Erin-Grace Cooke: “There’s So Much More to Life Than Dancing”

After being crowned the CLRG Senior Ladies world champion in Dublin last year, Erin-Grace Cooke scanned the crowd past crested waves of curls to the sea of people who had carried her there: her teachers, fellow dancers from her school, her best friend, her boyfriend, her sister, and her mum, Denise.

Behind every podium finish are the hours no one sees — practice schedules, training sessions, sacrifices. Erin juggled these commitments while serving as a full-time carer for her mum. After a two-year battle with metastatic breast cancer, Denise passed away just a few months after Erin finally achieved her dream.

Denise had lived with cancer three times. The first diagnosis came in 2009 — the same year as Erin’s first All Ireland Championship — and it returned twice more, in 2017 and 2023. The last recurrence took her mobility, leaving her wheelchair-bound and requiring more intensive care from her family. Yet, the past two years brought mother and daughter even closer together. Moving between doctors’ appointments and the dance studio, their lives became completely intertwined.

“That was as much her win as it was my win,” Erin reflects of her long-awaited World title. “Especially where I was at home the whole time leading up to it, caring for her, it was like we had that dream together.”

Denise was the North Star at the centre of Erin’s dance universe — her biggest supporter and fiercest cheerleader. She was there for the highs — podium placements, injury comebacks, and professional show debuts — but also the lowest points, including the moment when Erin almost walked away from Irish dance entirely. 

Erin first picked up Irish dancing when she was four years old, chasing after her two older sisters who were also dancers with the Hennigan School of Irish Dance in Hertfordshire, England. Like lots of young kids, she was thrown into a range of hobbies, trying anything and everything to see what would stick. Her spirit mirrored her mum, whom Erin describes as a powerhouse who wanted to do everything. 

“She was always kind of very fit — ran and rode horses and did a bit of everything,” Erin says. “Kind of like me in a way,” she adds with a smile, a lifetime of memories reflecting back in her eyes. 

Erin started with Hennigan’s after-school club, and eventually fell head over heels in love with Irish dance on her own. As she got older, she narrowed her focus on Irish dance. Suddenly, it was no longer just her after-school hobby. 

Over the years, Erin developed a striking blend of precision and power in her dancing, from her mesmerising rhythms to effortless leaps and dizzying spins. Each step exudes artistry and athleticism, a difficult balance every Irish dancer strives for. In fact, it was when she started training for dance as a sport that she experienced what she describes as the first major breakthrough of her dance career: placing third at the 2019 Worlds in Greensboro.

“At that point, I had absolutely no expectations and no pressure as such to achieve a certain placement. I think it confirmed, in how improved my result was, that dancing really is a sport. It also made me want to be better, as I now knew what was possible when I was training harder,” Erin says. 

Since then, she has stood on the podium of every Major she has competed at. However, just three short years before, she nearly hung up her ghillies. 

In 2015, Erin made it to the top 10 at the World Championships in Montreal, yet the following year in Glasgow, she didn’t recall. She remembers her mum holding her close, letting her know she was in her corner no matter what: “You can give this all up; you can throw in the towel. I don’t want to watch you go through this,” Denise said. 

“Dancing was my world because it was where I could escape from everything that was going on at home. So, to not recall, at that time, it was everything. I was absolutely gutted. She just didn’t want to watch me go through it again,” Erin says. 

But there was still something pushing her to carry on — a grit and determination Erin says she shared with her mum. “It made me really want to prove everyone wrong. In my head, I just knew I needed to do it — to prove a point.”

Denise was right there with her. During COVID-19 lockdowns, they did HIIT workouts together before Erin would head off to practice her steps. She was fully committed not just to her daughter’s results, but to the hard work behind them. Coming out of Lockdown with a sharper eye for video analysis, Erin began winning Majors more consistently — her second breakthrough. In November 2024, she became a ten-time Oireachtas champion.

