13-year-old Irish dancer wins world championship
A 13-year-old boy has won the World Irish Dancing Championships in his age category after training at a dance school in Dudley.
Aidan Ward from Manchester won the 13 to 14 championships for boys, beating 70 opponents to win the trophy.
The dancer successfully defended his title, having previously winning in 2019 in Greensboro, North Carolina, and was one of only six competitors to do so.
Aidan attends the Marie Connell School of Irish Dancing which is currently based in Dudley, and had a number of students win medals in the championships in April.
Regarding the success of her students, 57-year-old dance teacher Marie said: "It's a testament to all their efforts during Covid – we stuck with Zoom classes.
"It meant they actually blossomed during Covid because they had more time to practice.
"It demonstrates their work ethic, and they will all work together as a team, with the older children helping the younger children. I'm very proud of them."
Marie has run her own school for six years but has been teaching for 30 years prior to this, and started dancing when she was 13.
Many of her students won medals at the championships, which ran from April 11 to 17 at the ICC in Belfast.
11-year-old Freya Mullarkey, 12-year-old Lily Ward, 17-year-old Amelie Biggadike, 18-year-old Caitlin Ward, 19-year-old Hannah Hunt, and 20-year-old Nathan Ward all won medals at the championships, while 13-year-old Cash Robson missed out on a medal by only one place.
Lily, Caitlin, and Nathan are siblings to Aidan, as Irish dancing runs in the family.
"It's in their blood really," Marie said.
Their mother, Katrina Ward, said of Aidan's Championship win: "I'm absolutely over the moon. He's worked really, really hard and I'm very, very proud.
"He loves what he does and he never expects to win, he's not one of those children who always thinks he will. He loves it so much he'd also like to go into teaching when he's older."
The family travel to the Black Country from Manchester three times a week for dancing lessons, and Katrina is effusive with praise for Marie's teaching.
Katrina added: "Marie is a wonderful teacher – she brings out the good in him. She's a role model.
"She's just phenomenal, she's a teacher who is all about the kids and brings out the best in every child she works with.
"She's there at every competition, she gives them confidence. I knew from the first class that this was the school Aidan needed to go to.
"She always puts a smile on the children's faces."
The dancers will travel to Montreal for the championships next year, where Aidan will hope to defend his title once again.
