Laois girl is All Ireland dancing champion at just eight years old
Ballybrittas girl Evie Drennan won the U9 All Ireland Open Championship last month
A Ballybrittas girl who hasn’t stopped dancing since 2022 is now a two time All Ireland Open Dancing Champion.
Evie Drennan hasn’t looked back since approaching her father Richard and announcing an interest in dancing in mid 2022. Last month, she won her second All Ireland Championship at the tender age of just eight years old.
“Evie came to me during the summer of 2022 and said she wanted to do Irish dancing, I was so hesitant to even begin looking for a dance school as I had signed her up for so many different activities and after a few weeks she decided she didn’t like them, but she kept on and on about this Irish dancing,” Richard recalled.
Ricard said “the school is owned by the most amazing two women you will ever meet, Michelle and Mary Morrissey, they are salt of this earth.”
Evie experienced her first Feis with her class in December of 2022 and from there Richard said, she attended the odd Feis, which are dancing competitions, every now and then before her first major event, the Irish Opens in November 2023. “She went and won her beginner premiership which in itself was a big deal, little did we know seven months from that she would be U8 All Ireland Open Champion 2024. A fabulous weekend spent in the beautiful Killybegs,” Richard said.
“We as her parents had zero idea what this meant or what it would mean but next thing we knew we were patiently waiting for the announcement of the worlds and where we would be heading to next,” admitted Richad.
In April of this year the family headed to Liege in Belgium for Evie to take part in her first World Championship. She was fantastic and placed sixth in the U9 International Championship.
“Back home from Belgium and it was straight into practice for the All Irelands in June. She blew us all away and came away placing first [in the] U9 All Ireland Open Championship, two years in a row. Her biggest supporter, her grandad Noel, said she had done something a lot of counties couldn’t do and be back to back All Ireland Champion,” said Richard.
Evie took it all in her stride and what she enjoyed most was spending the weekend with her dance friends.
“In just short of three short years of her dancing career she has out done herself and achieved so much,” Richard said.
“With Irish dancing there is obviously a lot of pressure and competition involved but in Evie’s eyes whether she places first or last she accepts it the same way and is happy once she gets to dance. She has gained a beautiful circle of life long friends through Irish dancing, we all have,” he remarked.
He praised Michelle and Mary for their “fantastic” teaching but also for opening a world of opportunities to the children in their classes.
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“In September of last year, the school performed on the Disney stage in Disneyland Paris. Months and months of practice went into this and each child that took to that stage did themselves proud,” Richard said, citing one of the many examples.
Evie’s next big Feis takes place in November with the Irish Opens. “She is heading off to Riverdance Summer School in August which she cannot wait for,” he said.
Richard said the dancing has been great all round for Evie, who also now has a young dancing best friend in Laois called Martin.
For Richard and Regina, the preparations and trips to classes and competitions have all been worthwhile.
“We as parents are so proud of Evie and her accomplishments in such a short space of time but what we value most is how humble she is about her accomplishments, even at the young age of eight she understands it’s not all about the winning. we admire her commitment and the hard work she has put in. She literally never stops dancing!!” Richard said.