When people think of Irish dance, images of Riverdance and Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance come to mind. But there is more to Irish dance than this. There is a world of competitive Irish dancing where dancers compete in various local, regional and national competitions striving to become the best in the world.  

One Whitman junior has just been given the chance to be the best, qualifying for the 2017 World Irish Dancing Championships.

Kathryn O’Halloran competed at the Southern Region Irish Dancing Championships Dec. 4 and finished 16 out of 124 competitors in the Under 16 age category. This placement earns her the opportunity to compete at the World Irish Dancing Championships in Dublin, Ireland this April.

The World Championships is the most important dance competition for an Irish dancer, drawing competitors from around the world who qualified in their regional competitions gaining a coveted spot at the World Championships.

“Qualifying for Worlds is a big deal,” junior Irish dancer Elly Baker said. “Only about 10 percent of our age group qualifies for worlds at regionals. Everyone in the Irish dancing world wants to go to the World Championships.”

Irish dancing combines tap and ballet into two separate styles of dance, soft shoe and hard shoe, requiring strenuous use of a dancer’s legs.

O’Halloran has been dancing for 10 years and currently dances at the Duffy School of Irish Dance, located in Gaithersburg, MD.

O’Halloran was drawn to the competitive sport at a young age and will now fulfill her dream of dancing on a world stage.

“My goal was to qualify for Worlds, but realistically I just wanted to place higher than last year,” O’Halloran said. “I was reaching for it, but I wasn’t really expecting it and the fact that I have hasn’t really sunk in yet. I was so shocked.”

To prepare for the regional competition, O’Halloran attended special training classes on Mondays, along with regular ninety-minute practices on Wednesdays and Thursdays, in addition to three-hour long practices on Saturdays.

“People don’t realize how much work goes into it and how strong and flexible you have to be to do well,” O’Halloran said. “You have to train just as hard as any athlete.”

O’Halloran’s teacher Erin Duffy Martorano was confident in O’Halloran’s ability to qualify for Worlds and was ecstatic when she heard the news.

“She has been really dedicated to working hard, and it is especially impressive this fall because she was also working a lot to prepare for the ACT which took a lot of her time,” Martorano said. “We did feel she could qualify for Worlds. When we found out, there was a lot of jumping up and down and screaming by everyone: teachers, friends, family, all of us.”

O’Halloran is excited to perform alongside the best dancers in the world, having earned this opportunity through years of practice.

“Worlds is just going to be really fun,” O’Halloran said. “I will get to see all of my friends. I hope to just have fun and dance my best. I don’t have any super high expectations.”