This father and son Irish dance duo are now both World Champions.
For the first time since 1996, a father and son have both been crowned World Champion Irish dancers.
Ten-year-old Irish dancer Shay Brunning from the East Midlands in the UK was recently awarded the number one dancer spot in the under-11 boy's competition at the World Championships in Glasgow.
And on hand to help him celebrate was his father Steven Brunning who is not only a former Irish Dance World Champion himself but was a lead dancer in the original line-up of Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance.
This was young Shay’s first World Championships and despite having won every championship in the lead-up, he and his father knew that competition would be tough as he faced off with the top 1% of Irish dancers from the US, Canada, Australia and Europe.
Read more: Incredible World Irish Dance Championships performance from Fusion Fighters
Well the day has final come!
— Tara Byrne (@tazb17) March 27, 2018
The stage is set
The work is done
All that’s left is to do is go out enjoy & smash it ?? ? ☘️?#clrgworlds2018 ? pic.twitter.com/1geiy1RLyd
“We all knew he faced extremely tough competition,” his father Steven said.
“Shay handled his nerves so well for such a young age and performed to his best ability.”
With dancers asked to dance twice for adjudicators, Shay was then called back with the others in the top half to perform individually once more. Once the results were called out, the Brunning family were delighted to hear that Shay was in the top three dancers but the best was yet to come.
Read more: Can Irish dance be an Olympic sport? A World Championship adjudicator has their say
— Frances Mulraney (@FrancesMulraney) April 10, 2018
"We were delighted when we realized he was in the top three but when they revealed that he was the new world champion we were ecstatic,” Steven said.
“It has been lots of blood, sweat, and tears over the last few years but it has all been worthwhile.”
He’s now picked up the World Globe trophy sponsored by none other than Michael Flatley himself and plenty of his family and member of his dance school, Inis Cara School Of Irish Dancing, were at the competition in Glasgow to help him celebrate.
H/T: Newark Advertiser
Comments