06-11-2023 Capital Style - Flipbook - Page 66
BY REBECCA RITZEL Capital Style
S
ometimes even a champion needs a
few pointers.
“Do you see how Kendall brings the
drama, Izzie?” Irish dance instructor
John Lawrence Morgan said one spring night
in his Millersville dance studio. His champion
student, 12-year-old Isabella Renzi, nodded
vigorously, and ran through the steps of her
soft shoe reel again, heels crossing.
“Leap. Up. Down. Twist. Up and slide,”
Morgan said aloud, watching closely as she
finishes with a high straight kick.
This time, Morgan, a veteran of the global
juggernaut Lord of the Dance, is pleased. He
wants expression and perfect phrasing, not just
correct steps. “That’s it,” he said. “Much better.”
Izzie, as she is known at McGrath Morgan
66
| CAPITAL STYLE | Summer 2023
School of Irish Dance, is the reigning North
American champion in her age group for Irish
dance, a title she’ll defend in July when Nashville,
Tennessee hosts the annual competition. She’s
also the champion for a southern regional
competition know as the Oireachtas, and
finished 23rd at the 2023 World Irish Dance
Championships held in Montreal in April.
Not bad for a girl who made the switch from
ballet to Irish dance only four years ago.
“For her to get this far in that amount of time
is amazing,” said Kendall Smith, an admiring
16-year-old from Clarksburg who finished 14th
at the North Americans last year. “I started
when I was 4.”
Izzie tried tap, ballet and jazz at other dance
studios in Anne Arundel County, but decided
to take a break when she was around eight.
Then her older sister signed up for an Irish
dance class, and Izzie tagged along. She was
amazed that even the beginner students were
encouraged to jump, whereas in ballet big leaps
like grand jetés are considered an advance skill.
A week later, Izzie joined the class too, and she
was hooked.
“Ballet was a little slow for me,” she said.
“Irish dance was more exciting. I liked all the
tricks.”
Those high jumps in soft shoes? They are
“like flying across the stage,” Izzie said. And in
hard shoes, she can jump straight up, click her
heels and land on her toes, as if she were Judy
Garland clicking her ruby slippers and wishing,
“There’s no place like Dublin.”
