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  • Tue. Nov 26th, 2024

From plumbing store to world stage: meet Australia’s Irish dance boy wonder – The Guardian

From plumbing store to world stage: meet Australia’s Irish dance boy wonder – The Guardian

Triple world champions are few and much between. Teenaged ones rarer aloof. You might perchance perhaps also receive indubitably one of them working in his fogeys’ plumbing presents store in suburban Sydney every Saturday morning when he’s no longer practicing, or six days per week within the off-season.

Liam Costello, 19, the slender and immaculately groomed young man who cleans the shop and fills orders for patrons is the reigning, three-time Irish Dance world champion. He moreover has loads of All Ireland, North American and Australian championships below his belt. He obtained his third Irish Dance world championship in April in Belfast.

“I acknowledge the cell phone and secure the total bits for the plumbers esteem pipes and faucets and stuff,” says Costello, smiling. “Personally, it’s no longer what I are searching for to secure into but it absolutely’s nice to be spherical family and dangle some stability.”

When he’s no longer advising possibilities on tapware, Costello is making willing for the Australian nationals in Perth in tiresome September and readying himself for a job in a novel Irish Dance spectacular, Eireborne, which kicks off on a nationwide tour in Melbourne in tiresome July.

Costello trains for 9 hours a day to put collectively for the field championships. Characterize: Carly Earl/The Guardian“I’m averaging five hours [of training] a day for the time being,” Costello says. “When I’m going into one thing esteem the Worlds, I wish to up that to eight or 9 hours a day. It’s intense, esteem being an Olympic athlete.”

Costello is meticulous in nature and describes himself as a perfectionist (“I esteem precision”). His blue eyes shine as he solutions each and each query fastidiously, he infrequently touches a silver ring on his index finger or a silver necklace, so swish possibilities are you’ll rarely look it. His hair is perfectly slicked esteem a young Elvis Presley and his sneakers are pristine white.

He exhibits Guardian Australia his world-beating trophy. It’s as tall because the Wimbledon men’s trophy, but Costello is pondering about the finer prizes reminiscent of a pair of gold cufflinks. “They’re so cute,” he says.

For our photoshoot, he changes into shorts and the dark onerous pumps worn for Irish dance. The toe containers are rock onerous and kind a hell of a sound when he hits the bottom with little, precise foot actions. His high kicks are fabulous and he doesn’t rupture a sweat. When he’s done, he presents a humble shrug and a tall smile, flexing his ankles.

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In Australia, there’s a social facet to Irish dance with community groups maintaining well-liked ceilis. However the attribute rigid torso stepdance gain that Costello specialises in is the stuff of onerous fought competitions in which young of us and adults dance off for honours in onerous-shoe and tender-shoe classes.

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