Angela's Athletes Jigs and Wigs: The Extreme World of Irish Dancing

Over the last two decades,

Irish dancing has become ever more competitive.

Winning big on the amateur circuit can often lead to a lucrative

career in professional dance shows.

CHEERING

But to reach the coveted podium places,

the modern dancer must be in peak physical condition.

And with stamina now a necessity,

increasing numbers of dance teachers are seeking external help

from professionals in the world of sport and fitness.

Enter Angela Mohan,

whose skills as a fitness trainer have won her much

renown in the dancing world.

Since 2009, her fitness regime

has helped train three world champions...

..and helped to place 10 more on the top five podium...

..results that have others clamouring to join her

winning team, Angel's Army.

Irish dancing has become a sport.

My job is to make sure, when they get up on stage

that they're ready for it.

My sister-in-law is a dance teacher and a judge so we sat down

and she talked to me about what the teacher is looking for.

And then my job is to work on the conditioning part of the dance.

Stamina, strength, endurance, mobility.

And if they start to lose it, everything drops.

We have to train now for the task of dance.

CHEERING

I played camogie in Philadelphia for a number of years,

and myself and a few other people were cofounders of the first

ladies' football team in Philadelphia.

I played into my early 40s and it was time to pull the plug.

'So I decided to go back to school and become a personal trainer.'

Hello. Good morning. Angel's house.

'My main client base would be Irish dancers.'

I prefer working with younger people cos I'm a hyperactive person.

I would say I probably work with at least 500 kids.

Everybody wants to make the box. Top five, top ten in the world.

You've got something special.

If you train with me, you're a part and a member of Angel's team.

CHEERING

At the World Championships,

as teachers run through the steps with their students,

Angela focuses on her client's physical preparation.

In through your nose, out through the mouth.

I only go to national and the worlds

and my own Oireachtas, which is in Philadelphia.

I have a lot of private kids in different age groups,

from under 11s right up till senior.

I go meet them at the competition and I prep them for dance.

I do their warm-ups and then in-between competitions,

I roll out and stretch out every muscle.

Keep your arms swinging. Good girl.

It's extremely important to prevent injuries.

Kids at a young age getting hurt, breaking their growth plate,

and they continue to dance,

then they just set themselves up for injury after injury.

This weekend, I've seen a few people going around with crutches

and hobbling along.

But it's when injuries do occur that Angela's

secondary role as motivation coach comes into play.

Earlier, 14-year-old Brendan Gaffney rolled his ankle

and was forced to pull out of the competition.

For Angela, his recovery starts immediately.

And I'm so proud of you for doing that.

So we're going to build on this.

We're going to get the ankle taken care of, get you back, strong,

and ready for the nationals.

It wasn't the worst thing that happened.

I could have broke my foot, but it was probably the worst feeling in

the world yesterday, knowing that I sprained it and it just really hurt.

It wasn't as though you danced badly,

but we know you can do more than that.

And I just know from personal experience with injuries,

-doing a soft shoe...

-It's not worth it.

Jumping and landing on that.

It's not worth it.

While primarily his injury means that Brendan can no longer

compete in the solo competition,

it also has wider implications for the rest of his dance school.

Their ceilidh team is due to perform tomorrow.

And Brendan is supposed to be the lead dancer.

It puts us in a difficult position as a school.

Because we don't have any boys that can replace him

and if we don't have anyone who can replace him,

we can't dance the team, so it is really not just about him

at that point, it's about seven other dancers.

And there are a handful of dancers on that team who are just

here for that one event. So...

..we're going to just say a prayer tonight

and we're going to wait and see what happens.

All right, darling?

Love you.

And I'll talk to you later on.

We'll talk this evening and we'll see maybe

if we can get the physical therapist

later on and assess if you're able to do ceilidhs tomorrow,

but that's not my decision to make.

OK, darling? Love you.

I think I could do it, but I don't think I should be doing it.

I think I could freeze it up and tape it all together

and it would feel fine enough to dance on it, but it's a very

risky situation out there, so it's going to be very tough.

I don't know if I want to do it or how I'm going to do it.

But, you know, just hope for the best at this point.

But concern for Brendan must be put to one side,

as there's another recruit from Angel's army who requires attention.

-Good. How are you?

-You sleep good? Yes. Ready for action?

-Mm-hm.

-Ready to kick arse?

-Yes.

-OK.

