A CHILDHOOD love of Riverdance has grown into an Irish dance company in Bristol, with founder Katie Smith now teaching around 60 dancers across six weekly classes.
Smith first discovered Irish dance when she was just five years old after watching Riverdance during the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994.
“I just absolutely fell in love with it,” she said. “I loved the music and the dancing and just how in sync they all were.”
After spending a couple of years asking her parents to take her to classes, Smith finally got her wish and quickly became hooked.
She spent her childhood and teenage years dancing at a local school in Bristol before deciding to take the sport more seriously at the age of 19.
Within a couple of years, Smith was competing in international competitions and went on to qualify for the World Championships four times.
Her final appearance at the championships came in 2014, in London.
Smith was also part of a close-knit group who would create their own choreography and perform at weddings and big events like the SS Great Britain and celebrations organised by the Irish Society.
“It was a really special group to be part of, because I was dancing with my best friends and getting to perform for people,” she said.
The Horizon Irish Dance Company in their studio in central Bristol (Photo by Horizon Dance Company)But Smith always wanted to do more, and in March 2019 she decided to start her own Irish dance company, Horizon.
“There are not many solely adult dance schools around, which is what I wanted Horizon to be,” she explained.
The name Horizon was chosen to reflect the company's focus.
“I wanted something that represented looking forward. That name to me really captured that kind of aspiration and that progress,” Smith said.
In the beginning the classes attracted only around 10 to 12 people.
But during the Covid lockdown, Horizon exploded in popularity.
“I was actually able to do the classes online over Zoom, which is not something I ever expected to do,” she said.
She increased the schedule to two classes a week, even introducing breakout rooms so dancers could work on choreography together.
Horizon likes to keep the dancers on their toes (Photo by Horizon Dance Company)When classes returned to the studio at the end of 2021, Horizon introduced a separate class dedicated to performance choreography for its most committed dancers.
Horizon now has around 60 dancers attending six classes each week, with four different ability levels.
Smith said separating dancers by ability was important.
“I want people to feel challenged but not too much and that they are surrounded by people of a similar ability,” she said.
The company has since performed at a number of high-profile events, including an appearance on ITV for Cheltenham Races this year.
Horizon has two big performances in Bristol coming up.
The company is set to appear as guest performers at Motion Masters on December 13, followed by a performance at Spin City on January 30.
The Horizon dancers during a St Patrick's Day event in Bristol (Photo by Horizon Dance Company)The dancers will also take part in the West of England Irish events in March as part of the St Patrick's Day celebrations.
And for anyone considering trying Irish dancing for the first time, she has some advice.
“Even though it looks hard and it looks fast, if you take that leap and come to your first class, you are surrounded by really supportive people, and you'll learn things step by step,” she said.
Thirty years after Riverdance first captured her imagination, Smith is helping a new generation find their feet in Irish dancing.
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