Irish dancers from top academy win big at world championship

Dancers from a top academy have celebrated recent success at a major competition.

The Sharon Taylor Academy, based in Bellshill, scooped up some incredible wins at the World Irish Dancing Championships, which took place at the city’s SEC Armadillo in March.

Out of 2,700 dancers from 23 countries across the globe, Oscar Donley, 12, came in first place for the Boy’s 12 to 13 category, while Declan McLaughlin, 23, finished fourth in the Senior Men’s 21 and Over category.

Meanwhile, Lucy Brownlie, 11, came eighth in the Girls 11 to 12 category and Laura Davidson, 26, finished sixth in the Ladies Senior 23 and Over category.

The dance school’s Senior Mixed 4-Hand Céilí group also came second in the 16 and Over category.

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Sharon, owner of the North Lanarkshire academy, told the Glasgow Times: “I am so proud of them. I am just delighted and over the moon.

“All of them worked really hard and the competition saw a lot of personal bests for each of them.

“Some of the dancers have been here since they were three years old and some at a much later date, but they have all just really worked hard and improved over time. It feels so special.

“It was just fantastic, a great week.”

We previously spoke to Laura, Declan and Oscar following their impressive wins at the 2022 World Irish Dancing Championships which took place in Belfast. Oscar topped his category again, while Laura battled 154 Senior Ladies to take home fourth prize, and Declan finished second in Senior Men’s.

Following this year’s championships, which ran between March 24 and 31, Sharon decided to throw a party at the school to help the dancers celebrate their successes in style.

She said: “We want to celebrate the championships and all the dancer’s achievements with the whole school.

“I got the dancers a cake from Cosco, loads of balloons and banners just to celebrate a bit.”

But before the balloons had even deflated, Sharon and her team were already working towards qualifying for next year’s World Irish Dance Championships.

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The school will be entering The Strathclyde Championships, which will take place on July 13 and 14, in an attempt to qualify for the 2025 Irish Dancing World Championships.

They will also be looking to compete in the British National Championships in Manchester between July 20 and 22, which will also help them qualify if they cannot do so in July.

Sharon thanked her support team of assistant teachers and mum, Jean Taylor, who started the academy and is still helping teach as she has for the last 50 years.

To find out more information about the Sharon Taylor Academy, click HERE

To see a full list of results from this year’s World Irish Dance Championships, click HERE