As accordion music drifts from the doors of Tir Conaill Academy of Irish Dance, students stomp, jump and dance across the floor in preparation for the World Championships of Irish Dance, a tough competition where the best Irish dancers compete for world titles.
Dancers who placed in the top spots at their regional competition — top five for boys and top 10 for girls — qualify for the world competition, which draws dancers from around the globe.
Six of Tir Conaill’s students in Tucson qualified this year and will travel to Montreal this spring for the world competition — Eric Crone, 12; Liam Boyd, 13; Tristan Holmes, 12; Liam Critchley, 17; Channing Stirrat, 15; and Meghan Crownhart, 14. Two students from the dance school’s Albuquerque location qualified as well.
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“They work very hard,” said Christopher McGrory, dance instructor and co-owner of the midtown Tucson school.
“The pinnacle for any Irish dancer is to qualify to go to worlds, which is like the Olympics for Irish dance,” said Rosemary Browne, co-owner of the dance school. “The ultimate goal is to win at worlds.”
Eric has won the regional title for his age group three times, which is quite an accomplishment, McGrory said.
“He’s the only male dancer in Arizona who’s ever won the title three times,” McGrory said. Eric competed against children his age in thirteen states to win the title.
“I’m happy and honored,” Eric said. “It’s just really cool.”
This will be Eric’s third world competition. In 2013, he earned a recall medal — meaning he was among the 30 percent chosen to perform solo after the first performances at the competition — and finished in 21st place.
“It’s a big achievement,” said Kim Crone, Eric’s mother. “I’m proud of his accomplishments because he works very hard to achieve his goals.”
Eric has been dancing for six years, and loves the motivation to “keep improving and competing.”
As a seventh-grade violin player, Eric’s favorite subject in school is orchestra. And when he’s not dancing or practicing his violin, Eric likes to take pictures of airplanes, he said.
But free time is limited right now as he ramps up dance practice time for worlds. Eric said he practices about two hours a day during the week and on some weekends. Not only that, he dances around school and constantly taps his feet.
“He dances around the sidewalks, too,” his mother said. “I’ve watched him.”
Eric said the hardest part of competition is waiting to hear how he did.
“Waiting for placement makes me more nervous than the dancing,” Eric said. “I’m excited to dance my hardest and see what I’ve got.”
Eric plans to continue dancing as long as he can, to see where it takes him.
“‘Riverdance’ is a possibility,” Eric said about the theatrical show. “It’s a big one.”
“After college, of course,” his mother said.
