitely positive. Because everyone can keep up to date with the results,” Alliyah says. “It’s definitely different, from my first Worlds to now, social media is a very big part of dancing, which is great. But then also sometimes I feel like people can base opinions on like a ten second video,” she adds. “So sometimes it can be negative, but I suppose all in all, it’s good because people can see dancing so much more accessibly, and you can showcase your dancing to the world a bit more.”

As we start to draw our conversation to close, I insist that the readers need some indication that Alliyah O’Hare is indeed, human. Her bold style truly pushes the boundaries, something she credits to both the choreography and training of her teachers, and her perfectionism which motivates her to “pose it all up”. But what are her weaknesses, and what does she get corrected on at class? “It would depend on the move and the style. Sometimes one of my dancing teachers will see something that my other teacher wouldn’t see,” she says. “And I think that’s what’s so good about Scanlon as well because there’s such a large amount of teachers. Kirsty [Donovan] might notice your cross, and then Conor would notice if you’re up the back, or Tricia [Scanlon] and Carole [Scanlon] would notice different things about your trebles and your turnout.”

With the chance to perform in shows around the world again post-lockdowns, Alliyah is maintaining her focus on professional dancing, and is in no rush to head off to university just yet, though that is her intention once she decides what degree she’d like to do. As for competitions, will she just keep on dancing for as long as her legs can manage it? “Definitely,” she says. “[I’m] not finished yet.” Before Alliyah dips back off into the Florida sunshine, I ask for her best piece of advice for dancers who want to be where she is one day. “Listen to every single piece [of feedback] that your teacher gives you,” she says. “It’s so hard to remember everything that they say, and to apply it every single time, but if you do that, honestly, you’ll see your dancing improve even further.” And lastly, “just go out there and show off, perform”.

Follow Alliyah on Instagram.