But then she hit a roadblock. In the lead-up to 2025, Erin had spent two years consistently winning every Major during competition season — and then placing fourth at Worlds. Though an impressive result in its own right, she was ready to break that pattern and finally tick off that bucket list achievement.

Preparing for the 2025 Worlds brought its own unique challenges as Erin navigated training alongside caregiving. Three months out from the competition, she broke her foot during a performance with the show Celtic Steps. Unable to train in the studio, she redirected her focus to the gym, building strength so that when she finally laced up her shoes again, she could complete full rounds without hesitation.

“Breaking my foot made me realise I had to be viewing dance training holistically, focusing on nutrition, strength, flexibility, recovery, and all elements that I could control outside of dancing itself,” Erin says. “As a dancer, I’ve always thrived mentally after setbacks. I was completely focused and determined to rebuild and come back stronger than ever.”

Caring for her mum at the same time, it turned out, helped more than just her fitness. It gave her life structure — and her dancing a sense of perspective. She would manage daytime duties — doctors’ appointments, support groups, errands, physical care — and then her sister would come home from her day job in London. Erin would switch off and go to dance class. Other dancers and mums at her school noticed it too — the way she showed up, fully present, pouring everything she had into the time she was given.

“It puts everything into perspective,” Erin explains. “You’re lucky to be able to dance, regardless of results or whatever else, to actually have the privilege to go and compete and be able to show up and put in the work. I was just grateful that I had that opportunity.” That renewed sense of gratitude carried her into Worlds. After her set round, she recalls feeling an unfamiliar calm. 

“I’m never completely happy with how I dance because I’m very much a perfectionist. But I came off and thought, could I have danced better? Yeah. But could I have worked harder? No.”

Seeing her mum out in the audience, wearing a bright pink jumper, brought everything into sharp focus. She thought of all those late nights in the gym and studio, along with the countless other ways her mum had supported her along her journey to the top of the podium. “It’s not just the dancer who makes the sacrifices — it’s the parents,” Erin insists. “And the sacrifices she had to make just so I could get a dress or I could get a flight — I couldn’t have asked for anything more than what she did.”

Thinking about the care she and her older sister provided in Denise’s final years, Erin reflects: “It’s just like my mum did, like most dance mums do. It was like we gave that back in the last two years. My sister and I said time and time again — we’d do that for the rest of our lives if it meant keeping her for longer.”

Some time after Worlds, Erin returned to Kerry, where she now lives with her boyfriend, for her fourth season with Celtic Steps. Her mum travelled to see her perform, but Erin remembers that her energy was low and that she didn’t seem quite herself — but she was proud to see her daughter onstage and see the life she was building.

“We had a really lovely week going on walks and just spending a lot of time together. But she said to me, ‘I feel like I’ve come here to die; I’m so at peace.” She passed away on July 4, 2025.

Losing her mum has softened the way Erin moves through the dance world — and the world beyond it. She leads with empathy now, with a deeper awareness that you rarely know what someone else is carrying. “I think we can all be so grateful for our mums, especially in the dance world when we’re in such highly stressful situations,” she says.

Through all of life’s peaks and valleys, she encourages young dancers to be more present both inside and outside of the studio: “Take a moment to soak it all in because one, dancing doesn’t last forever; but two, life’s too short to not.”

And she has truly taken this to heart. Though she has now retired from competition, Erin hasn’t slowed down. She still drops into practice, helps with teaching, and performs with Celtic Steps. She is also working toward a level four strength and conditioning certification, all while balancing studies at a university design program she started back in October, supported by a scholarship recognising her years as a carer.

In all of it, her mum’s presence remains. On her phone, Erin keeps a personal archive of screenshots of messages from her mum telling her how proud she was. She reads them when she needs a push. “That’s kind of my new thing,” she says. “Trying to do things to the best of my ability. Not just for me anymore, but to do her proud.”

Follow Erin on Instagram.

Photography: Lee Simpson Dance Photography
Design: Colleen Falco
Words: Siobhan Cooney
Editor-In-Chief: Hollie Geraghty