Champion of the World My Life

Use that back foot.

MUSIC: Work by The Saturdays

My name is Lauren and I'm 14 years old.

This is me getting ready for the biggest competition of my life.

Like millions of people around the world, I love Irish dancing.

I have been competing in Irish dance competitions

since I was a little girl.

Before I went side stage,

I said, "Oh, my gosh, Mum, I'm going to get a big crown."

In two weeks, I'm going to Montreal, Canada,

for the world championships, the Olympics of Irish dancing.

Every Irish dancer dreams of being a world champion, including me.

I started dancing when I was three years old.

When my sister started dancing,

I was bobbing around the feises and the competitions

and I couldn't wait to get into it.

You're going to have to make sure you stretch

and you warm up properly first.

Kelsey and I, we have a brilliant relationship.

She helps me prefect all my steps in our studio.

These are my heavy shoes.

The tip is for trebling and doing my rhythm,

and this is where I get all my beats and my sounds.

The heel, it has a bubble here,

it makes you able to do your clicks.

I think your family is the most important thing to you

out of everything, even dancing.

I'm so lucky to have a family

who really supports me in my Irish dancing,

because a lot of children don't have that.

It's brilliant to have their support right beside me

every step of the way.

They're preparing themselves for weeks coming up to the competition,

so it's up to the parents to help them to do that as well.

Make sure they have everything they need.

That's why they call us dancing mams and dancing dads.

That's what we are, yeah.

We train, we eat and we do everything

like a normal athlete would do -

if you were a runner or played football or anything.

It really is a sport,

it might be even more intense than football or anything like that.

When you're side stage, you feel really nervous.

You just try and calm your nerves, but when you're on stage,

that's when it really hits you, like, "Oh, my gosh",

especially in a big competition. You're on the stage and you're like,

"Wow, I just have to go out and give it my all."

Sometimes you can actually feel your heart beat in your mouth.

It's brilliant when you win.

Every girl wants to win a big crown.

They're really delicate, so they are.

I've been working for so many years just to win the world championships

just to get that feeling and just to actually say to yourself,

"Wow, I'm a world champion."

It would just mean the world to me.

I couldn't imagine any better feeling in my whole entire life

than winning the worlds.

I feel ready for the worlds coming up this year.

I kind of want to get to that stage where I'm over there

and I'm practising.

I'm really excited this year.

I need to be really focused and mentally prepared,

but I think I'm getting there.

My main rival at the worlds this year would be Orla.

She is the reigning world champion.

I haven't seen her many times this year.

I only really know what she's going to be dancing like

when I see her at the worlds.

So that's a bit nerve-racking, not knowing.

She is the same age as me and she lives in Chicago in America.

My name's Orla and I'm 14 years old.

I've been Irish dancing since I was three,

and last year I became a world champion.

It's an amazing feeling because to give up

so much to dedicate yourself to Irish dancing,

and you know that you won and all your hard work actually paid off.

Since my mom is my dance teacher,

I get to spend the whole day with her.

Just because you won the title doesn't mean

you no longer have to do all the hard work.

No, it's still off to the side.

You do have to do the hard work and she puts the time in

because of that.

Yeah, that was much neater and tidier.

I probably practise every single day for like two to three hours.

Gary is a strict teacher,

but he needs to be strict so that he gets us to work hard,

I don't think Gary knows,

but we sometimes we call him Scary Gary.

Smile!

Relax the face, just smile.

Just smile normally.

Gary is also a world champion,

so he obviously knows what it takes to win.

It's kind of hard because there is so much school work

and I need to keep up my grades and stuff,

but I also have to work really hard for the competition

because it's, like, so close.

All the work is done.

I just want you in...

..dance it, and sell yourselves.

Nobody is going looking for you.

Eyes up, shoulders back, and sell it.

Get a drink and straight back in.

What did you think about the class tonight?

I thought drills were really, really hard today.

Yeah, those were pretty tough.

I couldn't breathe.

My Irish dancing school is in Belfast,

75 miles away from where I live Drogheda, Ireland.

I go to dance class four or five times a week after school.

It's a really long drive for my mum.

Mum loved Irish dancing when she was a little girl,

but she never got the chance to compete

in the world championship like me.

I'd love to win the world title for mum

to thank her for everything she has done for me.

Gerard has been my teacher for about five years.

One, two, three, and go.

Gerard has been a world champion five times.

He is an absolutely amazing dancer.

Shoulders crossed.

Sometimes he can be a bit harsh and tough.

Feet off the ground... Stop! Stop. Arms don't be wobbling.

Do you think that was clear?

Do you think that was loud enough?

No. Back again.

It's a really tough class today,

but I guess we all have to push through it.

Use that back foot.

Louder.

I'm going to be grateful for it at the worlds,

for him picking on me,

because then it will make me dance better on the day.

Did you miss a click there?

Stomp it out and lift right up

and show me your feet da, da, da. Da-de-da-de, dum-dum-dum...

I'm not happy with those front clicks.

Louder, louder.

After the class I have to go to get my dress fitted on again,

because I had to get a few alterations done to it.

