SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A group of young Irish dancers is heading to Scotland for the Irish Dancing World Championships. It's a fun dance to watch, as it's a toe tapping, high stepping, form of dance popularized by Michael Flatley in the theatrical show "Riverdance."
"I was just captivated by the footwork and the rhythm," says Irish dancer Mattea Battenfield.
"I just like the challenge, so I got really into it," says Irish dancer Landon Hays.
Head coach Tehya Baxter teaches Irish dance at the Doherty-Petri School of Dance in Carmel Valley. She calls dancing very much an individual sport, as every dancer has their own time table when learning the steps.
"Different children come in with different strengths. Different children come in with different challenges. It takes a really special kind of child to find the time management skills to manage the training they need to compete at this elite level," says Baxter.
These kids are definitely dancing at an elite level.
"The tough part for me is putting the music with the dancing because it takes a lot of thinking," says dancer Sophia Jones
"For me a hard thing to learn was maintaining your posture while doing all the complex footwork," says dancer Sydney Schmidt.
This group of dancers has put in the work, and will now compete at the Irish Dance World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, this week.
"At the world championships, it is really is the top 1% of Irish dancers that are qualified to take part in this event," says Baxter.
