Rising to challenge: Breandan and Cameron show their winning moves. Picture: Michael Copp
BREANDAN and Cameron Henderson, of Glenroy, have danced their way to success, winning the World Irish Dancing Champions' crown.
The brothers have just returned home after competing in the world championships in Belfast, Ireland, last month.
It was their first trip overseas.
Proud mother Kim Henderson says the boys, aged 14 and 15, were following in her footsteps in their passion for Irish dancing.
"They've been dancing for nine years," she says. "I did it myself for 12 years. Having boys, I didn't think they'd want to do it, but they love it and they have a natural ability.
"Probably a long way down the track there's a bit of Irish and Scottish background on both sides. I think it was more a fact of something that because I did it, they'd give it a go.
"I was definitely not as good as they are; they've worked extremely hard."
Breandan and Cameron, in years 10 and 11, respectively, at Penola Catholic School in Broadmeadows, trained six days a week on top of juggling schoolwork.
They went to Ireland with two teams of 16 from an Irish dance school in Essendon and competed as part of a team and individually.
Cameron says: "It wasn't expected we'd do so well. It was the first time ever that an Australian team has won."
He says it was hard work leading up to the championships as they pushed on through injuries. "It's a lot of dedication, it's very hard. We would do six days a week, six hours on a Sunday and four hours on a Saturday.
"I think the hardest thing is just getting everyone to look exactly the same in everything you do, getting everyone dancing in unison.
"You've got to get over the injuries because there's a whole team of people relying on you to be there."
Ms Henderson says they never expected to win.
"We weren't expecting a huge amount of success. It was more for the experience, so to come away with two world medals is just amazing."
It's back to normal life for the boys now, but they will continue training for the next world championships to be held in the US next year.