Rotherhithe’s Irish dancing star, Maisie Ryan, and Nunhead’s Amber-Rose Murphy have qualified for next year’s World Irish Dancing Championships in Dublin.
The News has reported how Maisie came first in the U10 Open Championships in Manchester in October at the Burke Feis, and now she has come 24th at the All Ireland Irish Dance Championship 2016 in Belfast, and Amber-Rose came in the top ten – enough to qualify for the world championship.
Maisie, ten, and Amber-Rose, eighteen, of the Deborah Whelan dance school, battled it out against around 1,600 other dancers in front of 7,000 spectators, at the Oireachtas Rince na h-Éireann over a week.
They now have the chance to be recognised as some of the best dancers in the world.
Katie Boyd, Maisie’s mum, said: “It’s amazing that Maisie has qualified. I’m so happy for her. She was shaking as she found out and said “I can’t believe I’ve done it!”
“We’re really looking forward to next year’s world championships.”