Ever since she was first introduced to it at the age of 9, freshman Allison Lin has been immersed in the world of Irish Dance.
Now, at age 14, Lin will compete in the 2013 Irish Dance World Championships, which takes place in Boston during the week of March 25. Lin’s bond with the dance form has been steadily growing since childhood, despite being one of only a few people of Asian descent who practice it.
As a young girl, Lin’s parents took her to see a River Dance show, where the top Irish dancers in the world perform. Lin was enthralled by the atmosphere and awed by the spectacle.
“I fell in love with the lively music, the shining dresses and the impressive way [the dancers] moved their feet,” Lin said. “I was immediately hooked.”
A month after she saw the show, Lin enrolled in her first lesson at the Whelan-Kennelly Academy of Irish Dance, located in Los Gatos and south San Francisco.
“It’s a really funny memory because I remember feeling so confused in the way they wanted to see my feet move,” Lin said. “I was given different colored socks to tell the difference between my feet.”
Lin has gone a long way since that day and has been doing Irish dance competitively for the past five years, consistently placing high in every one of her events. Although confident in her skills, Lin at first felt a little uncomfortable at competitions because of her ethnicity.
“I never felt isolated in my dance studio because all the girls and guys at my school are all super fun to be around and we're all family,” Lin said. “But in competitions, the judges might have different expectations for me, sometimes higher. It's really not that big of a deal to me now as it was before when I was 9 and very new to the environment.”
After years and years of gaining experience, the biggest endeavor in the Lin’s entire dance career will be the upcoming 2013 World Championships.
The World Championships takes place annually every March and only invites championship level Irish dancers to compete. Lin will be competing as one member of her dance studio’s under sixteen team.
“When [the head instructors] first told me that they wanted me on the team, I thought I had heard them wrong or something, because the thought of going to World’s never crossed my mind,” Lin said. “But after a minute or two, I was just stupidly smiling to myself. I was just very thrilled.”
Despite the initial excitement, Lin turned down the offer at first due to scheduling conflicts and prior commitments. More than anything else, Lin wasn’t sure if she was ready.
“The one thing that changed my mind was what my closest teacher did for me,” Lin said. “She talked with the other teachers and made everybody on the team reschedule and change the entire practice time to a different hour just so I could make them. It honestly touched me so much and I just couldn’t say no.”
After deciding to commit, Lin has been going to special “World’s practices” to prepare for the actual competition. Located in San Francisco, the practices generally take place three to four times a week for a few hours, and consist of warm-ups and drills, as well as “soft shoe” and “hard shoe” sessions. During these practices, Lin will perfect her event, the eight-hand figure, which features hand-holding and complex choreography between eight dancers.
Despite the already demanding practice times, Lin squeezes in time each day to practice and perfect her routines.
“I practice a lot on my own in front of the mirror in my dance room or I ask my mom to video tape me so I can correct my mistakes.” Lin said. “To be honest, [preparing] is quite stressful.”
Although practices are already demanding and time consuming, preparation for the World competition is only becoming more intense as the awaited week arrives.
“No matter what placing I get, the privilege of dancing on the World stage alone is a big honor,” Lin said. “I feel so blessed and thankful for the wonderful people on my team. It’s time for us to show the judges what we’ve got.”
