MANSFIELD — Ross Pruett-Miller is small for his age, but the St. Peter’s sixth grader is a giant in Irish dance circles.
Pruett-Miller and his family left Tuesday for Glasgow, Scotland and the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and the 2016 World Championships of Irish Dance.
It all started when Allison Pruett and her husband David Miller took their children, Rowan, 13, and Ross Pruett-miller, 11, to the Dublin Irish Festival for a family outing, they had no idea how much the spectacle of children Irish dancing would affect their children.
On their way out, Ross and Rowan asked their parents if they could watch just one more performance of children Irish dancing.
“The crowd was all around,” said Miller. “You couldn’t even see the stage. An announcement by the Millennium Instructor was made asking children to sit in a spot closer to the stage, so Ross and Rowan went.”
Ross and Rowan were more than intrigued. Miller said they rushed back with excitement after a summer camp was announced at Millennium Academy of Irish Dance and Music in Worthington and wanted to sign up.
The Pruett-miller siblings had done ballet, tap, jazz and hip-hop dance at Richland Academy since they were about five-years old.
In 2011, Ross and Rowan Pruett-Miller began Irish dancing — and stopped doing other dances because of time restrictions. He has reached the highest level of competitive Irish dancing (championship level) in a year and a half, and As of Monday, March 14, Ross is ranked no. 22 in the world among 11-year old Irish dancers. Now for the second year in a row, Ross is competing among the best dancers in the sport. His sister, Rowan, has competed at the North American Championships, but because of her involvement with other extra curricular activities she does not have enough time to dedicate to the sport, she said.
At Millennium, Ross is the sole male dancer at his level, to which he said is different — in a good way.
“You get a little bit more one-on-one because I am a boy. And because I am small I need to be like, ‘Look at me! Proud and loud,’” Ross said stomping his feet and sitting up tall, making his family sitting on both ends of the bench laugh.
Ross competes on stage with other dancers, but he shares the stage with competitors, he said. His two competition stages, soft shoe and hard shoe (similar to a tap shoe) rounds, he competes against one other boy, but with different dance steps.
“He could be dancing with someone from Ireland, England, Australia, anywhere,” Miller said. “When he does his hard shoe round, there are three dancers, again they’re each competitors. The judicators are watching them and judging them on what they see.”
Ross also competes in the Mid-America Oireachtas each November. To round out his three major annual events — Mid-America Oireachtas each November, North American National Championships each July and World Championships of Irish Dance each week before Easter. He also participates in smaller competitions called Feiseanna events to keep up national ranking throughout the United States.
Because of his success at the North American National Championships, Ross is preparing for his second-consecutive World Championships competition beginning March 20 in Scotland. The World Championships, or “Super Bowl of Irish Dancing” as Ross calls it, is the most prestigious event in the world of Irish dance — less than one percent of the world’s best dancers qualify for the competition.
Dancers from every continent (minus Antarctica) must qualify to be apart of the event. Ross qualified at the North American National Championships held in July. More of his accolades include qualifying for competition at the All-Scotland Championships, All-Ireland Championships and All-England Championships. He was ranked No. 1 in Mid-America in 2013, now ranked No. 5 and no. 9 in North America.
Last year, Ross made his first appearance at the World Championships in Montreal, Canada.
“I was excited. I didn’t know if I should be totally excited. I didn’t know if I should be scared or nervous at all,” Ross said.
At Montreal, he finished 27th in his division, saying he had a good first round and a decent second.
“It was the first time I saw him really nervous,” added Pruett.
The excitement for competing in Scotland is not the only thing for which Ross and his family are eager. Scotland will be the youngster’s first journey overseas.
“I like traveling and seeing places and meeting new people,” Ross said.
His mother said because many of his dance competitors have been in step with him for so long, backstage the competitors are friends, which helps.
“The boys all know each other; they compete against each other a lot. Even though it’s a competition, they aren’t grouchy or competitive with each other off the stage. They have a good time,” His mother said.
“Our group is one big family,” Ross said in agreement.
Despite the fancy footwork, Ross is a normal, energetic sixth grader at St. Peter’s. He plays soccer, basketball, baseball, and participates in academic challenge, while playing the saxophone in band. He has performed in St. Peter’s productions of “Sound of Music,” “Annie” and later this spring, “The Music Man.”
“I think he was just born with a lot of energy. It doesn’t seem to be decreasing either. (He’s) as active as ever,” Pruett added.
He still finds time to practice Irish dance two to three nights a week in Worthington.
“When I get to relax at home, it’s like a present.” Ross said.
