Bella Rogers’ devotion to Irish dance has taken her around the world. It’s propelled her to competitions throughout the United States and Canada and across the pond in England, Ireland, and Scotland. But it all started when a 5-year-old Rogers took her very first Irish dance class at the invitation of a neighbor. “I immediately fell in love with the sport,” she says. “I loved the creativity of it.”
Rogers, 19, lives in Pickerington with her parents, Amber and Todd Rogers, members of Lancaster-based South Central Power Company, and her brothers, Brycen and Bennett. She says her family has always been supportive of her journey in Irish dance, a traditional dance form she describes as “a mix of ballet and tap.”
When a young Rogers realized how much she enjoyed dancing, she began taking lessons with instructor Joseph Moriarty at the ML Dance Academy in Reynoldsburg. She saw a production of the Riverdance Irish dancing spectacular when she was about 10 years old. (Moriarty is a former principal of the show.) “I loved it,” she says. “It was amazing. I thought, I want to be in that someday.”
In 2017, she began dancing at the Academy in Westerville, where she currently studies with instructors and World Irish Dance champions Byron Tuttle, a former Lord of the Dance and Feet of Flames dancer, and Edward Searle, a former Riverdance dancer. Since the studio moved to Westerville from Birmingham, England, in 2011, dancers who have trained at the Academy have won 25 World Irish Dancing championships in both the solo and team sections. “I’m very lucky to have a school so great so close,” Rogers says.
Irish dancers often take part in layers of competitions; Rogers has been competing solo and in teams for the past 10 years. There are local competitions called feis (in the Irish language), regional competitions called Oireachtas, and larger competitions, including the North American Nationals, called majors. If a dancer scores high enough in a major competition, he or she can qualify to compete in the World Championships, or Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne, which are usually held in Ireland or Scotland.
During competition season, Rogers rehearses every day, including weekends. One of the perks of her intense rehearsal schedule, she says, is the friendships the dancers form. Rogers describes some of her favorite moments as “being with my friends, my dance family, traveling, getting to celebrate together.” Once female dancers reach a certain level of competition, she says, they wear elaborate, custom-made competition dresses with long sleeves and short skirts, often made in Ireland. To save themselves the trouble of repeatedly styling their hair in ringlet curls, female dancers, including Rogers, often wear “bun” wigs or full wigs while competing.
In Irish dance, the focus is on footwork and high kicks; dancers maintain a strict posture and keep their arms at their sides. To perform more rhythmic dances such as the hornpipe and treble jig, dancers wear “heavy” shoes with fiberglass tips and heels, similar to tap shoes. They wear “light” or soft shoes, like ballet slippers, to perform the reel and the slip jig.
During her years of competition, Rogers has steadily progressed, improving her solo rankings with every contest. In 2024, she won titles at the Mid-America Oireachtas and the North American Nationals — both cherished highlights of her career. But her top stand-out moment, she says, was ranking second in her age group at the 2024 World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. “I never imagined that I would get something like that,” she says.
Rogers will compete in Dublin, Ireland, at the 2025 World Championships in April, and will also dance in another Dublin — at the annual Dublin (Ohio) Irish Festival from August 1 to 3. “I’ve danced at [the Ohio festival] for seven years now with my dance school,” Rogers says. “We perform show routines choreographed by one of our instructors, Byron Tuttle, as well as routines from the famous Lord of the Dance and Riverdance. It’s always exhilarating getting to dance for such large crowds that really get into the performances.”
Later in August, Rogers will head back to Ireland to attend a weeklong session at the Riverdance Summer School, which doubles as an audition process for the iconic stage show. Students will rehearse with Riverdance professional dancers and, at the end of the week, perform in a showcase for family and friends. Students who have excelled during the session will also perform several group numbers with the professional dancers. If they do particularly well, they may be hired to join a professional Riverdance tour — a prospect that makes Rogers grin excitedly. “I would love to tour professionally,” she says. “It would be a dream, doing what I love most.”
