On Thanksgiving weekend, as many families were celebrating over a traditional feast and spending time with loved ones, thousands of dancers from Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware were headed to downtown Philadelphia for the annual Mid-Atlantic Regional Irish Dance Championships.

This year, the Paloma School of Irish Dance sent 32 competitors, two of whom won the title of Regional Champion. Two others were fourth and fifth in their competitions as well.

Jase Lawrence of Conestoga won the Boys' Under 8 Championship, qualifying him for the National Championships this year in Montreal, Quebec. At 8 years old, he is still too young to attend the World Championships, but he has attended the All-Scotland Championships twice in Glasgow, Scotland, and the American National Championships this past year in Phoenix, where he placed third.

Jase attends the Montessori Academy of Lancaster and takes fiddle lessons. He hopes to dance professionally someday and already performs regularly with the Paloma Performance Troupe as a lead dancer. Videos of his dancing have gone viral on Instagram and TikTok, garnering tens of thousands of views.

Malakye Wilson of New Cumberland won the Men's Under 19 Championship, qualifying him for two more events: the National Championships in Montreal and the 2022 World Championships in Belfast, Ireland.

Now age 19, Malakye began dancing at age 8 and inspired the rest of his siblings to dance. Now, five of his eight siblings take classes at the Paloma School of Irish Dance. Malakye is a freshman at HACC, Central Pennsylvania's Community College, and his dream is to dance professionally and become a writer. He enjoys teaching young dancers and has performed regularly with the Paloma Performance Troupe as a lead dancer. Malakye qualified for the World Championships in 2019 and 2021, although the event was canceled both years due to COVID. He placed ninth at the American National Championships this year in Phoenix.

Aiden Ketner, an eighth-grader in the Manheim Township School District, placed fourth in the Boys' Under 14 division. This placement qualifies him for the National Championships and the World Championships. Since the pandemic began, Aiden rose to the challenge of learning new choreography remotely over Zoom. Despite this adjustment, Aiden now dances at the championship level. In the future, he hopes to dance professionally and own his own Irish dance studio.

Liam Snodgress, a seventh-grader at Manheim Township Middle School, placed fifth in the Boys' Under 13 division. This placement qualifies him for the National Championships and the World Championships. Liam only entered the championship level in February 2021 and achieved a 17th-place finish at the National Championships in Phoenix in July 2021. Liam performs regularly with the Paloma Performance Troupe.

Videos of Irish dance competitions are prohibited; however, readers can see videos of the boys dancing on the Paloma Instagram page and TikTok channel in casual performance numbers or see them live in the Paloma Performance Troupe, which presents various performances around Lancaster throughout the year, from the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire Celtic Weekend to St. Patrick's Day performances at downtown Lancaster pubs. Information on upcoming shows is available on the Paloma Facebook page.