Our dancer of the month this month is a dancer on the rise. She represents all of those dancers around the world who are hungry for success and who are consistently placing better at each major they dance at. She is a young lady who dances virtually every single day, whether that be at class or in her home-built studio, and she has the mindset of a future champion. She is representative of all those around the world who are ‘up there’ but haven’t won a major…… yet.

That’s the power-word here, ‘YET’.

Cassidy Ludwig is a phenomenal talent; and that talent has taken a sharp step in the right direction over the last few years. In 2016 Cassidy danced at her first World Championships in Glasgow — a favorite location for many dancers from  around the world to visit — the famous Royal Concert Hall. She didn’t recall and placed 88^th overall in her age group. The following year Cassidy was devastated when she didn’t qualify for the 2017 World Championships. Skip forward another year to the 2018 All Ireland Championships in Killarney, County Kerry, and it was a similar story. Cassidy didn’t recall again.

For some these results would have been discouraging. Some dancers might have thought themselves stuck in a rut, impossible to get out of; but not Cassidy. Perhaps, looking on the up side, it was a necessary part of Cassidy’s journey that was essential for her to go through in order that she adopt a winning mindset.

We often hear quotes like: ‘If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you,’ or, ‘Without being pushed to your limits, you’ll never know how far you can go,’ but for Cassidy, she really did have to go through a prolonged period of not achieving what she wanted before she put the last piece of the puzzle into place; the piece that started the process of significant change. Cassidy started to work on her mindset. She started to focus on the positive aspects of her dancing and having a positive attitude towards it all, the good and the bad.

So behind the scenes she got to work: Cassidy has always had a good work ethic but this time she was doing it with a new attitude. We pick her story back up in 2019 after 3 ‘bad’ years. First up was the All Ireland Championships. A year after not recalling, there was a point to prove for Cassidy. This time she did indeed recall, and not just that, she placed inside the top 20, achieving a personal best placing of 19^th. A few months later it was the World Championships in Greensboro. Cassidy achieved something many dancers aspire to, and earned her first solo world medal. Bear in mind, as a result of a less than perfect mindset, Cassidy hadn’t qualified for the previous two World Championships and yet in Greensboro she not only recalled, she achieved the fantastic position of 17^th. What an improvement!

Later in 2019, in the following Irish dance ‘season’, we move to the Mid-America Oireachtas. Cassidy narrowly misses out on her first title, placing a career-best 2^nd at the event.

The improvement in results throughout 2019 was nothing short of staggering, leaving her perfectly positioned for 2020 to continue along this path.

But we all know what happened — the competitive Irish dance world came to a halt due to the Corona virus pandemic.

However, the All Ireland Championships went ahead, the last to do so, and again in Killarney. And it was more progress and more smiles for Cassidy. This time she broke yet another barrier placing inside the top 10! Let’s not lose sight of the fact that two years prior Cassidy didn’t recall at this event. Walking away with an incredible 9^th place at the All Irelands was a sign of not only consistent progress, but a sign that learning to change her attitude towards her dancing and towards the results achieved had changed everything!

Cassidy is living proof that a positive attitude can change how the world looks to us, the way we receive the world, the way we react to the world and (especially vital for a dancer) the way we move through the world. Cassidy’s competition hadn’t changed; she was competing largely against the same group of dancers. Her dance routine hadn’t changed; she was dancing for the same school. The only thing that had changed was her attitude and mindset.

The world in general, and the Irish dance world in particular is going through a difficult time and more than ever it is a time to stay positive. It’s what is obviously working for Cassidy, and following her example may be just as transformational for you or someone you know.

We asked our dancer of the month the following questions:

Q - What was your first big win that you can remember?

A - It’s funny but I can remember back to my first dance competition. I won the reel round. That was quite a big deal to me as a beginner!

Q - Did dancing come naturally to you or were you a dancer who really had to work on every aspect of  dancing?

A - At first, dancing came very naturally to me in the athletic aspect because I had done cheer and gymnastics before I started dancing. I think that really helped in the sense that I understood my body and how to work it. It also made me quite flexible.

As I moved along further in competitions I did have to start focusing on every aspect of dancing in order to make improvements. You can only get so far on natural talent.

Q - How would you describe your Irish dance journey? What hurdles would you say you have had to overcome?

A - I would say my dance journey has been a learning experience for every aspect in my life. I have overcome a very big hurdle in my mindset over the past couple of years. I used to have a very bad mindset regarding life in general and dancing has really helped me come out of my shell and be more positive. The reason I would say my journey is unique is because once I fixed my attitude I had a very big jump in results. I am very grateful that I have developed so many useful life skills as a result of my dancing journey.

Q - Do you have a strategy for preparing for a big competition? Do you have a special routine? Superstitions? Mental prep?

A - I try to not have routines before competitions because if something doesn’t go to plan I would probably freak out. I am a little superstitious; I have a Claddagh ring that I always wear and I’ve convinced myself that I'll have a bad day if I don't have it on. My mental preparation is always just listening to the dance music as much as I can and then I will picture exactly what I want to happen on stage. Once I picture the dance in my mind, I am ready to go and perform it exactly the same way on stage.