Sarah's someone I've been working with for quite a while now,

probably one of the hardest workers I'd ever met -

a kid that really does everything you ask her to do.

Get down low, medium, high.

One day, it just clicked in me that I had to start working

and that's when I won the nationals for the first time in 2009

and I won it five times after that.

I went on to win the All Irelands, the Oireachtas, the All Scotlands,

and I've been the top two in the world.

So it all came with hard work.

Sarah's one of those kids that's not a natural,

wasn't born with everything lined up naturally,

but wanted it and proved we can do it, and look where she is today.

She is number two in the world,

she won the All Scotlands, she's amazing.

You can achieve your dreams, you can do whatever you want,

but it's hard work.

My normal sneaker size is a six and a half, but these are a two.

You don't feel anything when you get on the stage,

so it doesn't matter what size they are.

The first time I won the nationals, I was like, "Wow. I am good at this.

"I can win things."

It wasn't until then where my goal was to win the worlds

and I know I'm right there and I just have to keep pushing

and I really hope that it's my turn, and if I do win, it would

just... It would be amazing cos I can say I'm the best in the world.

Under Angela's watchful eye, Sarah performs

the routines she hopes will win her top spot at the World Championships.

As the results come in, however,

it's soon becomes clear that this is not her year.

Although she placed fourth overall, Sarah is devastated.

I think when it all dies down, Sarah will be happy.

She has got the globe.

She's got one. There is a lot

of kids that go home without one.

So, you know, you got to keep that perspective.

It just comes out, you know, at the end.

Like, all that hard work and the results come out

and it is just like, "Ugh..."

-Yeah.

-Comes out.

The next day, it's time for the group dances.

And after sleeping on his injury,

Brendan has good news for his teammates.

-ALL: Are you dancing?

-Yeah.

CHEERING

But the team's elation is short-lived.

Even with Brendan involved, they fail to get a recall.

With all hopes of winning any silverware dashed,

Brendan returns home to Pennsylvania empty-handed.

Although based in Philadelphia, Angela also has clients in Ireland.

She regularly comes home to work, connect with family,

and of course, indulge her love of golf.

Today, I am golfing at Ardglass, which I'm really excited about.

I am addicted to golf, actually.

It keeps me going. I walk the course, it keeps me fit.

I just love it. This is heaven.

I grew up in the Brantry,

just outside Dungannon in the middle of the country,

overlooking the sheep and the cows in the field.

I have three brothers and one sister.

We all got into dancing when we were young.

I don't even remember, you know.

It must've been seven, eight, nine years of age.

We all loved the music. It was just... It was in us.

You went to dancing class, you travelled to feiseannas,

and it was great because it was like a day out for the family

and Mammy would make sandwiches and the flasks and off we'd go.

It was great. We enjoyed doing it.

We were trying to get a medal and it was more social than anything else.

My sister was a much better dancer than me. And we did teams.

But I had the passion to be out in the field with a camogie stick.

My passion was always camogie and football.

Irish dancing and the Gaelic football,

they're both our natural... That's our culture right there.

They're not worlds apart. That's our Irish culture. It's fantastic.

That was a good play there, wasn't it?

But it is not all leisure time for Angela.

She works with young dancers at the Clann McCaul school of dance,

where her sister-in-law teaches.

-Just put the runners on, guys.

-Everybody, runners on.

So how are we feeling, guys?

Everybody been working on what they had to do?

Irish dancing, traditionally, is a beautiful dance form.

OK, I spy with my little eye...

Personally, I wouldn't really like it to be referred to as a sport.

You know, it's a dance form. That's first and foremost what it is.

But I think if one area sees that fitness has been successful

and has brought their dancers forward, others are going to say,

"Right, we need to get onto this fitness thing,"

and to a degree, that did influence us.

Wall squats are a great start.

So hold this one and I want to make sure she can stay in a nice

stable position with shoulders in line with the hips.

And in that position, could you hold it and give me

a couple of shoulder presses?

And really square at the shoulder. Give me three.

Two, and breathe. And up. How did that one feel?

-Yeah. It's hard.

-Yeah, it's hard.

Without the fitness, they can't do the moves that Irish dancers are

now doing, the moves that they're

doing are so athletic, balletic, tap,

all of the different influences that have shaped Irish dancing.

They have to learn the skill.

They have to learn the footwork, all of that,

but if you don't have fitness, forget it.

You get up onto that big stage,

you're not going to be able to do it.

