Ten-year-old Penny Polonsky of Gloucester has been racking up the medals in Irish dance competitions. Most recently, she won a silver trophy for Premiership in the World Irish Dance Association’s competition in Wiltshire, England.But that wasn’t all. She also won gold medals for her light jig and reel dances in the Premiership category, while her traditional set also took a gold medal. Additionally, she won a silver medal for her treble jig, as well as bronze medals for her single jig and slip jig.

All of these wins were in spite of the fact that Penny couldn’t attend the dance competition in person, but competed virtually with videos that were filmed at various local sites, including the pavilion at Fort Nonsense in Mathews.

These newest awards are added to several Penny has won over the past three years. In 2019, after just a year of instruction, Penny took part in the U.S. Open dance competition in Richmond and won first place in all but one dance that she competed in. Last y...