How I Started Irish Dancing

Most Irish dancers get started competing when they are young and although it is not always the case, parents play a strong influential role in their children starting Irish dance. I, however, was quite different. When I was around three or four years old, my mother (a ballet dancer) showed me the world's most successful dance show, Riverdance. Immediately I was hooked with the bag pipes ringing in my ears and my feet began to move.

My mother had started me in ballet, jazz, and tap to see if I had her dance gene. Of course as a three or four year old, there was only so much I could do in those three classes but I knew they weren't for me. They weren't fast enough and energetic enough for me and I couldn't figure out why I was the only one in my classes who could nail every dance move but not enjoy myself. This was one of my first distinct memories that started me in my career in Irish dance.




After begging my parents to let me watch Riverdance over and over again, they decided it was time to see how I did in the world of Irish dance. It made sense, we were an Irish family who played Irish music around the house around dinner time and I was a kid with a lot of energy... how could this be any more perfect for me?

My first day at my old dance studio, I made quite the impression and got to be in the front of all the "tiny toes" dances. There was one dance in particular called "The Centipede Dance" where all the tiny toes dancers were representing bugs in a garden and we were all connected like a centipede. A week into Irish dancing, I was in the front and my dance coach made the decision to bump me up to the next class. Although I was a beginner, I was moved to the older girls' classes to start hard shoe and I knew I had found my talent.

Everyone finds their talents differently and usually, it is with the help of the parents that help kids find their talents. But this was entirely me and I knew I had found what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.