the dancers
Big smiles, bouncy curls, and thick shoes tapping to the beat of Irish music. The Irish dance seen on stage is a performance art, but behind the curtains are athletes that spend much of their lives training to make it appear that way.
For six days per week the hall of the St. Mary’s Anglican Church in Kirkland, Quebec is home to the Bernadette Short School of Irish Dance. On Saturday afternoons a team of hard working and talented dancers practice for three hours to compete in the World Irish Dancing Championship. This year, 2018, the competition will take place in Glasgow, Scotland.
athletes in rhinestones
Boys and girls, children, teens and young adults tap, kick, twirl and jump together to the beat of Celtic music. They dance in hard shoes, and in soft shoes. The difference being the sound on the floor as the dancers stomp their feet. Hard shoes are for following the beat and soft shoes are for achieving high kicks.
Morgan Flanagan
At 11 years old Morgan Flanagan is one of the youngest members of the world championship team. Last year she was the youngest. Age 10 is the minimum to qualify for the worlds.
For her first year she was happy just to experience going to the World Irish Dancing Championship held in Dublin, Ireland in 2017. This year she is determined to make her school proud.
Morgan has been dancing for five years, having dabbled in ballet and tap dancing she says Irish dancing is her favourite. She practices five days of the week for a total of 10 hours in group and private lessons.
“It makes my grandma proud,” she says about her Irish grandmother. “I like to make her proud.”
the second youngest
Morgan's mother, Donna Tille, describes her as a shy, quiet girl in most social situations.
"But when she's on the stage she has so much confidence and she really shines," Donna says.
The day before Morgan told her, "I feel happiest when I am dancing."
Being qualified for the world champion team means Morgan practices with other dancers like Isabelle Chouinard, 19, (right) and Emile Choiniere-Shields, 17, (centre). They are among the best Irish dancers in the world.
Her teacher, Natasha Woytiuk, is also one of them.
Natasha Woytiuk
Natasha (right) is one of Morgan's teachers. In 2013 she came in 8th place at the World Irish Dancing Championship.
Now that she no longer competes, Natasha teaches at the Bernadette Short School of Irish dance. It is the school where she started dancing at age six, and where she met some of the best friends of her life.
Mary Roper (left) age 16 follows Natasha's lead as the teacher supervises her from the corner of her eye.
soft shoes
Donna describes the team as, "All so supportive and kind and really great. They're all such a close bunch."
Morgan has made some of the best friends she has thanks to the school.
Here Isabelle and Mary do a routine together as Natasha watches from one side and Morgan from the other.
They are in soft shoe, meaning the height of their kicks is important in a competitive setting.
This is only a fraction of the world championship team.
Coordination, flexibility, strength and endurance are all important when it comes to Irish dancing.
hard shoes
Hard shoes make a loud sound when they hit the floor. So every step can be heard with the music.
It is very important that the steps be in time with the beat when dancing this style.
Morgan does a high kick in hard shoe.
"I'm really flexible and athletic," Morgan says. "So I can do a lot of fun and challenging movements."
"She is very bubbly and bright and full of energy," Natasha says about Morgan. "And has a great style on stage because of that great energy she's really not shy to show it off."
Being committed to Irish dance means Morgan gets to travel.
"This will be her second time going to Europe," Donna chimes. "And she's only 11!"
the dress
In Irish dance the costume is comparable to sports equipment, as it contribute's to the final score in the dancer's overall performance.
As Irish dancing is a judged solo sport, with dancers performing in pairs or triads, it is important to stand out.
Traditionally the patterns on the costumes are inspired by designs drawn in The Book of Kells, a book written and illustrated by Irish monks at Trinity college.
Like in any part of a culture, the fashion is constantly evolving.
The world championship team got to choose their own solo dress. Morgan chose pink and purple. She has liked pink for a really long time and thought purple would go well with it.
the evolution of irish dance
The history of Irish dance is constantly being revisited.
When Morgan and Donna went to Trinity College in Dublin last year they heard some stories about it.
"They say that Irish Dancing began after Sunday church," Donna said.
Natasha, like many girls who grow up with Irish dance, did many projects on the history throughout her school years. To this day she still teaches what she knows to her students.
“Some of it sounds more like a legend than not,” Natasha says. “Originally there were these people called, ‘The Travelling Dance Masters.’”
These dance masters would go from town to town teaching traditional Irish dance.
In regards to the placements of the arms Natasha states, “It’s said that those come from the British occupation of Ireland.”
She tells of the “Redcoats” who were from the British military. Their job was to assimilate Irish culture to British culture. This meant the Irish weren’t allowed to have any gatherings for pagan religions, nor Irish music and art.
“In order to transmit the traditional Irish songs from one generation to another they kept the melodies by tapping them out with their feet,” Natasha explains.
In Ireland there are many “half doors” meaning doors that are cut through the middle so that the top or bottom half could be opened. Irish people were required to keep the top half of their doors open so the Redcoats could look in and see from afar what they were doing. With their arms down, it wouldn’t appear as though they were dancing.
the team
Emile, Britney Shiaman (centre), 14, and Spencer Gearey (right), 17, await instruction from their coach, Natasha.
“We try to push every dancer to their best,” Natasha says. “We really try to emphasize to the dancers that if you’re able and willing and committed enough to qualify for the World Championship that in itself is a huge achievement and an honour.”
