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Saturday, July 1, 2006
Dance teaches life lessons — with an Irish kick
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Langsett family photo
Weatherly Langsett, 11, recently competed in the regional Irish dance competition, called "Feiseanna."
It wasn’t “Riverdance” or “Lord of the Dance” that attracted her to Irish step dancing.
It was a Disney TV movie — “Luck of the Irish” — that piqued Weatherly Langsett’s interest. In it, Kyle Johnson dances to Irish music at a heritage festival.
Weatherly was smitten.
“I saw the movie when I was really little,” she said. “The dance looked really cool. I really liked it.”
She liked it so much she told her parents she wanted to learn it. Kevin and Melanie Langsett thought her interest would wane.
It didn’t.
Weatherly, a rising sixth-grader at Greater Atlanta Christian School in Lilburn, has been step dancing for four years. She trains and competes. She told me about one of her early performances.
“One year, I did a performance for my class at school,” she said. “It was for St. Patrick’s Day.”
She trains at the Drake School of Irish Dance in Norcross. Karl Drake, the studio namesake, is a native of Ireland and former circuit dancer. He told me he couldn’t have picked a better location than the South to launch a business. Drake has studios across the Southeast.
“Most of my students have no Irish background,” he said. “If I had to compare this to any form of music, I’d compare it to ballet. It’s got rhythm. It’s highly competitive, and the kids like to win.”
Winning takes practice.
During the week, Weatherly takes two group classes that last about two-and-a-half hours each. At home, she practices up to five hours a week. To help build strength, stamina and agility — core elements of step dancing — she works out twice a week with a sports trainer.
Throw in workshops and private lessons, and the training tab climbs to $2,000 a year.
Mom says it’s worth every penny.
“Weatherly, by nature, is a fairly quiet and reserved child,” Langsett said. “She does not like to draw attention to herself. Through dance, she has performed both by herself and in groups in front of audiences as large as 1,000 and is very comfortable on stage.
“The discipline of training, memorizing complex steps and routines, learning Celtic traditions and music [and dealing with] the physical demands [and] time management have all been great life lessons for her.”
We want our kids involved in healthy hobbies and interests. So we expose them to as much as we can, as much as our wallets allow. It’s a hit-or-miss proposition. When they latch onto something that sticks, though, it’s a beautiful thing.
Last week, the Langsetts traveled to San Diego for the North American Irish Dance Championships. Weatherly competed individually in the under-11 age group. Days before her performance, she’d admitted to being nervous.
“I will try to do my best,” she said. “The bad thing that I do sometimes is lean over. It’s hard to keep from leaning over.”
On Friday afternoon, I called Melanie Langsett to see how Weatherly had done. Unfortunately, she didn’t earn a place.
But I bet she still danced beautifully.
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