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Date: 10/20/2017
EAST LONGMEADOW – One East Longmeadow High School student is spending her days in school and her nights practicing Irish step dancing, as she just qualified to compete in the North American Irish Dancing Championships in Orlando, FL, next summer.
Erin Lavelle is a 14-year-old freshman at East Longmeadow High School and is adjusting to her high school schedule, her new classes as well as keeping up with her soccer team. Additionally, Lavelle spends up to four days a week for an hour and a half a piece practicing her dancing.
“My grandparents are from Ireland and when I was four, a person my dad grew up with told my parents about Irish step dancing classes being offered in the area. I started when I was five and have loved it ever since,” Lavelle said.
While Lavelle took ballet classes for a year, she found her passion in Irish step dancing. When she was eight years old, Lavelle began to dance at Cassin Academy and has blossomed since. She’s competes at least once a month at a local competition, called a Feis. Additionally, she’s competed at the New England Regionals at the solo level for the last two years. This is the first year that Lavelle has qualified for Nationals.
Several of Lavelle’s Cassin Academy classmates are going to compete with Lavelle in November at the New England Regional Oireachtas in Hartford. There, she will have the opportunity to qualify for the World Championship in 2018.
“I’ve strived to get into the Open Level to qualify for Nationals because I always like to aim for my best abilities. If I know I can do something better, I’m going to work at it until I reach my best. Nationals has been my goal, now I want to do well at Nationals so I can go to Worlds,” Lavelle said.
If Lavelle competes well in Orlando, she will move on to the World Championships that are set to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2018.
Next year, however, Lavelle will compete in an individual competition. The competition lasts for five days and will have 5,000 to 8,000 competitors from across the country in all age groups. She will be performing three dances that will be judged by seven judges. There are over 150 dancers in her competition from across the country.
“I’m excited to travel to Orlando and see how people from other areas of the country dance. I’m also excited to see how I compete at the national level,” Lavelle shared.