By Abby McGinn
Katie Mullane, a senior at WHS, has a number of hobbies. She is an officer of four clubs and an active volunteer for Civil Air Patrol. This busy student also has a passion for a unique sport: Irish Step dancing.
Dance has always been on her mind since Mullane was a little girl. She became fascinated in the art after watching her family friend who was part of a touring Irish dance show.
“I was obsessed with my DVD of Riverdance. I have home videos of me trying to mimic the moves the dancers were performing when I was just three years old,” Mullane says.
It was then that she knew she wanted to start dancing. Unfortunately, Mullane lived in Virginia, where there were no accessible Irish dance studios. Instead, she started taking tap and ballet lessons. When she moved to Massachusetts at the age of six, she joined her first studio: McInerny Irish Dance in Auburn, MA.
Irish dance originated in Ireland, and became popular worldwide by the 19th century. It is often rumored that dancers have their arms by their sides because in earlier times, people unhinged doors and laid them on the ground in order to use the hard surface as a stage. Since these stages were very small, dancers had to dance with their arms at their sides because there was no room for arm movement.
Since she was introduced to an Irish dance studio, Mullane has been hooked. As she grew older, she parted ways from McInerny to go to Harney Academy, a studio that dances at a more competitive level. There, she went through the bulk of her training. Irish Step dancing is considered both an individual and team sport, where in team they compete in group dances similar to a regular dance competition.
“This studio is incredible and because of it, I was able to win two national championships [in 2012 and 2014] and place fourth at the World Championships [in 2015],” Mullane says. For individual accomplishments, Mullane takes pride in qualifying for the World Championship in London; unfortunately, she was not able to go because she broke her ankle weeks before the competition.
Although she could not compete individually, it is a huge accomplishment to qualify. “Qualifying has been a goal of mine since I was six,” Mullane explains. “It is a massive accomplishment–less than 1% of dancers even get to compete at Worlds.”
Her favorite part of dancing are the team events because of the bond she has with her friends. “There is just something incredible about how you spend hours and hours with them sweating, working, and crying. When it all pays off, it is even more sweet to have them by my side,” she says.
Mullane also loves the traveling involved in competition. Although some of her competitions are local, she competes in regional and world competitions as well. She has been fortunate to travel to places such as New Mexico, Los Angeles, Nashville, Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, Orlando, and Ireland.
It is safe to say that this talented dancer is very busy. Mullane typically practices around 15-20 hours a week during competition season. On top of dance, she is committed to many other activities: she is an officer in Future Business Leaders of America, Science Olympiad, New Student Ambassadors, and Rangers Reaction, as well as an active member of Civil Air Patrol, which teaches teens to become part of an Air Force environment. On top of all of these activities, she also works at Kumon, teaching reading and math for children ages five to eight years old.
Although she loves competing with her team, the time commitment has created problems. On top of her various club responsibilities, Mullane also has a lot of difficult classes that are hard to catch up on. So she recently left Harney Academy to go to another studio, Kenny Academy in Pembroke, MA. This studio focuses more on individual competition and less on team. Mullane says it’s a good thing because she could skip practice for studying without feel guilty about letting her team down. The downside to her current studio is traveling. “It is an hour and a half away which is a huge struggle,” she says.
Although she continues to love dance, she is currently taking a break from competing. “Dance has become incredibly intense that I find it more stressful than my passion,” Mullane explains. “Therefore, I am taking an indefinite break from competing so I can focus on loving dance again.”
She now practices about four to six hours per week, and is finding time to enjoy it more. “It has been so refreshing to dance for me and my love of the sport, instead of feeling so much constant pressure. I hope to return to competing soon.”
As for the future, Mullane is interested in a variety of different occupations, so it is hard to decide what she plans to study in college. She is considering studying biology and film, but also thinks about going into ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps) and joining the Air Force, in which case she wants to study aeronautical engineering.
Dance, however, will always be a huge part in her life. She plans on being more committed to dance after graduation. She hopes to go to the World Championships one more time, but this time as a solo competitor. “I would also love to join the Irish dance community at whatever college I attend,” she says. “Some schools I am interested in have teams that compete.”
Overall, dance will always be one of Mullane’s passions and she hopes to continue to love it. “I’m not sure what the future will hold with dance, but I know it will always be a part of my life.”
Mullane and her team dancing in a Christmas show, featured on WGBH.
