ATHENA – The Caledonian Games have a traditional Scottish flavor, but visitors Saturday also received a taste of the Irish through the lightning fast feet and bobbing curly hair of the Tiernan Irish Dancers.

Led by student teacher Bekah Wheeler, 18, the 20 young dancers ranging in age from 5 to 18 from Boise, Idaho, entertained audiences with a variety of traditional Irish music step dancing. The girls were split into beginning and advanced groups, separated by the colors of their shirts and skirts and the quickness of their feet.

“Dancing is a really great way to make friends,” Wheeler said. “It takes a lot of time and determination.”

The dance company performed eight dances, half of which they wore soft leather dance shoes and half of which they stepped into hard leather shoes with acrylic toes and heels for a louder tap sound. These shoes do not have the vibrating heel and toe like a traditional tap shoe, so the sound audiences hear from the shoes is each time the heel or toe of the dancer hits the stage.

“So that’s how fast their feet are really moving,” said Ann Bixby, the mother of dancer Emily, 14, and the performance’s announcer.

The dance, “The a capella,” was the finale of the girls’ first show of the day, in which no music accompanies the dancers. Rather, the sounds of the girls’ shoes tapping in rhythm created an upbeat music.

Learning such complicated footwork takes practice, hard work and determination, Wheeler said. It also helps to have a championship teacher from the world-renowned Trinity Dance Troupe in Chicago, who flies out once a month for back-to-back two-day workshops with the Tiernan Dancers. The Trinity Troupe has won 22 world titles, and is also the Tiernan Dance Company’s sister school.

And of course, practice makes perfect. Some of the more advanced students, Wheeler said, practice as much as three hours every day.

“It’s so much fun,” said Emily Bixby, who also helps teach some of the younger students. “I love helping the kids and teaching them the basics.”

The little ones love it just as much, especially since they get to hang out with the “big girls,” said Izzy Amyx, 5, the youngest of the Tiernan Dancers.

Ann Bixby said having Wheeler teach the other students is important for the girls.

“She’s an excellent role model for our younger girls,” Bixby said. “She really shows them the strength and determination it takes.”

That determination has paid off, and the team travels all over the country and even to Canada, to perform for various schools, festivals and competitions.

“The competitions are a lot of fun,” said dancer Rorie Hand, 13. “I get to go and hang out with all my friends.”

One very distinct item of the dancers’ costume is their big, curly hair that bounces around as much as the dancers do when they perform. That hair, however, is a wig, and each girl has a wig to match her natural hair color.

Bixby said the tradition of the curly hair began back in the old days of Ireland when girls would go straight from Sunday mass to the park to dance, so their hair was already tightly curled. That tradition has continued on down through the generations.

“The wigs are on pretty tight” so they don’t fall off, Wheeler said.

“They’re not that uncomfortable, except for all the pins holding them in,” added Hand.

The Tiernan Irish Dance Company performed three times throughout the day Saturday, and will perform again today at 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. at the main stage.