While they were stomping on stages worldwide, dancing in patterns perfectly synchronous with each other and with the spirited Irish music filling their auditoriums, Claudia—then just 3—was watching the Riverdance videotape over and over again on her family's VCR.

Not content simply to watch, Claudia started making up her own traditional Irish dance routines right in front of the TV, according to her mother, Anne Walsh.

"I thought they were so cool! I wanted to be like them," Claudia says, thinking back to her first impressions. "I kind of just shuffled my feet around. If I remembered the steps, I'd put them in, too. Sometimes, if something comes into my head, I'll just do it!"

Although Anne says she initially hoped Claudia's interest might be engaged by something like piano playing, she quickly recognized her daughter's flair for Irish dancing, and she encouraged it. She now wonders if her 4-year-old son Eoghan (pronounced "Owen") might begin picking up on the family's Celtic rhythms, too.

"The way it was when I was growing up, it wasn't very well-organized," Anne says of the dance classes available to her in County Derry, Ireland, where she grew up. "Claudia picked Irish dancing. I didn't pick it for her. I think it makes a big difference in kids' motivation if they choose what they're going to do rather than being pushed into something."

While Claudia's father, Noel Walsh, says he was never interested in dancing as a youth in Dublin, Ireland, he did play competitive soccer and rugby, and he wonders if perhaps his daughter inherited some of her stamina from him.

"My mother used to dance, though," he adds. "When she saw Claudia dance at her first feis [a local competition], she loved it! Anything to do with Irish music or dancing, my mother loves."

There was no deferring the lure of her Irish roots, so by age 5 Claudia had enrolled at the Golden-Greene School of Irish Dance, based in the South Bay. It's an excellent school, Anne says, but Claudia eventually switched to the Sean Gavan Irish Dance Company in Newark. After seeing them at various competitions, Claudia liked the Sean Gavan costumes and dancing styles, while Anne liked that the group seemed to offer more chances to travel and compete.

"When I started dancing, I wasn't really expecting it to be hard or easy. At first it was a little confusing," Claudia says, while Anne adds, "The first few steps are hard, until you get the hang of it."

The four basic steps beginning dancers must master, mother and daughter explain, are known as cuts, jump-2-3s, hop-2-3-4-5-6-7s and "kicking your butt"—the latter a swift backwards kick in which a dancer's heel taps her own rear end.

"If you don't know those, you might as well not do Irish dancing!" Claudia asserts of the four skills that give rise to others.

Using these steps and many more, Claudia and her fellow students learn a variety of different dances and routines from their instructors. The majority of Irish dances fall into the categories of reels, jigs and hornpipes, she says, and they usually run between one and three minutes each.

When Claudia comments that she isn't sure if she always remembers the dances correctly, Anne disagrees, smiling at her blonde daughter. "She picks up the steps fast! I don't think she ever forgets. The challenge for her is more in perfecting the steps," Anne explains.

That perfecting and practicing paid off this November, when Claudia placed fifth in the Western U.S. Irish Dancing Championships in Phoenix, Ariz. She competed with 40 other top Irish dancers from 10 Western states and is now qualified to compete in the U.S. national championships in Nashville, Tenn., this coming summer. It's the country's largest Irish dancing event.

On the local level, Claudia gives solo and group performances at school and community festivals, St. Patrick's Day events, retirement homes and even a pub. Although planning to continue Irish dancing indefinitely, she says with a giggle, "I don't think I'll be able to do it as a job."

When she grows up, Claudia says, what she really aspires to be is a veterinarian. In the meantime, she stays busy at Saratoga Elementary School, where she is in the third grade and particularly enjoys math, geography and P.E. In her free time, she also likes swimming and skiing.