An expected 5,000 dancers will head to Chicago to compete in solo and team events at the 2012 National Irish Dance Competition from July 3 to 7 and Bowen Island's Kiera Schuller is one of them.
The 17-year-old West Vancouver Secondary School student has been dancing since she was eight. "I started out on Bowen when there was a summer workshop held by Sara Holt," Kiera said. "It was a short camp where we learned the basic steps of the dance, but I got hooked. My parents contacted the Nora Pickett Irish Dance Academy (NPIDA) in North Vancouver, and I started there the following September."
Kiera has attended regular Irish dance classes for nine years and has also been part of a show group, Eire Born, that performs at various venues in the city, especially around St Patrick's Day. Her dance lessons require a substantial time commitment. "Living on Bowen has made it much more of a commitment and I know that my family has dedicated and sacrificed so much time for taking me to classes and competitions throughout the years," Kiera said, adding that she can't thank them enough.
"Going to dancing class usually adds three to five hours to my time in town during the day and I'm often getting home at 8 or 9 p.m." Kiera said. "But thankfully I've had so much support that it hasn't been difficult at all."
Kiera says she didn't know much about the Nationals until she qualified this year when she got into the Open Championship level. "This is really exciting," she said. "I'm really looking forward to the experience - going with my friends and family, getting up on the stage and trying my best."
For Kiera, being nervous before the competition is a good feeling, "like the sort of butterflies that keep you coming back again and again," she said. There are 25,000 spectators expected at the event and Kiera will be in good company with world-class competitors from the United States, Canada, Mexico as well as overseas.
