FEIS App's Dancer Of The Month - Liam Costello

When we think of Australia we think of many things: rich history, strong culture, wildlife, sport, sun, barbeques…… the list goes on. Irish dancing probably wouldn’t make it anywhere near the top of the list of things that most people would associate with Australia, but Irish dancing is certainly alive and well down under. Australia has produced many fantastic dancers — some of whom have gone on to win World and All Ireland titles.

Liam Costello, Australia’s sole World Champion at this point in time, hails from Sydney.

Liam dances for the McGahan Lees Creer School and has a phenomenal list of titles to his name so far. He lives to dance, and not just Irish dance either. He is currently studying at Brent Street Performing Arts School, Sydney, where he is also focusing on other dance styles.

Liam is a two time (consecutive and defending) World Champion, and two time All Ireland Champion. Liam’s first world title came in 2018 in Glasgow at the renowned Royal Concert Hall venue, and a year later he went on to win the prestigious title again in Greensboro. Liam won his first All Ireland title in 2016 and again two years later in 2018. Liam’s season went from strength to strength in 2018 as he went on to pick up the All Scotland and Great Britain titles as well. If this list of accolades isn’t special enough, Liam also won the North American National Championships twice; in 2017 and in 2019. He has been crowned the Australian National Champion 7 times and has won the New South Wales state Irish dancing championships an incredible 10 times!

When you’re an Irish dancer in Australia and you commit to Irish dance, there is a lot that comes with it. To get to virtually every major requires a huge amount of planning and travel, and this alone brings added pressure. There’s the financial commitment that comes with living so far away from the majority of majors. To get to the top when you live anywhere in the world is of course incredibly difficult, but there really are some extra significant hurdles to overcome when you’re on the other side of the world.

Liam’s focus on Irish dancing and what he wanted to achieve from it has never wavered and luckily he has an incredibly supportive family, plus a brilliant school — both encourage and drive Liam on and help him clear any and all hurdles in his way. Liam is about as determined as they come; as hard working as they come, and above all, as in love with Irish dancing as anyone out there! This mix of support, passion and talent has created someone special — someone who commands attention when he is on stage; someone who changes the dynamic in a feis hall just by walking out on stage; someone who delivers time and time again.

We asked Liam the following questions:

Q - What is your earliest Irish dancing memory?

A - My earliest Irish dancing memory would have to be one of my very first competitions in Australia when I was about 6 or 7 and they were giving feedback on stage to all the dancers, and they told me that because it was a black background that I shouldn’t have worn all black so they could see me dancing more clearly.

Q - Can you remember your first class? What was it like? How did you feel?

A - I don’t remember my first class, but the first year of dancing I remember just learning, and I absolutely loved every minute of it. I was fully engaged in everything and dancing brought me so much joy. 

Q - How did you get into Irish dancing?

A - I got into Irish dancing through my dance school's concert video where I saw the Irish dancing and instantly loved it. From when I first saw it I would watch it over and over. Whilst on our summer break I began to copy their moves and taught myself, which then led the following year to me joining Irish dance classes.

Q - Who would you say are your biggest supporters?

A - My biggest supporters would probably have to be my parents. Throughout my entire dance journey they have always been there for me, helping me through every decision I’ve had to make and assisting me in travelling all over the world to compete and chase my dreams.

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

A - I have multiple wins that I would consider big milestone wins for me. The first one being the New South Wales State Championships which I first won in 2011; this was pretty big for me. That then led to the following year winning the Australian National Championships, which I think really gave me that impetus to continue to push myself to the best of my ability. Then my next big win would be my win in 2016 at the All Irelands, as it was my first international major win which definitely pushed me further and which eventually led to me winning my first World Championship title in 2018.

Q - Do you have a strategy for preparing for a big competition?

A - When preparing for a big competition I always like to stick to my routine as I am extremely OCD and like everything to go smoothly without anything unpredictable happening. I don't really have a set routine per se but I do like to keep to myself as much as I can just prior to dancing.

