The picture one conjures up when the words Highland Dancing are mentioned is possibly of a bearded “Braveheart”-style warrior, arms held aloft, leaping over crossed swords and delivering guttural yells every so often.

The Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing, based in Edinburgh, has created a truly international appreciation of the finer points of Highland Dancing and a world-wide community of Scottish dancers working for and with one another towards even higher standards of excellence.  It is estimated that at least 50,000 young people are actively involved in Highland Dancing throughout the world with at least half of them based in the large Scottish communities of Canada, USA, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

When Speculation Becomes Fact

I have always been fascinated by the stories attached to many Scottish dances.  These stories are generally of two kinds. First we have those regarding the origin of the dance and second those who deal with the inspiration for the creation of the particular dance.  The second category is often straight forward, particularly in the case of the many Scottish Country Dances that refer to a person, place, tune, or an event such as an Anniversary or a Jubilee.  

I’ve been decorating, painting and wallpapering.  It is almost as exciting as watching the stuff drying, so my mind goes rambling…

Getting to grips with dance descriptions is certainly an acquired skill, and their interpretation leaves them open to “local variation”.  No problem as long as you always dance with the same group; and if you can remember, for example, the hundreds of Scottish Country Dances then you are very lucky.  Me?  I need a CribCard before every dance – or a check with the “little Green Book” as F.L. Pilling’s Scottish Country Dances in Diagrams is commonly known.

In an ideal world dance callers would not be necessary.  A band could play all night, never repeating a dance, and everyone on the floor would know all of the steps.  But we don’t live in an ideal world.  Scottish Dance or Ceilidh Bands are booked for weddings, conferences and dances and often guests have never done any Scottish dancing, or at best have memories of being dragged round a school gym in preparation for the Christmas dance.  Sometimes in these situations the person booking the band will request a caller to help the evening to run smoothly, and sometimes the band themselves will realise that a caller might make their lives easier on the night.

The popular Northbeat Island Fling returns next summer to Skye.  We’ll be back to the usual format with workshops in Old Time, Country, Step and Orcadian Dance and we also hope to welcome back our friends from Cornwall – Dance Group, Asteveryn.  There will be many familiar faces amongst the tutors and musicians and we’ll give you further details as they are confirmed.