Twelve-year-old Fiona O'Rorke of Penn Township has qualified for world competition in Irish step dancing.

Fiona O’Rorke of Penn Township will compete on the world stage of Irish step dancing March 30 in Montreal.

The 12-year-old Knoch Middle School student qualified for the world competition at the Mid-America Oireachtas in Minneapolis in November.

Fiona attends classes at the Bell School of Irish Dance in Wexford, where she has been dancing since age 5, the youngest a child can start.

“Her older sister danced and Fiona picked it up,” said her father, Barry. She also dances because of her Irish heritage, her dad said.

Her mother, Laura, who takes her to dance five to six days a week supplemented by Pilates and physical therapy, accompanies her to the feis’ (or competitions) on the weekends.

At the world competition, Fiona will dance one hard shoe number and one soft shoe number in the under-13 age group against about 100 other qualifiers.

She will be performing in front of a panel of seven judges.

Those competitors recalled in the top 50 dancers will perform a hardshoe set for the judges.

Placement is determined on a point system for each individual round.

Dancers will be coming from all over the world, Barry O’Rorke said.

Most of the Irish step dancing is concentrated in Ireland and the United Kingdom, he noted, but there will be girls at the world competition from countries such as Australia and Mexico, as well.

He said Fiona has yet to visit the Emerald Isle, but her dress was handmade in Ireland.

Her dad said she runs the gamut of emotions when she competes. “But she’s pretty mature for her age, and pretty athletic,” he said.

He said she could qualify for next year’s worlds at the national competition held in July in Rhode Island.