By: Mary Beth Ashton & Kyra Barrett
Freshman Maggie Connolly, 14, of Westborough has been Irish step dancing for ten years. Currently she dances at the Harney Academy in Walpole. Connolly comes from a family of four girls, all of whom have Irish step danced, and, because of the family’s step dancing history, are all very supportive of her success. They have helped her through the stressful times and with the time commitments dance brings.
Connolly dances four to five times a week, but when competition time rolls around she is dancing more than five times a week, with classes ranging from four to six hours. Connolly’s hard work pays off as she is a competitor in the world competition. The two major competitions you have to place at to be able to go to worlds are regionals and nationals. The number of people that recall depend on the size of the competition. This year Connolly placed 42nd at nationals for her solo and first for teams, both of these placements secured her two spots at worlds.
In the past Connolly has competed in the 2012 World competition in Belfast, Ireland. Additionally, her team placed second in the world in the 2013 competition that took place in Boston, Massachusetts and she will be competing as both a soloist and on a team this year in Montreal, Canada.
The preparation for competitions starts weeks before when she has to get spray tanned. On the day of the competition hair and makeup takes more than two hours. “Competitions are really stressful because there is so much going on, there are a lot of people, and us dancers have one shot to make ourselves look perfect to the judges,” says Connolly, “It’s like a madhouse with crazy people in wigs and heavy makeup that most people would be scared of.”
Through all this it is important to have a strong team dynamic. Connolly describes her team as her second family; everyone is very close because they have been competing together for several years. Leading them through all the stressful competitions is their coach and role model, Liam Harney, who continuously pushes the girls to do their best.
Despite her success and love for dance, she still gets tired of the sacrifices she has to make however, “Something always keeps me coming back,” said Connolly on the issue.
When she does have free time she enjoys shopping, being with friends, and playing volleyball which she tried this year and enjoyed because of the less stressful atmosphere than dance. Keep your eye out for Connolly as she competes in the world competition in late March.