All of these dancers practice five or more days per week.
Canadians competing in the World Championship are a minority. In Montreal it is even less common than Toronto. Natasha says she is proud just to see students from the school qualifying among dancers from the Irish dancing hub found in Ireland and in the United Kingdom.
break time
Morgan takes a break with her teammates, and pulls a snack out of her bag.
Training is exhausting even for the young athletic body. The dresses are heavy and it is important to keep them clean.
Dancers often wear light clothing underneath and take off their costumes between dances.
heads up
"A lot of people judge Irish dancing because it’s a performance art so they’re in wigs and makeup and sparkly dresses and people think it’s more ‘pageanty,’" Donna says. "But it’s really an amazing sport that demonstrates a lot of skill.”
Marie Short and Natasha observe Morgan and Isabelle dance together in costume.
"I think my teachers are really nice," Morgan says. "Sometimes when I am at competitions I hear other teachers from other schools start yelling at them and I am glad they don't do that to me. They work me hard in a nice way."
take a bow
"Morgan has been working a lot on precision in terms of thinking in the moment when she's dancing," Natasha says.
She notes how her and Marie will tell her the usual things like "keep your head up" and "turn out your feet" but she says what they focus on is trying to help her become more self-aware on stage. Natasha also says Morgan has a lot of technical skill.
At the end of their set Morgan and Isabelle bow to the sound of a, "ding!"
Today it signals the end of rehearsal.
The team gathers around Natasha and Marie Short, their other coach and the daughter of the school's founder.
last practice
Marie and Natasha rounded up the team to tell them they are proud of their progress, and proud that they are going to the world championship to represent their school and Montreal.
“And I’ll be thinking of you from here,” says Natasha, “So please don’t forget about me.”
montreal st. patrick's day parade
The next day was the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. It was cold, but sunny. Morgan was there, along with a bevy of dancers
Every year the school participates in Montreal's St. Patrick's Day Parade. They do it a way to share Irish culture, and represent their school to the people of Montreal.
Every year they are judged on their float, dance, and Irish authenticity. They win almost every year.
The sound of Ed Shereen’s Galway Girl blasted from the truck. Hard shoes tapping on the wood floor built on top of the box. They started the parade in the shade, cold, shivering. As soon as they started dancing they would warm up.
Bernadette Short
The founder of the school, Bernadette Short, was there that day. Donna describes her as, "like a grandma to everybody."
Natasha recalls a realization she had in February at the school's Irish dancing competition they call a "feis" (Irish word for "festival").
"I realized how many people were there that day," she says, "and how many people were affected by our Irish Dancing school, which was all started by Bernadette Short. This one person.
And then I took it a step further in my head and I thought, 'this is only a school feis.' That means the only people present here at this day are Irish dancers who are already signed up in the Bernadette Short School of Irish Dance..."
toe
Then in May the school holds a feis where any school is invited, but due to distance mostly schools from Eastern Canada and the Northeastern United States attend.
Natasha continues, "I think of how many people are affected at that level by this one person that decided to come from Ireland and start propagating Irish culture and Irish dancing.
"And then I take it a step further..."
heel
"...and I think about her involvement as a director."
For a number of years Bernadette Short was on the board of the Irish Dance Teachers' Association of Eastern Canada. It is the regional committee that oversees Irish dancing in Eastern Canada.
"And how much impact she's had on so many lives at that level because that's all Eastern Canada. We're talking: Quebec, Maritimes and Ontario.
"And I take it a step further..."
kick
"...and I think about what she's done in terms of organizing the world championships and national competitions when they were in Montreal.
And it kinda blows my mind that this one fantastic person decided to share her knowledge of Irish dancing and how many people's lives she has impacted and affected.
Be it that she put on a show at a seniors' residence and this person got to see Irish dancing and got to have their day brightened.
Or be it that she's influenced someone like myself who got to compete at the world championship multiple times. Got to have an achievement in their life such as coming top 10 at the world championship in something.
And to the point were I decided to make a career out of what started as an Irish dancing lesson as a child."
the judges
The judges sat in a tent under the sun. There was a break in the buildings on McKay Street where a ray of sunshine laid the boundaries for a stage where the judges could see them.
The judges were all smiles when their float went by.
The dancers burst in, giving it their all. Smiles broke out among the judges and one took out his phone and watched as they danced.
Their arms swayed back and forth as though bowing a violin as the lyrics rang, “She played a fiddle…”
They continued for, “She fell in love with an English man…”
Then they kissed their hands and waved to the crowd for, “Kissed her on the neck and then took her by the hand…”
When they finished their short routine, they continued on dancing until the float turned down Réné Levesque street. Their part had ended, but there was still over an hour of parade to go.
Other dance schools were still to compete for the William C. Hickey Trophy for Best Celtic Dancing Unit.
The results came in after the parade ended.
The Bernadette Short School of Irish Dance took home the trophy once again.
the end
On March 24, 2018 Morgan and a few of the younger girls on her team competed at the World Irish Dancing Championship.
They did not place in the top 30 per cent this year. They did not get recalled.
However their coach told Natasha that they danced really well, and she says the competition is not about numbers.
“It made me proud that I was among the best,” Morgan says.