Q - Who is your favorite Irish dancer currently?

A - I love Orlaith Bradley. I always looked up to her because our dancing styles are very similar. She's very effortless and peppy; it’s very enjoyable to watch because I can see she is enjoying dancing herself.

Q - Who would you say has had the biggest impact on your Irish Dancing and why?

A - 100% Muireann Ni Chiara. She is the best dancing teacher! Muireann probably knows me in more ways than my own mother sometimes. I owe a lot of my successes to her. Whenever in a negative mindset or not understanding a correction, she knows exactly how to help. I truly don’t know how one person can make so many things just click. I can always see that she has my best interest at heart for every single thing I do, even outside of dancing. I don’t think I would be as passionate about dancing if she was not a part of my journey.

Q - Have you ever taken part in any Irish dance camps?

A - I have only done the Riverdance camp, but it was such an amazing experience. I flew over for the Dublin camp, which was honestly such a good decision. It was so much fun to meet all of the cast and to get to know them while they taught the routines. I also met so many friends, and the nights when we would just hang out and joke about how exhausted we were really made the experience. It really helped drive my love for show dancing as well.

Q - Give us an insight into your practice regime in the build up to a big event?

A - I usually practice whenever I feel like it to be honest. I am truly always in the studio or using the dance floor I have in my basement. I love dancing so I just dance whenever I want. It also helps put less pressure on me because the pressure that comes with a major is enough for me.

Q - Do you just do Irish Dancing or do you incorporate gym and stretching and other styles of dance?

A - I only competitively dance. I go to the gym whenever I don’t have classes for strength and stamina training. I have always found that when you strengthen the muscles that ignite the intensity in your dancing along with the muscles that help your technique it can make such an impact on the big picture of your dancing. I love all resistance training because it makes dancing feel so much more effortless and then I can focus more on corrections with the steps rather than corrections with my technique.

Q - Moving forward is there anything you still want to do? Shows you want to be in?

A - I definitely would love dancing in shows. Riverdance and Lord of The Dance would be some of the shows I would love to be a part of. Ultimately, I want to be a dance teacher. I am currently working towards my TCRG and would like to have my ADCRG on top of that. Dancing will always be a part of my life, that is for sure.

Q - Is there anything you didn’t achieve that you really wished you had?

A - Well, I am still working hard to accomplish my goals. I would love to have a globe before I am done dancing competitively. Up to this point in my competitive career, what was meant to happen happened as it should have. I wouldn’t wish for anything different because it is a learning experience.

Q - What characteristics do you think a dancer needs in order to become the best?

A - They have to be passionate. There aren’t many World champions who don’t like dancing. To become the best there’s a lot of hard work that has to be put into your dancing. That dedication is hard to have if you don’t love what you do. You really have to be so hungry to have that desire to be the best. With that said, I also think you have to have a big personality. I can usually see personality through different styles of dancing. You also have to think as if you were the judge too. It’s important to make yourself stand out from the other dancers to make an impact on the judges. They see thousands of dancers at competitions, so you have to make your dancing unique relative to the other competitors.

Q - What would you say is your biggest ever achievement In Irish Dancing?

A - My biggest achievement would probably be coming 17th at the worlds in Greensboro 2019. My first worlds was in Glasgow in 2016 and I didn’t recall. I wasn’t expecting a recall because it was my first worlds, but I was of course going to be upset. I was devastated to not qualify for the Dublin 2017 worlds or the Glasgow 2018 worlds, but during those two years I developed a terrible attitude towards my dancing and it really affected my results. So the reason I would say that Greensboro 2019 was my biggest accomplishment is because I worked hard on being positive and it changed my dancing. Going from two years of not qualifying and then jumping up to being a WMH at my second worlds just goes to show how important my change in attitude was. I definitely think I have improved a lot since 2019 and I cannot wait for competitions to start again.

Q - What top tips (say 4 or 5) would you give an aspiring young Irish Dancer?

1.         Enjoy the journey. There is no point in dancing if you don’t have fun doing it!

2.         Don’t give up when things get hard. Remember as you get better, the corrections will have a lot to do with the overall look of your dancing, which can be harder to fix.

3.         Dance at every class like you’re performing at the competition. So this way it will become muscle memory and you won’t have to worry when you get to the competition.

4.         Take one correction at a time. Teachers tend to throw lots of corrections at you so typically I would take one correction and fix it in all rounds. This way it won’t be repeated twice and you can start working on the next correction.

5.         Remember how far you have come. Sometimes it’s important to take a step back and realize how much improvement you have made.

Watch… this… space! You can bet your bottom dollar that Cassidy has been working every single day during lockdown. She’ll be ready to capitalize once all of this is over and she’ll be hunting for the top spots. If you take one thing away from this article, take away a positive attitude towards your dancing, or if you’re a teacher or dance parent, tell a dancer who might be struggling with their mindset to read this article. We all might just benefit from taking a leaf out of Cassidy’s book.

FEIS App is incredibly proud to call Cassidy Ludwig our Dancer of the Month and we cannot wait to follow her journey in the future.