Irish step dancing

“Of the 40 girls called back in the rotation, I was the last for the set piece. My mind started to play games, and I thought that I would forget part of my two-minute dance. As I got ready, the room became over-packed with people coming for the next competition. Even though I was scared out of my wits, I knew all I had to do was get into my zone and focus. The key was to take it step by step, move by move; jump to the stars and dance on a cloud. I finished perfectly, and afterward I felt calm and relieved.”

“Looking at my shoes, I knew that I was capable of this too. I was about to prove it. The dances were long, but I pushed and pushed until the last movement. It was so much fun; with all the spins and jumps, my height was limitless. After dancing, the hardest part was over, but the mental obstacle was yet to come.”

“After every show the dancers are asked, “How long does it take to curl hair like that? It must have taken you all night!” I will let you in on a little secret: our hair takes most girls about 4 minutes to style because they are wigs. However, before we invested in wigs (after about a year of dancing), mothers and dancers admit they argued as hair was brushed and curled for performances, and sometimes we couldn’t go swimming because of the hair curls getting flat.”