Tricia McCarthy teaches
at the Bradley Academy of Irish Dancing.

This dress was worn
by one of her pupils
for dancing competitions.

Tricia talks about Irish dancing:

"There are all sorts of dances;
the reel, the soft jig,
the slip jig, the heavy jig,
the hornpipe, figure dancing
and set dancing.
A lot of the set dances
are based on events from years gone by
or places in Ireland.

To be a really good dancer,
you've got to work really hard at it
and practice all of the time.
However,
I do think you gain a lot from it.

At times we all doubt ourselves,
so its very, very important
to have some self-confidence,
to know where you've come from
and where you're heading to."

Tricia McCarthy began Irish dancing
when she was nine.
She lived in Thornton Heath
with her parents
but her grandparents lived in Ireland.

Tricia set up her own school
in her mother's kitchen.
She now runs Irish dancing classes
and her pupils have won
many national competitions.
This dancing dress is embroidered
with designs
taken from the Book of Kells,
a famous Irish manuscript.
Each dress is different
with designs chosen
to reflect the individual dancer.

This sound clip was created during the
I Am Here project. The group of 14-24
year olds selected objects close to their
heart that also said something about identity.

I Am Here is part of Stories of the World,
one of the major projects at the heart of the
London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

"Hello I'm Stacey Nurse and I will be talking
to you about a student's dance dress.

To me the dress symbolises how dance has
changed and how things can change in a short
space of time. I like the dress because the
designs on the dress are designed especially
for the individual dancer to portray their
personality.

The dress relates to me because I used to

dance and when you dance you have to wear
particular costumes depending on how you
can dance in them and how they will look and
depending on the music. Nowadays when you
dance you don't wear dresses, you wear tank
tops, baggy trousers, leotards, jazz trousers,
but back then for Irish dancing you wore an
Irish dancing dress.

Even though I like the dress, I don't think I'd
would wear it, for anything. I like dancing
because you can portray your emotions through
your dance, unlike other activities. It helps you
keep fit, it helps you to portray how you feel
and you just have fun.

Nowadays girls when they dance are dressed
more like boys and some boys dress like girls
when they dance, such as: The New Boys and
Audio Bush, in the way that they wear girls'

skinny jeans to do street dancing. Now when
girls do street dancing they wear baggy trousers
and tank tops. I have been Stacey Nurse and I
hope you've enjoyed my podcast about how
it was then and how it is now."