Karly Mowbray is thrilled to be performing for a second year in Folklorama at the United Kingdom Pavilion.

"It's a pretty good experience, the crowds are quite large, and they tend to get bigger during the later shows," Mowbray, 15, said.

The teen only started dancing two years ago, which means that she has performed at in Folklorama every year since she first started training in the art.

"I, myself am an Irish dancer, but because there's also Welsh and English [represented at the pavilion], all the dancers in the studio take turns with those dances... I got to learn them, and eventually you do get really comfortable with them, and they're actually really fun to do!"

She credits her rapid learning to teachers that made adapting to dance far less difficult than it could have been. In addition, she simply loves to dance.

"It's something that's your own. When you're out there, it's a rush when you're onstage, and even if you're just in the studio, it's fun to be with people that you like and who all like the same things as you. It's a good way to make friends."

Mowbray chose to pursue Irish dancing because her family is, as she described, "very Irish." "I have a lot of background in that, and I've always loved to dance in general, so it seemed very fitting to do."

She also believes it's important to keep her culture alive and close to her. "I feel like it's really good to live up to your culture and not let it go." "Some people think that just because you don't live in that culture means that you don't have to do anything along with it, but I think that's good to keep close to your heart; it's part of you."

As for her favourite part of performing each night in the world's largest multicultural festival of it's kind? "I really like dancing with my friends. It's less about the performance, less about the people, more about the people you do it with. Being backstage with my friends, being onstage with them, it's just a good thing that we get to do together outside of other things."

"It's just something we really enjoy, and it's something we love to do together."