Hard work pays off with professional contract

Regan Kelly

When you speak to a person who dedicates every spare minute of their life to a certain vocation, their dedication to their craft always shine through, and one woman who is a fine example of this is Bláithín Stenson.

Bláithín is 19 years old, but she has a wealth of experience under her belt, having been involved in Irish dancing since she was six.

She is a member of Emerald Lakes Academy of Irish Dance in Rochfortbridge and has represented them at many competitions over the years.

“Looking back, one of the fondest memories that I have is when I won my first Oireachtas in 2017, which is like the British Open,” Bláithín said.

“This one sticks out to me more because my granny flew over and was there to witness it, and I was under 11, so I was quite young, but it was phenomenal.”

Bláithín’s hard work over the years is paying off, and she has just been given the opportunity to go on tour with a professional show.

She has been selected to perform with Dancemasters for a full country-wide tour in Germany. “I had always loved the idea of going on tour and performing. So, when I found out, my heart was just full. I felt that all of my hard work had finally paid off because I had been so content with my own dancing, but this was just the icing on the cake.”

That work has become part of life for Bláithín, and she now gets to bask in the rewards from it. “It can be very hard at times. The workload has increased as I got older and moved towards a higher standard of dancing.

“Sometimes I would have dancing six or seven times a week, along with training and physio, just to keep me up to scratch in terms of health and physicality.

“It was so demanding at times, with school and studying for my Leaving Cert. It would often be hard to keep on top of my workload and go dancing and training, but it was so worth it.”

Bláithín is proud to be a member of Emerald Lakes, and she praised the team: “Emerald Lakes is the most supportive place I could ever imagine. My teachers, Kevin, Elaine, Marilyn, Ciara, and Emma, are just amazing.”

Bláithín values the Irish dancing world: “I compete in the WIDA organisation, and the community there is just like one big family. I have friends from all over the world, as far away as America and Germany, and when i compete abroad, everybody is just so welcoming and it’s just one big community.”

Her tour with Dancemasters will be one of the busiest periods of her career, which is saying something for a dancer who has trained so consistently for so long.

She said: “We had a week or a bit of rehearsals in Kinsale, where the whole cast got together and rehearsed the show. “It’s a long tour, I think we have 43 shows over the next six months, but it’s split into three legs, allowing us to be home for Christmas, but we still have a Christmas show in Kinsale as well.”

Asked how she was planning on juggling it all, Bláithín said: “This is my first tour, so everyone is filling me in on what to expect, and when I get over there, I’m hoping that they will help me learn how to juggle life on tour. “From what I do know, it’s tiring and demanding, but hopefully I can just keep working hard and then make a living out of it, I suppose.

“Ten years from now, I hope to have a few more years of professional Irish dancing under my belt. I suppose the ultimate dream for me would be to be in Riverdance, as the lead, I would absolutely love that, and so I’m going to keep working as hard as I can to hopefully get there some day.”

She offered advice to younger performers toying with the idea of becoming an Irish dancer. “If it’s something you are interested in, just go for it and give everything you’ve got. You have nothing to lose, and everyone involved is there to help and support you along the way, so you will never be alone in this community.”