Q - Who is your favourite Irish dancer currently?

A - There is no way that I could choose just one Irish dancer who I admire, so here is a list: Alliyah O’Hare, Lochlan Howard, Orla Godley and Brigid O’Connor. I love watching them dance as they all make it look so effortless, as well as having amazing sounds and timing.

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

A - Building up to a big event such as the Worlds I train 5 days a week for approximately 3 to 4 hours each day to build up fitness, refine any parts of my steps I’m not comfortable with, and overall just dance to the best of my ability.

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

A - As well as Irish I train in other styles of dance such as jazz, ballet, contemporary, tap, hip hop etc. I think that this has definitely given me a bit of an edge in my dancing and especially because I have been doing it over such a long period of time, things have definitely been able to merge together to assist with my Irish.

Q - What’s your Irish dance teacher like?

A - My teachers are very good with the tough love that constantly encourages me as they are all pushing me beyond my comfort zone. They always know what I am capable of and only want me to do my best.

Q - How would you describe your Irish dance school?

A - Well having the pleasure to share schools in both Australia at Scoil Rince Creer and in England with McGahan Lees, both schools are much like big families. They look out for each dancer and at the same time everyone in each class can bounce ideas off each other and build on their own dancing.

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

A – In the future I would love to try and win as many major competitions and worlds as I can but with Covid that is a little hard at the moment. I would possibly like to dance in a show such as Riverdance or Lord of the Dance or something similar. I feel like that would be an amazing opportunity to perform with amazing dancers.

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

A - A successful dancer needs determination and drive for sure, but they really need to love what they are doing because you don’t want to be putting all your time and energy into something that you don’t love, so having that love, determination, and drive will definitely assist you on your journey to becoming the best.

Q - What do you feel when you are on stage?

A - Before going on stage I feel a mixture of nerves and focus because it is always scary to put yourself on stage to be judged, but when I am on stage and about to perform I feel nothing but determination to perform exceptionally well and put on a show for everyone to enjoy.

Q - What would you say is your biggest strength as an Irish dancer?

A - My biggest strength would have to be how much of a perfectionist I am, which is also my biggest weakness because I know exactly what I need to do and how things should look. Another strength of mine would be that I’m always looking for something else to push me to do something that no one has seen before — to push my limits when performing on stage.

Q - What would you say is your biggest weakness as an Irish dancer?

A - My biggest weakness as I said is that I am a perfectionist, because I'm always looking critically at things and knowing that things could be better. I am also extremely hard on myself when I don’t do things to my expectations which often leads to me being a bit negative; I am in the process of overcoming this however.

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

A - Some tips I would have for young dancers would be to always be in love with what you're doing, never give up too easily; there is always a way to do something if you struggle and if you want something don’t let anything get between you and what you want to achieve.

Q - Share with the Irish dancing world something they will not know about you?

A - Something that people may not know about me is that I am the biggest neat freak in the world; like everything needs to be completely clean and everything has a place and if it's slightly off it can drive me crazy.

FEIS App is incredibly proud to call Liam Costello our dancer of the month. Liam has scaled to the very top and yet still focuses more on his love for Irish dance than anything else. This love for his art form has pulled him through all the tough times that come with a busy Irish dancing calendar and even now, a year into a global pandemic, Liam’s desire to dance burns as strong as it ever has. A terrific role model for all dancers, Liam is not just a fantastic ambassador for the Australian Irish dance community but an incredible ambassador for all involved in Irish dance. Liam once set himself the goal of winning every major possible in one dancing season. Will we see him achieve that? Will Liam win more All Ireland and World titles? Will we see him become a TCRG one day and grace the stage with champions of his own? Only time will tell. But for now, huge congratulations to Liam and all at the McGahan Lees Creer School. We can’t wait to see how Liam’s journey unfolds.