One of the school's dancers who has felt the benefits of Angela's

regime on the big stage is Olivia Murray.

Currently ranked third in the world, she also took first

place at the Irish Nationals last year.

Stay lateral. Higher, higher, higher!

My results definitely have become more consistent

since I've started working with Angela.

Before, I'd be up one minute and down the next,

and we were left wondering, "Why is this happening?"

And you'd be getting sore muscles

and you weren't able to consistently train for the period of time

that you want to, but now I'm working with Angela,

I'm able to really train as hard

as I want because my body is able to deal with it.

Higher! That's it. Good girl.

If we look at Olivia here,

and we're looking at what is the perfect dance body, we're going

to look at her turn out, because it is really all about that turnout.

So I'm going to ask Olivia to stand on the turn board

and I'm going to go to the opposite side

and I'm going to put my hand on her hip,

so I want her to stay square... Turnout, Olivia.

So I'm looking for that nice turn out there, without her cheating

and sticking her butt out, she's almost 100% there.

90 degree turnout.

Turnout is in Irish dancing an element of rotation from the hip,

the knee, the foot and the ankle.

And it has to be from those

three places for the perfect turnout.

Some of the little things I look at is,

I look at the top of the patella here and then I find the shinbone.

And here we have the tibialis anterior that runs alongside it,

and, you know, this bone comes right up

and comes through the middle of the knee and I like to see that.

You know, you have some kids that I'll see this tibialis anterior

and this shinbone and it runs through the side of the knee

or it runs up through the front of the knee.

So they're not perfectly lined up,

and teachers wonder why we can't straighten their legs,

you can't do certain things.

But that's their bones and ligaments, you know.

You can't change that.

While she does train highly successful dancers,

Angela's family are always keen to remind her

that her own dancing career wasn't quite so illustrious.

-Her dancing career was...

-Terrible.

Short and shorter.

I didn't want to dance any more,

so I thought, "Well, how am I going to get out of this?"

-I'll just get up there.

-So she went to America.

LAUGHTER

And that was the end of it.

I'll never forget. The first time we went to Philadelphia and Angela was

only taking an interest in this and we had girls competing.

I said, "Could you stretch them or do something?"

She started stretching the girls

and then the next day they got up to dance.

Well, the legs went this high.

And I was standing there going,

"Oh, my goodness. How did that happen?"

It's discipline, you know, because you have to work out.

-The steps are extremely difficult.

-But then the person comes along.

They have that bit of extra natural flair and it's just magic.

And no matter how hard you train, you can never beat that.

CHEERING

Back in the States, with the mid-Atlantic Championships

just around the corner, Angela is in the gym with Brendan Gaffney.

Now fully recovered from the foot injury

he sustained last year in Montreal, he must place in the top five to

qualify for next year's World Championships.

Feel like doing a workout here myself today.

They only let five boys out of the whole competition

recall for worlds.

It's very important to me because I really wanted to just come

back after my foot and just really dance again.

How do you feel?

Pretty tired. But good.

No, no, you're supposed to say beyond fabulous. Come on!

Feeling great.

Good job.

Before Montreal, my mom was just diagnosed with cancer

and my mother couldn't watch me dance in Montreal

and that was where I hoped I could at least bring her home something,

and when I hurt my foot, that just made it all worse for me.

And I just couldn't come back home without nothing.

This year, she's coming back, so it's very helpful just to have her

there as a mom and that really just makes me feel comfortable and safe.

Makes me feel like I can do my best.

-I see you've two different socks on.

-Yeah.

Take it easy, easy. It's not a race, Brendan.

Come on! Move forward.

Just pretend that ground's on fire.

-And if you don't lift your foot, what happens?

-It'll burn.

You're going to get burned, correct. So how do you feel?

-Fantabulous.

-Beyond fabulous.

Another familiar face who had a disappointing

result at the worlds will also be competing at the mid-Atlantics.

Sarah Oldham will be defending the title

she has won the last three years running in the ladies' under 20s.

The worlds was kind of disappointing.

After the fact, I took a step back and I was like,

"I still am third in the world and that's something to be proud of."

This is the mid-Atlantic regional Oireachtas, so it's my region.

I'm feeling pretty good. I'm feeling confident.

When I first came to her, I got home and I cried to my mom.

Kids tend to forget about from the knee down, you know,

because they don't realise they have these muscle imbalances.

These muscles. I didn't even know about half of them.

