Gavin and Graham Melton pursue Irish dancing<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like a swan, Irish dancers keep their upper bodies perfectly still and perform a rush of kicks using their strong legs and core. Irish dancing to music in the form of reels, jigs, and hornpipes is a colorful, cultural activity with Celtic roots dating back centuries. Being successful in this artistic endeavor requires dedicating a significant amount of time and energy to practicing. Seniors Gavin and Graham Melton have been dancing since childhood and have now reached the upper echelon of Irish dancing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Melton brothers practiced Irish dancing together far before they even knew their times tables. \u201cGraham and I started Irish dancing when we were four. My grandmother was the dance teacher, and I just went to class one day,\u201d said Gavin Melton. The boys started competing young, maybe a bit too young. \u201cMy first competition was in 2014, and I got third place. Graham competed with me, but he got distracted mid-performance and just stopped dancing,\u201d said Gavin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last summer, the Melton brothers traveled to Grapevine, Texas, to compete in the North American Irish Dance Championship (NAIDC), an international competition. Gavin placed 17th in what he called \u201cthe biggest competition I\u2019ve ever done.\u201d But the boys didn\u2019t stop there. \u201cMy second biggest competition was the Oireachtas, an annual regional Irish dance competition. I placed 6th, and Graham placed 5th, which qualified Graham for the World Championships in April.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Graham feels excited and anxious about the upcoming championship in Dublin, Ireland. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of pressure. The Oireachtas qualifier was in December, and since then, I\u2019ve just had the impending feeling of the competition coming,\u201d said Graham. \u201cIt\u2019s been stressful but exciting, as not many people can say they\u2019ve been to a world championship competition for Irish dance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Out of all the world\u2019s Irish dancers in the under-17 age group, only a select group gets the privilege to compete in this huge event. \u201cEven if I get last place, I\u2019ll be around top 40 in the world,\u201d said Graham. Graham ended up placing 26th in the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On April 10th, 2025, Graham was able to secure some practice for the looming event. Graham, Gavin and freshman Ledger Nicholson performed together at the CHS intramural finals. “They looked like they were floating,” said junior Alejandro Haislop-Rodriguez. “I liked the performance a lot.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not only have they earned spots in top-tier competitions, but they have also earned scholarship money. Overall, Gavin has won $59,000 and Graham has earned $63,000 for the University of the Ozarks. The Melton brothers rehearsed for years to earn thousands of dollars for a short video. \u201cIt was one dance, which took about three minutes to record,\u201d said Graham. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Meltons do not have to compete in Irish dance to retain their scholarships, and their future in the art of Irish dance remains open. But wherever and whenever they dance, they bring joy to everyone watching. \u201cWe recently performed live at a library for children, which made their day. We perform at hospitals and nursing homes as well,\u201d said Gavin. Even without the competitive edge, the Melton brothers know their time in Irish dance will never really end. \u201cIt\u2019s not only to dance better but also to connect yourself to other people and have fun,\u201d said Gavin. <\/p>\n
Gavin and Graham Melton pursue Irish dancing Like a swan, Irish dancers keep their upper bodies perfectly still and perform a rush of kicks using their strong legs and core. Irish dancing to music in the form of reels, jigs, and hornpipes is a colorful, cultural activity with Celtic roots dating back centuries. Being successful…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":9871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[215,97],"tags":[225,192],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/liftoffnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/18711972111_13afb5c6e1_o.jpeg?fit=1632%2C1224&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3xfZw-2zc","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9870"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9870"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9872,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9870\/revisions\/9872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}