Teenager dances his way to another world title after training at a Dudley dance school
A teenager has been crowned world champion in Irish dancing for the third time after training at a dance school in Dudley.
Aidan Ward travels down from Manchester three times a week to train with the Marie Connell School of Irish Dancing at the Parkes Hall Social Club.
The 14-year-old took home his third world title on April 3, competing in the World Irish Dancing Championships in Montreal, Canada.
The teen was previously declared world champion in Belfast last year, and Greensboro, North Carolina, in 2019.
As part of the competition, Aidan performed three dances in front of a panel of judges, battling it out against 80 other dancers in his age category.
Marie Connell, who has been teaching Aidan for more than six years, said: "Aidan is a very special boy in that he has that great combination of natural ability, willingness to learn and also he is such a hard worker – he is kind of the full package really.
"As a teacher, I have great confidence in his ability to perform under pressure and I was very pleased with his performance across all three rounds. They do the results in reverse order so you keep praying that your number won't come out. When you get down to the top five it's always a really nervous time because you are praying your number is the last one that is called.
"Since Aidan moved to me, there's only been one competition that he didn't win. He is undefeated bar one competition, it's quite a record because we compete 30 times a year."
Aidan has been perfecting his craft for the last eight years, and has already began training for next year's world title, with the competition set to take place in Glasgow.
Katrina Ward, Aidan's mum, said the youngster was previously a nervous child, but his confidence has grown since he took up Irish dancing.
The mum-of-five added: "His siblings all Irish dance, so it's something he was born into in some respect but he's got into it seriously in the last few years.
"He's not one to sit back, he loves everything to do with dancing. He's travelled the world with Irish dancing so it's been a brilliant experience for him in that respect.
"He's such a hard worker and puts 100 per cent into every class he goes to to prepare for these competitions – he's constantly dancing at home.
"It's terrifying waiting for the results to come out, it's a long day and the results don't come out until the end of the day. It's a bit emotional to say the least. He deserves everything he gets, I'm over the moon.
"He was in floods of tears as we all were to be fair, he's not a child that expects, he is very grounded. He's very much aware there are other people who are very good so every win is an achievement."
