Once a sixteenth century form of entertainment for the Queen of England, Irish dancing is now a modern-day activity. Competitions are held worldwide, as this sport has now become a competitive genre of dance. The world of Irish dance is one of grace, fun and competitiveness. Senior Rachel Hillyard knows all about what it takes to become an Irish dancer.

“Irish dancing is very hard,” Hillyard said. “A lot of people call it ‘ballet on steroids’ because it takes a lot of muscle memory.”

This difficult sport is something that Hillyard has become passionate about over the years and has now become a form of dance she thoroughly enjoys.

“At my dance school, they have summer camps, and I always do all of the summer camps and one of them was Irish dance,” Hillyard said. “I took a three day class and fell in love with it, and I just continued to do it.”

This genre is an interesting form of dance and is not the type that someone would typically think of doing.

“The big difference is that we do not use our arms,” Hillyard said. “They stay down at our sides which looks kind of weird if you haven’t seen it before, but it’s pretty fun.”

Over the years, Hillyard has spent hours on end practicing and perfecting all of her skills to become an even better Irish dancer.

“I get up at four o’clock, and I practice before I go to zero hour,” Hillyard said. “I will stretch for an hour after school, and then I usually go to class which is three hours.”

With all the practicing comes competitions, which can be stressful when there is school involved.

“There are times like going out of town for competitions when it’s hard, but besides that it usually isn’t,” Hillyard said.

Hillyard has made many memories while in Irish dance and those memories are something she will cherish forever.

“What I love most are probably all the people that are in Irish dance,” Hillyard said. “Everyone is like a giant family even if you hardly know anybody. It’s really cool.”