They may be little, but a young group of Guelph dancers seem well on their way to big things.
A group of six dancers from Celtic Academy Canada in Guelph took gold in the under-eight category at the Regional Irish Dance Championships in Toronto, also known as the Oireachtas.
“I can recognize talent, and I can spot talent, yes,” said academy owner and director Mary Foley.
“But even with seeing talent and recognizing it – I put out champions over many years at a world level, national level, regional level.
“But at this age, it’s unheard of.”
It wasn’t just that they won that impressed Foley. The dancers got a perfect score of 300, that is 100 each from the three international judges.
The team competition is scored based on things like stage presence, technical performance, execution of the dance as outlined in the curriculum at the given time.
“Four to six hours a week, it took me to train these teams,” Foley said.
It’s taken two years to get to this point. Many of the dancers just joined a couple years ago.
“They just came together as a unit, as a core unit. Those six (that took the stage) out of eight (available), they rose each other up.”
Two dancers in particular, Addison and Zoey, captured second and fourth respectively in the individual dancing competition. Foley was also honoured for over 30 years of teaching Irish dance in Canada.
The group will move on to compete at the North American Irish Dance Championships in National Harbour, Maryland next July.
Until then, while the training doesn’t stop, Foley will still have this recent success top of mind, not only for herself, but the young ones who pick up a core memory to last forever.
“It’s a lifetime moment for me, honestly,” she added, audibly choked up by the gravity of the feat.
