Lewes girl ranks as top Irish dancer in worldwide competitions while managing diabetes

With a mix of childlike enthusiasm and surprising maturity, 11-year-old Erin Mayo is moving up in the Irish dancing world. She’s got the trophies — and the blisters — to prove it.

The Lewes sixth grader has been Irish dancing since she could walk.

“I have no other hobbies,” she said, grinning. “My whole life is Irish dance, diabetes, my family and school.”

Erin was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes last year. During a four-day stint in the hospital, she practiced her footwork at her bedside.

She and her mom, Lindsey Mayo, seem to have easily blended the dangerous but manageable disease into their lives. They travel at least twice a week to McGough Academy in West Chester, Pennsylvania, for Erin’s dance classes.

“She has everything it takes to go all the way,” owner Meagan McGough said of Erin. “I’ve never seen such a level-headed, hard-working kid, intense when she needs to be but fun-loving when it’s time for fun.”

Accompanied by her mom, dad Cory Mayo and 6-year-old sister Alana Mayo, Erin travels worldwide to compete in Irish dancing competitions. Earlier this year, she placed 10th in the world for her age group at the Irish Dancing Commission’s World Championships in Montreal, Canada.

She hopes to teach Irish dancing as an adult — after taking off a few years to tour with “Riverdance,” of course.

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What is Irish dance?

“Irish dance is pure happiness for me,” Erin said. “It’s a form of art, but it’s also a sport.”

Irish dancing evolved over centuries to become the global phenomenon it is today, helped by the vast Irish diaspora. In fact, Erin’s great-grandmother immigrated to America from Derry, Ireland, and was an Irish dancer herself, Lindsey Mayo said.

Perhaps the most widely-known aspect of Irish dancing, thanks to “Riverdance,” is that dancers keep their arms straight at their sides. The magic is all in the feet.

“You have to have really turned-out feet and you have to cross your feet,” Erin said. “When you’re dancing, you should only see one knee.”

Not all Irish dancing is competitive. Many people do it for fun, and the fun is the reason Erin started dancing. She helps her coaches teach a recreational class in Lewes, but chooses to focus on the competitive side.

In competitions, there are three dancing rounds, Erin explained: hard shoe, soft shoe and set. In the first two rounds, several dancers dance at once, but a set is a solo dance, Cory Mayo said, meant to showcase a dancer’s skills. The dances are accompanied by an Irish jig or hornpipe music.

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"This year, it's hornpipe for me," Erin said.

The shoes, the dresses, the hair

Hard shoes and soft shoes are the two different types of shoes Irish dancers wear. Soft shoes are also known as ghillies, and everyone laces their ghillies differently, according to Erin. Hard shoes have metal cleats on the bottoms that make the drum-like sound ubiquitous to Irish dance.

Then there’s the hair and costumes. Many modern Irish dancers opt for short, brightly-colored, sparkly dresses that can cost in the thousands of dollars.

Erin’s dress this year is a custom Connor O’Sullivan number with a tartan pattern and an enormous crown to match. Like most modern Irish dancing dresses, it’s entirely bejeweled. Lindsey Mayo sews displaced jewels back on the dress before each competition.

Erin also wears a towering wig for competitions, which her mom said is a tradition in Irish dance.

Competitions

Her next competition is the Mid-Atlantic Regionals in Philadelphia, where she will defend her two-time Mid-Atlantic Champion title. This year, she’ll also do a team dance with her six-year-old sister, Alana, who has just started dancing competitively.

The Mid-Atlantic Regionals are one of several competitions Erin will participate in to qualify for the world championships, to be held in Scotland in April 2024. Last year, when she achieved 10th in the world for her age group, was the first year she was old enough to compete.

There’s a lot of travel involved in Irish dance. The Mayos just returned from London and were in Scotland just a few weeks before for competitions. Erin has been to numerous U.S. states, Canada and the United Kingdom to compete.

Irish dancing life

Erin was bitten by the Irish dancing bug as a three-year-old, when she attended a workshop for preschoolers.

“I just thought it was so much fun,” she said.

She spent the first five years of her life in Wilmington, where there’s a plethora of Irish dancing schools. There’s only one school in Sussex County, so when the Mayos moved to Lewes, they opted to commute to McGough.

Dad Corey Mayo is a realtor, while mom Lindsey Mayo is a teacher taking time off to be a full-time mom.

“It’s a two-hour drive to West Chester. She trains 6:30 to 9:30 (p.m.),” Lindsey Mayo said. “She does her homework on the way up. Dinner is usually off a paper plate; I get it ready. She brings pajamas and will sleep on the way home. I usually call her dad to come out and get her but she’s getting bigger!”

Diabetic dancer

Lindsey Mayo also plays an important role in her daughter’s diabetes management. Exercise and diabetes can be a dangerous mix, she said. She attends all Erin’s lessons and competitions so she can monitor her blood sugar while she dances.

“Since she was diagnosed, I haven’t left her alone at dance class,” Lindsey Mayo said. “She’s not super paying attention (to her blood sugar levels) when she’s dancing.”

A weird fluke makes things slightly easier for Erin and her mom: Erin is one of four McGough students managing diabetes. IrishPhiladephia.com called them “the diabesties.” When Erin was first diagnosed, they helped Erin and her mom to quickly adjust.

“I asked her if she wanted to pull back on dance, you know, it’s a lot with the diabetes, but she doesn’t want to, and I don’t want to take that away from her,” Lindsey Mayo said.

“My mom knows everything about me, inside and out,” Erin said. “I’m so thankful for my parents, they dedicate so much of their lives to driving me to West Chester … taking me to all these wonderful places.”

There’s that surprising maturity.

After high school and her “year or two off to do ‘Riverdance,’” naturally, Erin wants to get a degree in business before teaching Irish dance.

“Irish dancing is a place where I feel free and it feels like I’m at home,” she said. “I love it.”

Shannon Marvel McNaught reports on Sussex County and beyond. Reach her at smcnaught@gannett.com or on Twitter @MarvelMcNaught.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Erin Mayo of Lewes ranks as top Irish dancer in world despite diabetes