I just need to make sure that it is fitting me correctly,

so when I go on to the stage at the worlds it's just perfect.

This is my lucky dress, I won the All Irelands in this dress,

so I just love it.

I love all the flowers and I love the colour.

I just love yellow.

It's quite plain in the centre,

but Lauren likes a lot of bling on the dress,

so it's got a lot of Swarovski crystals on the bodice.

It's her kind of personality - it's bright and vibrant.

I love it. It's definitely Lauren.

It's her lucky dress as well.

There is only a week to go until the world championships,

so everyone is practising really hard.

And, like me, Orla is busy at school too.

Gather around this table so I can show you the next step

in your fused glass.

Ashley, please be careful this week

so you don't have to get stitches again.

THEY LAUGH

Why don't you like dancing in front of everybody?

You're so good.

-It's awkward.

-No, it's not.

-No, it's not.

If I was champion, I'd be like, "I'm world champion, no big deal."

How much do you want to win worlds?

It doesn't really matter as long as I dance good, I guess.

Who's, like, your biggest competition?

Everyone. They are so good.

MUSIC: Live While We're Young by One Direction

My friends, they mean everything to me.

To know that I can go into school and they are all there for me

and they are all really supportive.

CHEERING

SHE SPEAKS IN FRENCH

Miss Fox, she asked all my friends in class

could they come up with a few questions to ask me in French

and I had to answer in French,

because Montreal is full of French people.

SHE SPEAKS IN FRENCH

SHE RESPONDS IN FRENCH

-She's very modest.

-So modest.

If she wins anything, we have to dig for it ourselves.

We have to find out from Miss Fox.

They always give out to me. They say, "Lauren why don't you tell us?"

When you see her dance and the final package, it's so amazing.

Definitely all the hard work definitely pays off.

The other day, Gerard rang me up

and he said he had a surprise for me in Dublin,

but he wouldn't tell me what it was.

So are you getting up in the morning and doing your skips?

Well not my skips, but my exercises.

I think you should be doing the skips as well.

So do you get up every morning before school, Lauren, and work out?

It's the world championships, Kathleen.

It's not a wee feis in Belfast! It's the world championships.

Oh, I have videos of Gerard singing on my phone.

-No.

-Oh, show us. Go.

-No, you don't.

-Yes, he does.

RECORDING PLAYS

THEY LAUGH

Now stop. No, no, no.

When we got to Dublin anyway, we were just practising.

One, two, three, and go.

GERARD VOCALISES RHYTHM

And up and down...

GERARD VOCALISES RHYTHM

But could your click be louder?

Yes. Try it again.

One, two, three, and go.

GERARD VOCALISES RHYTHM

Cross those knees, two, three.

GERARD VOCALISES RHYTHM

One of the main reasons why we brought you here was

because I have a few friends that I want you to see

before the worlds in Montreal,

just to give you that last little bit of prep

before the world championship, so here we go.

'In walked Ciara Sexton and Padraic Moyles.'

Nice to see you.

-I hear you've been working hard.

-Yeah.

'I didn't scream, but I was just...

'I was speechless, I was so shocked.'

Padraic, I've seen him a few times dancing

and he's absolutely amazing.

-Hi, how are you?

-Hi, how are you?

-Nice to see you.

Ciara is just an amazing dancer.

No wonder she won the worlds so many times,

because I've never seen such an amazing dancer.

-What are you going to show us?

-The hornpipe.

That was so nerve-racking

because you want to dance so well in front of them,

so you're trying to put everything into it

and you want nothing to go wrong, so that's nerve-racking.

Where do you think your strengths lie?

What are your greatest attributes as a dancer?

I don't know.

I think it's important that your able

to admit those things to yourself.

That you're able to literally say out loud

that "I have amazing timing"

that "I'm very athletic".

From what I watched, I mean, turning out your feet,

I wish mine were as turned out as yours.

In terms of your timing, I wish mine was as good as yours,

in terms of your jumps and your leaps,

once again I wish mine was as good as yours.

I think you're absolutely brilliant at what you're doing.

That was a fantastic spin on to your toes, which is just magic.

It's like then you really believe in yourself.

I cannot believe the amount of power that I can hear,

and it comes out of this tiny body. You are such a strong dancer.

Do you want me get a picture of you and Ciara?

Yes, please.

-Yeah, go on. Jump in there.

-Thanks.

I'm sorry, Ciara, I'm all sweaty.

Oh, you're fine.

We're no stranger to sweat, are we, Padraic?

This is my picture with a future world champion.

I can't even describe it.

Like, if you had to say on a scale of 1-10, I'd say 100.

Thank you.

She is fabulous.

MUSIC: Heartbeat Song by Kelly Clarkson

You seriously have to go out and look like you belong there, OK?

Head up, smile, engage, eye contact and sell yourself.

You're good to go.

TRADITIONAL IRISH MUSIC PLAYS

All of the weeks and months of just working hard

and thinking about it, all of a sudden I was just there -

I was in Montreal.

Only 1% of the dancers actually qualify for worlds,

so if you even win a medal here,

you are one of the top 1% in the world.

Over time, you develop more of a sparkle.

