Hi Jenn! It's nice to meet you. I hope you join us more often in this topic. Especially with your knowledge on the subject. Hope to see you around!
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Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson If you judge people you have no time to love them. ~Mother Teresa
Its been awhile since I was on the forum and posted but I just say this topic and I had to say hi. I am also a Highland dancer. I have been dancing for 16 yrs and love it. I didn't compete was always way to nervious to do it. I do take my exams every year.
Hope to talk to you all more about the hobby that i love
Jenn
Welcome to our forum and hope you like the wonderful music. That is neat you know how to dance. 16 years is nothing to sneeze at you are real good I'm sure. I like your Avatar, I have that on a shirt. I love it! It will be nice hearing from you.
Hi! It's Nice to know that so many people are interested in Highland dancing. I love to dance , it's alot of fun. I also love to compete. Although in the beggining i was very nervous about competing , but now its a breeze. I also meet up with my dancing buddies all over new england. I meet many other dancers at brahmar summer school of Highland dance which I attend every summer. The summer camp is alot of fun , It's also alot of hard work. We have to dance 6 hours a day (with breaks of course!) but it helps me alot with my dancing. I am Novice right now but I will soon be entering Intermediate . i'm sure i'll do fine but im a little nervous. I hear there's another dancer on here! I hope to hear from you all soon!
Happy Dancing!
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Vicky MacArthur I Am a Scottish Dancer and I am proud of my heritage
Horses and dogs are not my whole life....But they make my life whole!
Dancing has been my life for forever. 16 yrs is a really long time, but I have loved every minute of it. I only regret not competing. I have always had a fear of performance. When I get infront of the examiner I freeze up. Im surprised that I have made it as far as I have. So I never wanted to get up infront of three people who would be comparing me to so many other dancers. I just know that I would totally forget everthing I know. If I could do it again, I would so compete.
Dancing has always been fun for me. And it was a great way for me to get away with listening to the pipes for hours on end.
Wow 16 years is along time! I love to compete. When I used to get nervous my dad would tell me to imagine your dancing at home again. So I imagined that and When i do that I forget that so many people are watching me. I love it. Although My brother and I are taking a break from competing , my younger sister will start competing before us this summer. It will be nice to go to some Highland games and just relax. I also get to bring our new pomerainion Pup and show her off!
Mabe you can post some pictures of your competition, and please let us know how you do.
The other day we were talking in our Scottish Country Dancing group about all of us looking forward to the games not only to dance but to catch up with everyone. My family usually takes the pop-up camper or if it is near family we stay with them. Its always a lot of fun.
Hello dancing feet and to all that love to dance. Has anyone been dancing lately? My daughter and I went to a Celtic Celebration in Atlanta last week end and danced, it was our first formal demo, we have been dancing this past year but only at the games or festivals so it was more relaxed. There was singing by the DeKalb Choral Guild, poetry, and then we Scottish Country Dancer ended the evening with a performance followed by audience participation. I am really looking forward to this years activities. And I hope all of you will write soon to let us know where your dancing feet are taking you.
Until then make happy feet and share a smile keep dancing.
Nice to meet you Dalriada Dancer. I'm not a highland dancer but I enjoy watching it. I guess you can tell by my previous post I'm a Scottish Country Dancer. Keep us posted on what you are doing in the world of dancing feet.
Up here I teach 20 children under the age of 16 competitive and performance Highland dance. Two of which are my daughters. We do alot of community events to promote and preserve Scottish Dance. I teach a little SCD so the dancers experience it as well, though I am not a professional at it...just using a little book and my memory for SCD.
We travel to competitions (most are 8 hours away) and the dancers fare pretty well. Most of them are beginners but I have a few in novice and one just moved into intermediate.
I love Celtic music...any celtic music. I have it playing morning to night. It's the most motivational music and really inspires me in all aspects of my life!
Dear wizzard, There are quite some differences between Scottish Highland and country dancing. First of all their origins. Highland dancing in its earliest form originated as war- or triumph dances. The oldest one being Ghillie Callum, the sword dance. It is said that it is appr. a thousand years old, but there is no real proof for that. Originally the Highland dances were performed by men only at gatherings and the chieftains and noblemen would let the men compete to choose the best ones to perform at their courts. These dances used to be a part of military training until maybe 80 years or so ago. During the great war and the second world war many soldiers got killed and after these gruesome war years things changed. Thanks to the ladies Highland dancing was kept alive and still the majority of the dancers are girls. Up until the early 60s guys would seldomly been seen practising Highland dancing. This has fortunately changed .It takes quite some training to achieve the strenght and to be able to do the complicated steps that require a good sense of coördination. There are some similarities to the classical ballet training and there has been some influence , but in style they are not the same.In the last 1 1/2 century or so many other dances were choreographed and officially they are not Highland dances, they are the national- and other dances like The Scottish Lilt, Lady Flora Mc Donalds fancy, Irish jig and Sailors hornpipe. Thes dances are also competition dances and you will allmost allways see them during Highland games. But they are not Highland dances. Country dancing has a completely different origin, very much influenced by the French court dances and they were performed at balls and feasts by the people who attended. Contrary to the Highland dances these dances would be danced by more people together and consist of very intrecate figures where people would change partner very often . These dances are still very often danced at parties and gatherings but there are also a lot of demonstration teams where the level of dancing is very high and the technique is taken very seriously. Country dancing should not be confused with barn dances, there are similarities but these are much more just for fun dances where technique is not so important. You will find a lot of barn dances done at ceilidhs. I most certainly would advise you to go and have a try at Highland dancing if only to experience the difficulty of it, they look so simple from a spectators view but they are not. As a Highland dancer, but hardly an expert I hope my post is of any use to you. I am sure there are other dancers here that are able to provide you with much more and specific info. Marc.
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The kilt is my delight!
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