Irish dancing has changed a lot in recent years. It has become the most athletic, technical, and explosive it has ever been. If there’s one dancer who is the embodiment of this, it’s 21-year-old Orla Godley. The multi-title champion from Chicago displays a strength and power that is seamlessly matched by grace and elegance the very next round. Her style is unmistakable – it demands your attention.
Despite the titles behind her and the overwhelming praise she receives from her dancing peers, she is truly humble above all else. “I definitely wouldn’t really think of myself as [having a] distinct style or anything like that,” she says. “If someone’s gonna go out of their way to tell me that they like the way I dance, it means so much to me.”
Irish dancing is very much in Orla’s blood. Her mom, aunt, two uncles (all siblings), her brother, and cousin teach together at Mullane Godley Irish Dance where she trains – as a result, she believes some aspects did come naturally to her when she started dancing aged three. “I definitely used to walk on my toes when I was a little kid. And I had nice natural arches,” she says. “I definitely worked hard for it. But I think a lot of things came natural to me.” Despite dancing from such a young age in a family of Irish dancers, she says her family never put pressure on her, but rather encouraged her to be the best she could.
“I wanted to go back to dance and love dance for what it was”
Orla Godley
But being a World Champion wasn’t the goal until she watched her older brother John win the Worlds when she was eight-years-old. “Watching him put so much work into it made me want to be just like him,” she says. “So from then on, I don’t think I ever told anyone or said it out loud. But that was always a dream.” For a while, Orla danced at a level that many would only dream of. At her first Worlds in Belfast 2012 she got 14th. “I remember feeling like that was the greatest feeling ever. I worked so hard for it,” she says. At the 2013 Worlds in Boston she got 7th, so the following year in London, she had her sights on the top five. “I would never say it out loud. I would always keep it to myself, I wouldn’t want to jinx myself.”
Despite dealing with wig malfunctions and a dress that didn’t fit, she not only got top five, but she became a World Champion. “I understood what being a World Champion was, but I was so in shock that I didn’t know how to control myself,” she says. “I didn’t know how to actually live in the moment. But looking back on it, it was one of the feelings I’ll never forget.” She won the Worlds again in 2018 and got second in 2019.
In January 2020, Orla announced her retirement on Instagram. “Extremely grateful for dance and all the opportunities it gave me. excited for what’s next,” she wrote. The reason stemmed partly from struggles with her body image, something she had been candid about on her fitness Instagram. “I just went to college that year, and I was having trouble with my body image,” she says. “I couldn’t stand looking at myself getting bigger with school and stuff. So I decided to take a step back.” She tried helping teach dance for a while, but couldn’t help but feel like she didn’t finish on a good note. “I wanted to be able to go back to dance and love dance for what it was…I wanted to go back and dance because of why I started dance.”
“There’s more to life than being this perfect dancer body or image that everyone thinks of”
Orla Godley
Being an elite dancer brings unique pressures to remain at peak fitness at all times. “I think a lot of people struggle with body image,” Orla says. “It’s very normal, but no one really talks about it. We get judged on how we walk, how we look, how our legs look. But when you’re being judged constantly, it’s so hard to look at yourself in the mirror and think that you could be the best version of yourself when people keep putting you down.” She remembers one incident at high school that stuck with her. “I was at lunch one day and I was eating a sandwich. I was about to eat the second half of my sandwich, and one of my friends was like ‘well, you’re a dancer, you shouldn’t eat the second half of your sandwich.’” she recalls. “So since that day that’s what stuck with me. For like three years I always thought about that.” Orla convinced herself that she could only eat certain foods so she could live up to the expectations of being a World Champion.
The realisation that this was a problem came when she noticed that her days revolved around food – what she would eat, when, and how she would schedule it in. “I started to realise that was not healthy, obviously my family started to realise it.” She started seeing a sports psychologist, which helped her realise that even as a top level dancer, you can enjoy food and stay fit. “I think taking a step back from dance and talking to someone about it really made me realise that there’s more to life than being this perfect dancer body or image that everyone thinks of,” she says. “Although everyone goes through it, I think it should be normalised and talked about so all these little kids don’t have to go through it.”
“Even if you don’t see the light right now, you will get there”
The truth is, being a World Champion is not plain sailing. “When I was little, I always had problems with people watching me and getting on stage,” she says. “Then when I won Worlds in 2014, the following year, I couldn’t bring myself to compete on the stage, I didn’t want to do it. I was so nervous about anything anyone would say. So I think I had to learn that I was doing this for myself, and no one else.”
It was important for her to remember that regardless of her performance or results, she earned her spot there. “Just like everyone else, you’re on the World stage, you’re on the regional stage or on a national stage, you’re on the feis stage for a reason, you deserve to be there. And no one can tell you that you don’t deserve to be there or that you’re not good enough.” She adds that having the title means that she is held to a high standard in her education too. “They definitely put you up there because of being a World Champion,” she says. “But it was just one day out of my life.”
It was a trip to the All Irelands in February 2019 that made her realise how much she missed dance. So she started to dance on her own. No classes, no competition, no pressure – just her and her shoes. “I focused on bringing myself to realise why I love dance,” she says. This allowed her to find a healthy way back into competing where she could be confident she was doing it for all the right reasons. She quickly found her feet again and has since won both Nationals and Regionals. With a plan to continue competing in the near future before ultimately doing her TCRG exam to teach with her family, she also wants people to know that these achievements can become a reality for anyone. “If you have a dream, you can make the dream come true. You have to prioritise certain things and make sure you put everything you have into it because it will be worth it in the end. Even if you don’t see the light right now, you will get there.”
Follow Orla on Instagram.
