How Irish Dance has helped Jude Hare overcome limitations

Autism isn’t holding him back on the big stage!

When Jude Hare was eight years old, he was the only dancer competing in the special child division at a Feis. He earned first place.

On the way home his mother, Michelle Hare, enthusiastically congratulated him.

But Jude wasn’t as excited. “I really didn’t win though, they just gave it to me,” Jude told Michelle. “I didn’t actually compete against anyone.”

Jude pictured at his first feis - he loved Irish Dance but was not happy about dancing in the "Special" competition

Jude has autism, a developmental disability that impacts a person’s social skills, communication and relationships.

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NAIL Your Stage Presence!

Riverdance Star Amymae Dolan Shares TIPS for Dancers on how to NAIL your stage presence!

Stage presence can be a mysterious thing, sometimes we watch a dancer walk on stage and we are immediately captivated, sometimes not realising why.

A dancer’s stage presence draws your eye and makes you excited to watch them; it also makes it very hard as an audience member to stop watching them!

When deciding to write about stage presence it got me thinking about specific dancers I adored observing, what had they all in common? Somehow by only watching them on stage I felt like I had an insight into their own individual personality and that I believe is one of the most important aspects of stage presence - allowing your unique identity to come through in your performance.

We often question whether stage presence is inherited, an innate power which we would all love.

In some ways this is true some dancers seem to naturally ooze a presence on stage whilst others must spend time developing and perfecting it. The good news is that, finding your individual stage presence when you don’t think you have one is very possible. One of the main aspects in which we can all, always grow is CONFIDENCE.

Pictured: Amymae during her competitive dancing days

As dancers, a lot of us have a great confidence in our every day lives. Dancing in-front of audiences and competing often helps us grow a confidence which has so many benefits to our lives outside of dance. However, put us in a large group of dancers and those with a strong belief in themselves and a greater confidence will stand out from the crowd.

There are many things we can do in our training to develop our confidence.

First being very comfortable with your choreography and believing you worked your very hardest. Also, knowing you have a strong stamina to get through an entire dance at the best of your ability and having adequately prepared your mindset so that nerves as well as other factors will not effect your confidence are all important in ultimately having a strong stage presence.