They come and they say, "I need to do this exercise and that exercise,"

and I say, "It's not about the exercises.

"Let's correct what is already hurting the body."

Let's go, girl!

I'm attending Monmouth University at the moment.

I am doing health and physical education with

a minor in business cos I want to be like Angela.

It's hard, definitely,

trying to get to practise all the time, with all the homework.

I just have to remind myself that I am a competing athlete

and as much as it stinks because I see all my friends going out, after

the fact, I'm winning competitions and I get to go to all these places.

-I'm fine with missing out a little.

-That's good.

It's the Thanksgiving weekend,

and crowds take to the streets to enjoy the parade.

But it's pageantry of another sort in downtown Philadelphia,

where the mid-Atlantic Oireachtas is kicking off.

Good luck. Good luck. Make it happen.

Is that good enough for you?

At 51, the energy's short.

I entered the Jesuits in 1992, but before that, I was a TCRG,

so I had a school of Irish dancing in New Jersey.

Brendan's mom wasn't here last year and he came to me

and asked me if I would pray for his mom,

so I knew what kind of faith Brendan had, so when I saw him

here this year, I wasn't surprised when he asked me to bless his feet.

We ask God's blessing on you, Brendan,

and your feet and your legs, through your hard shoe,

your soft shoe, and especially your spirit.

We ask this blessing in the name of the Father and of the Son

-and of the Holy Spirit.

-Amen.

I think it's important that we always have our faith

because it allows us to accept some of the difficult situations

and then obviously celebrate the joys,

so sometimes you don't get the answer to why.

But it helps you to accept why.

Unfortunately, I missed the worlds when Brendan danced

because I was in the middle of battling stage four breast

cancer, but thank God, all of the prayers were answered

and I am cancer-free now.

So this is my chance to watch him qualify all over again.

Today is the big day.

Today is what you have been waiting for. All right?

Today is what all the work's been about.

You're going to get on stage and you're going to turn it on, Brendan.

You're going to dance like there's no tomorrow.

You own this stage today.

As both parents watch on, Brendan takes to the stage,

knowing that finally his chance has come to qualify for the next

World Championships and make up his disastrous showing last year.

Competitor 113.

TRADITIONAL IRISH MUSIC PLAYS

CHEERING

Reach for the stars! Hayley, smile, be happy. It's not a funeral.

-Did you warm up?

-No.

-Right. Let's get ready.

I just like to zone everyone out.

I mean, sometimes it might seem rude

but I just don't like talking to anyone,

cos I concentrate better.

Right now, I'm listening to Justin Bieber's new album,

so, yeah, hopefully he helps today.

I'm just looking to dance my best, like I did last year,

and hopefully end up first again and a perfect score.

That's very positive.

You know, if you don't go on the stage positive,

might as well pack your bags and go home.

And Sarah hopes that positivity can help her become

mid-Atlantic champion for the fourth consecutive year.

TRADITIONAL IRISH MUSIC PLAYS

CHEERING

CHEERING

With the dancing out of the way, it's results time,

and Brendan needs a place in the top five to qualify for the worlds.

Whatever he gets, he gets, and we'll be happy.

APPLAUSE

And in seventh place, 113, Brendan Gaffney.

Finishing in seventh place means that Brendan will miss out

on the worlds next year.

Bit bummed out, but it's OK.

Just got to work harder next year, so... It's all good.

He's an excellent dancer.

He's a great performer and he's a great sportsman.

I'm so proud of the way he behaves.

I really am.

-I love you, baby.

-Thank you.

I know what Brendan went through to get where he is today

and, you know, we pick up the pieces

and we move forward to next year

and the North American Championships and we're just going to come

back stronger and better and it'll be a great year.

Disappointment for Brendan, but for Sarah,

it's been a successful title defence.

Number 117, Sarah Oldham, from the Heritage Irish Dance Company.

CHEERING

What's next is I'm going to work my hardest

and hopefully achieve my dream of winning the worlds.

The World Championships are in Glasgow.

I believe Sarah's dancing on March 28th. I'm a very happy daddy.

I'm delighted for her, you know.

She works extremely hard, so when you see that, it's a good result.

Angela has helped me get on the road to becoming a world champion.

Angela is an angel.

Next for me is finishing off school next year and in October of 2016

be a master of applied functional science, then after that,

I am hoping to return to Ireland in 2017 and set up shop at home

and do it all over again.