Rhythmic speed puts teen Irish dancer Maverick Cradduck on world stage

High school senior Maverick Cradduck of Everett placed 15th in the world championship for Irish dancing about a year ago in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
“In our local communities, only 1% of Irish dancers actually make it to the World Championships because it is so elite,” one of Cradduck’s dance teachers, and director at Tara Academy of Irish Dance, Sara Raney Williams said.
This March, he’ll be going again as one of the competitors traveling from more than 35 countries to compete in the World Irish Dancing Championship. Cradduck will be dancing under the men’s U18/19 division in Glasgow, Scotland.
On a stage before an audience filled with hundreds of onlookers, dancers perform as live music accompanies their movements.
Even during a solo performance, the dancers are not alone on stage.
“You’ll do your individual dance, but there’s going to be another person on the stage performing at the same time as you,” Cradduck said. “Its really interesting trying to consider the movement of the other dancer, because they may be going one way and you may be going another — you have to try to not run into each other.”
A traditional Irish dance is similar to a sprint: the dancer pins their arms to their sides, kicking their leg straight above them while on the tips of their toes. The dances are usually no longer than a minute long, a “living art” as Raney Williams refers to it.
“When I’m dancing I just have to keep thinking about the next move ahead of me because they’re so quick and come so fast,” Cradduck said. “You can’t think about being tired because you’ll look tired.”
Cradduck placed 15th in Worlds dancing to the Reel, the Treble Jig and the Planxty Hugh O’Donnell — all traditional Irish dance tunes that Cradduck has trained in since he started 10 years ago.
Cradduck began Irish dancing after a trip to visit family friends in California who also competed in Worlds. His sister Morgan was the first in the family to begin Irish dancing, accomplishing success in regionals, and he soon followed. After a year, Cradduck began competing as well.
“What he’s achieved is not to be undersold,” Raney Williams said. “It’s hard, hard work and he didn’t tell you the part about sitting with his legs in an ice bath every night because it was shin splints, or going into the gym every day and working out to have the strength and fitness to dance for that really hard minute.”
As a high school senior at the Sky Valley Education Center, Cradduck commutes from Monroe to Tara Academy in Seattle four days a week to practice. He practices all year round with a semi-break in December.
“It’s definitely a lot all at once,” Cradduck said. “But it allows me to get away from the schoolwork. If I have a lot of assignments, or I just feel burnt out, I can come to dance, and after I can come back I often feel a lot more productive.”