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Photos of Children Competing to Dance the Most Irish

Photographer Chloé Kerleroux is obsessed with little Irish faces.

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Irish dancing is global. Unlike the niche folk concerns of pole-battering Morris men or their Irish analog, Mummer men, Irish dancing broke containment long ago. Thanks in part to 90s stage sensations Lord of the Dance and Riverdance, the sport (yes, it’s competitive) is popular in surprisingly diverse locales across the world.

Brittonic photographer Chloé Kerleroux went looking for the Gaelic art form this spring, and found it in Liege, Belgium, in the form of the WIDA World Championships and International Feis. Global participants of all ages competed in the sport’s various dances (soft shoe reel! Slip jig! Hard shoe!) for the top honors.

Camaraderie, intensity, massive hair—Irish dancing has it all. We spoke to Kerleroux to find out more.

VICE: I know it’s international, but the girls that you photographed, are they all Irish? Because they all look Irish, if I’m honest.Chloé Kerleroux: I was a bit more [apprehensive] about photographing the dancers if I couldn’t find their parents, and a lot of them were with their coach. The kids from Ireland, England, and maybe Germany were with their........

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