{"id":62827,"date":"2012-03-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-03-28T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-freshman-to-compete-in-irish-dancing-world-championships-april-8\/"},"modified":"2012-03-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-03-28T00:00:00","slug":"uri-freshman-to-compete-in-irish-dancing-world-championships-april-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2012\/03\/uri-freshman-to-compete-in-irish-dancing-world-championships-april-8\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 freshman to compete in Irish dancing world championships, April 8"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tMorganville, N.J. native placed in top 15 last year<\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 March 28, 2012 \u2013 Mary Catherine Rocca, a freshman at the 溏心vlog免费B站, will compete in the Irish dancing world championships in Belfast next week after winning her regional competition and placing second in the United States this year.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cMy mom put me in an Irish dancing class when I was three, and I\u2019ve stuck with it ever since,\u201d said Rocca. \u201cIt\u2019s always been a part of my life. I love that I can embrace my heritage and show other people how much I love being Irish.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tA marine biology major from Morganville, N.J., Rocca competes in the senior mixed ceili category \u2013 a team of eight performers who dance in synchrony \u2013 for those aged 15 and over.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cTeam dancing is really challenging because you have to be so in synch with the other seven people and understand exactly what they are doing while you\u2019re focusing on what you\u2019re supposed to be doing,\u201d Rocca explained. \u201cBut you get to a point where you know the steps and you know the gist of how the dance is supposed to be, so then it\u2019s a matter of being in shape and maintaining stamina.\u201d<\/p>\n

The biggest challenge for Rocca this year has been that she is at 溏心vlog免费B站 while the rest of her team is much closer to their homes in New Jersey.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI\u2019ve commuted back and forth from Rhode Island to New Jersey nearly every weekend since September,\u201d she said, noting that she is considering re-establishing an Irish dancing club at 溏心vlog免费B站. \u201cI\u2019ve sacrificed a lot to be an Irish dancer and to be part of the team I\u2019m on, but it\u2019s all definitely worth it. I wouldn\u2019t trade it for the world.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tThe trip to Ireland won\u2019t be Rocca\u2019s first. She has competed in the world championships three times before, finishing in the top 15 in 2011. She has also performed at Carnegie Hall three times, as well as throughout the U.S. and Canada.<\/p>\n


\n\tThe weeklong world championships \u2013 officially called Oireachtas Rince Na Cruinne \u2013 begin on March 31 and will include 6,000 competitors dancing in several age and performance categories. Rocca\u2019s team will have especially stiff competition.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI\u2019m in a senior category, so I\u2019ll be competing against dancers who are professionals and have performed in Riverdance and Lord of the Dance and other touring shows,\u201d Rocca said. \u201cEvery team that competes is incredibly good, and the best teams win by only fractions of points. It\u2019s all about who does best on that day.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tAll of Rocca\u2019s practice will come down to a two-minute performance on April 8, and if her team is rated in the top half of the competition, they will perform one more two-minute dance to determine the winner.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI definitely feel the pressure, but we\u2019re as ready as we can be,\u201d said Rocca. \u201cAnd after all our other performances, we\u2019re used to the pressure. We\u2019re all going to have to be extremely focused. And then it\u2019s all about having a good time and leaving it all out on the stage.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tRocca departs for Ireland this weekend.<\/p>\n


\nPictured above

\nMary Catherine Rocca.

\nMary Catherine Rocca with teacher and mentor Peter Smith.

\nPhotos courtesy of Mary Catherine Rocca<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Morganville, N.J. native placed in top 15 last year KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 March 28, 2012 \u2013 Mary Catherine Rocca, a freshman at the 溏心vlog免费B站, will compete in the Irish dancing world championships in Belfast next week after winning her regional competition and placing second in the United States this year. \u201cMy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62830,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}