Michaela Hinds (born 1995)[1] is an Irish-Canadian Irish dancer, the most awarded North American in the history[2] of the An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha's Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne (Irish Dancing World Championships). She retired from competition in 2017, after her seventh win.
Biography
editHinds began Irish dance at age three-and-a-half,[3] winning her first competition in 2003.[4]
Hinds' first world championship win came in 2009 at Philadelphia,[4] the first year that the event was held outside of Ireland. She retired from competition in 2017, citing the wear and tear on her body; in 2016, she danced on a foot that was in the midst of healing from multiple fractures.
Hinds won twelve Eastern Canadian Championships, ten North American Championships, four Great British Championship, two All Scotland Championships, four All Ireland Championships,[3] and seven World Championships. She is listed by the Ireland Canada Monument Society for her contributions to dance; the monument is planned for Wainborn Park in Vancouver.[5]
One of her dance instructors suggested to CBC in 2017 that Hinds' streak played a part of increasing the global popularity of the style.[citation needed]
She was a Mayfield Secondary School student, and studied Irish dance at the Butler-Fearon-O'Connor School of Irish Dancing in Brampton.[4] She now studies kinesiology at Sheridan College.
References
edit- ^ "236 Michaela Hinds – World Championship Irish Dancer. Archived 2017-06-16 at the Wayback Machine"
- ^ Deana Sumanac-Johnson, "Canadian Irish dancing champ wins 7th world title in Dublin", CBC News, 15 April 2017.
- ^ a b Emma Kerson, "Red Lion: Q & A with Irish dancer Michela Hinds", The Dance Current, 3 April 2017.
- ^ a b c QMI Agency,"Canadian wins Irish dance title", London Free Press (London ON) 3 April 2010.
- ^ Martha Perkins, "Which Irish monument design for Vancouver park do you prefer?", Vancouver Courier, 12 April 2017.