Kaiapoi Irish dancer aiming higher
Kaiapoi 17–year–old Mitchell O’Hara has barely touched down from Ireland, ranked in the world’s top ten Irish dancers, but he’s off to Australia next week to compete again.
O’Hara had an Irish father and had lived near Dublin as a child, but only took up Irish dancing at six as a break from rugby, he said.
He returned from Ireland two weeks ago after competing at the 2017 World Irish Dancing Championships in April, where he placed ninth. To qualify for the world championships, dancers needed to be placed in the top five Irish dancers in their respective countries.
O’Hara travelled alongside fellow students of The O’Neill School of Irish Dance in Christchurch who had entered as team dancers.
‘‘It was really cool getting to travel across the world with your best friends, at such a young age that’s not very common,’’ he said.
His relatives in Ireland had travelled to Dublin to watch him compete.
‘‘It was good to have so much support there, having taken teams over. There were parents, kids and all your friends. It was a great atmosphere.’’
He said his ‘‘really solid’’ first two rounds earned him a recall and a spot in the finals.
‘‘If you recall at the world championships, you’re pretty much an amazing dancer, so I was just stoked to get a recall.’’
O’Hara was also recalled at the 2014 world champs in London but ‘‘hadn’t taken the last dance very seriously’’, and placed 22nd.
Next Thursday, O’Hara would head to the Australian Inter- national Oireachtas Irish dance competition on the Gold Coast, where he had competed three times before, coming first twice and placing second last year.
His goal this year was to beat strong international competitors Ireland, the United Kingdom, United States and an increasingly tough Aussie contingent to place first again. He would love to get to a level where he could join Riverdance or Lord of the Dance, but to get there he said he would have to return to Ireland.
‘‘My dad is convinced I’ll be in Ireland in the next two years and my mum really supports my decision too. My ultimate goal is to get in the top five in the world, and to get there I think I need to be in Ireland, training there.
‘‘I think that’s the next step I’d need to take to further my competitive career.’’
Step one was brushing up on his Gaelic, he joked.