You become more fake.

I love Irish dancing

cos the music takes you to another place.

It's pure art.

I really become, like, another character when I'm dancing.

My family and friends are like, "Dude, you're crazy."

This is not normal in Mexico, but they are very proud of me.

I met all of my dancing friends that I haven't seen in a while.

-Hi.

-Hi, Sophie.

So the practice room is OK?

Yeah, it's good enough. It's really crowded.

Yeah, I'd say so.

No, guys, this is too packed.

Maybe if we just start to get ready on the carpet.

When I was coming over to see my dress for the first time,

I wasn't nervous or anything. I was just really excited.

I don't know what it was going to look like or any of the colours.

So I have it.

Do you want to see it?

-Do you know what colour it is?

-No.

This is why it cost so much.

Just take a look at the stones.

Oh, my heavens.

And a little bit of pink.

We had a slight problem, though.

-It doesn't zip?

-No.

-OK, you pull it.

Yeah, it's totally fixable.

You love?

Bring it tomorrow when we practise

and we'll just put it on just to run through

and make sure you feel OK.

One, two, three, and go.

GERARD VOCALISES RHYTHM

No. Your feet.

I've told you that before - I want your feet out.

And where is the sound of the click?

Go and practise that. No, no, no.

I'm a little bit nervous, but I think that's normal.

I think tomorrow that I shouldn't have any fear or doubts about myself

because I do think I'm dancing well and I feel confident in myself

and at the end of the day, I just have to get up there

and dance my very best.

So we managed to fix the dress, we just pulled the darts out.

Does it feel too tight? Are you sure?

One, two, three, and smile.

HE VOCALISES RHYTHM

Tongue in your mouth.

And pull.

HE VOCALISES RHYTHM

Feel OK? It's not pinching anywhere?

No pressure tomorrow.

Just have fun, OK?

It's quite hard to go to sleep

straight away, but say to my brain,

I just say, "Go to sleep now.

"You don't want to be tired in the morning", so that helps.

After months and months of waiting,

the big day has finally arrived.

How we look is a big part of Irish dancing.

You have to make sure the judges notice you

when you're on stage.

We all have an early start to get our wigs and make-up done.

It might look over the top,

but our make-up is our war paint - it gets us ready for battle.

I still can't believe that today

I'm dancing in the world championships.

It doesn't really feel like it yet,

but I'll say it will kick in when I'm side stage.

You want those judges to be like "Oh, my God - that's the winner.

"That is the world champion standing on that there stage,

"we have to give it to her."

You've got one chance, OK?

One chance.

We can't go back, we can't stop you.

I'm competing against the very best dancers

and we all want the same thing -

to be the champion of the world.

The first round is the hornpipe.

We dance three at a time,

and we have to be careful not to bump into another dancer,

you lose points for that.

TRADITIONAL IRISH MUSIC PLAYS

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Absolutely beautiful.

You should be really happy with it.

It was absolutely beautiful.

Yeah, I think it went really, really well.

I'm really happy with it.

Hopefully the next round will go as good.

What I really want this year

is just to go out dance the best that I can do.

TRADITIONAL IRISH MUSIC PLAYS

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

It's so nerve-racking when you're up on stage.

All that hard work,

and it all comes down to how you dance in those two minutes.

The second round is another traditional Irish dance.

It's called a reel.

TRADITIONAL IRISH MUSIC PLAYS

I felt a lot better in my second dance, because...

I think because I was nervous for my first round,

so I was just holding back.

In the second round, I wasn't as nervous.

And finally I get to meet Orla.

Well, how was your day so far, was it good?

-OK, how about you?

-Good.

Did your dances go well?

-Yeah, sort of, how about you?

-Good, yeah.

-You were really good.

-So were you.

Is your wig sore yet?

-Sort of.

-Yeah, I know. I can't wait to get it off.

-Well, good luck.

-Good luck to you too, Orla.

See you later.

There are 148 girls in my competition,

but only 50 make it to the final round -

the set dance.

Luckily, Orla and I both get through.

It's time for the dance of our lives.

We have one last chance to impress the judges

and be in with a chance of winning the world title.

Orla is on first.

Right before I go on stage, I don't really think about my corrections.

I just think to have fun and enjoy this moment,

because not many people can.

Then I walk on stage and it just all gets blanked out.

MUSIC: Right Here, Right Now by Giorgio Moroder ft. Kylie Minogue

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I have my set dance to do now, so hopefully...

I have my fingers crossed and I hope everything goes really well.

MUSIC: Heroes (We Could Be) by Alesso ft. Tove Lo

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Well done. Good girl.

When we have all done our set dances,

the judges add up their scores,

then everyone sits in the hall

with their teachers and family and friends,

while the results are announced.

This is definitely the worst bit of the day. It's so nerve-racking.

THEY ANNOUNCE SCORES

Well done, honey.

Yes!

I'm speechless. I can't explain how I feel.

It's unbelievable, it's incredible.

This is my life goal.

My little sister is the world champion

and I can't believe it. She deserves it so much.

MUSIC: Best Day Of My Life by American Authors

MUSIC: Work by The Saturdays