Eighth grader, Peyton Davis, is a three-time national champion for Irish Step Dancing.

She participates in about 20 local and out-of-the-country competitions in a year.

Davis dances year-long and practices dance at home along with her dance classes in the Broesler School of Irish

Dance in Baltimore, Maryland. Her school has been open since 1988 and it has been named the top Irish Dancing School in the U.S. by the Irish Dancing and Culture magazine.

Peyton holds three consecutive North American titles, as she has been first place in the North American Irish Dance Championships for girls under 11 in 2013, and has also won the NAIDC for girls under 13 in the following two years.

Davis’ passion for dancing started when she was in first grade.

“I have been doing it for eight years now,” Davis says.

After so many years, she still has the same excitement for it.

She was inspired to do this form of dance after watching people do it on television, and was motivated because of her Irish ancestry.

“Since my family is Irish I wanted to do it,” Davis said.

One of Davis’ favorite parts about Irish step dancing is traveling. Davis has traveled to several countries including Scotland, Canada and England for competitions.

“When she is gone, we keep in touch and she gets to go to all these cool places for her comps, so that is really cool,” Madelyn Grauer, Peyton’s close friend, said.

Davis uses two types of shoes while dancing, hard shoes and soft shoes. The shoe type depends on the type of Irish step dance. Irish step dancing involves two categories of dance. Davis competes in both solo dances and group dances, also known as Ceili dances.

Irish step dancing comes from traditional Irish dance roots. The dance is performed with a stiff upper body and quick foot movements.

Irish step dancers wear costumes that are interpretations of traditional Irish styles of dress.
Girls wear a dance skirt and blouse or their dancing school’s costume. The colors they wear for competitions represent their dance school.