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| Damn Straight. Order yours today on a t-shirt or a poster! |
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| Me bowing for something or other, September 2005 |
*NEWS FLASH*
Didn't place in london comp, was kinda pissed, i thought i did pretty well on some dances,
and i had the windsor spring comp, again, i didn't place (WTF?) And lastly i had the Alma Michigan Competition, that was fun,
hadn't been there before, it was really nice! Flora was lousy, but fling and truse were AWESOME however only a 5th in the
truse. I'm not happy, but my teacher says i did really well for that competition. Doesn't help though that i ended up dancing
right next to the girl who won all firsts and the trophy, LOL! Next comp, June 17th, Amesheburg, Windsor, Ontario. Come see!
Doing Fling Trust Lilt Hornpipe and Barracks... i think. LOL!FONT>
Yippy! Highland Dancing! No, not Riverdance you dumbass, Highland Dancing! It's Scottish! See the pretty kilts?
It was originally only ment for men, hundreds of years ago, but more recently, female dancers greatly outnumber the male dancers
because women rock. Even though certain dances are "meant" for men and some for women, either gender can dance any dance they
want.
I've been doing Highland Dance for 7-8 years as part of my strange Scottish obsession (note: I have a Scottish
tattoo) and I see it as part of my mini-mission to educate all you Micheal Flately haters out there, that Highland Dancing
is totally different from Irish, and has more of a history to it. (not that i'm bashing Irish, I like Irish
dancing)
For now, I'm only listing the Highland Dances. These are traditionally the men's
dances. The national dances are more like ballet, and meant for women.
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| Me doing the Barraks, one of the many other dances... |
Click here to go to an awesome Highland Dance forum, it'll answer all your questions and give you a real
flavour of what this is all about.
Speaking of the forum, they did an interview with me!
Click HERE to read Tribuahs News Issue #4, starring me! Kothurn (aka: Ashdyre)
Ok, so your basic of all basic dances is the Highland Fling. It's like, the most know dance, and it's the
first one that everybody learns. The Fling used to be performed after battle as a victory dance on top of a shield,
which is why there is not movement in the dance, it's all on the spot. Today we do not dance on shields though, thank goodness,
because I don't see how that could be very safe...
| Me doing the Fling |
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| Woo, had to white out my identity... lol |
Alright, and then we have the Sean Truibhas ("Shawn Tr-oo-ze"). This dance is all about when
England defeated Scotland in 1746, and pretty much anything to do with Scottish culture and heritage was banned, most importantly,
wearing a kilt. This dance is representative if their struggle against wearing trousers and at the end, when the dance turns
to double time, it is a celebration of when the were allowed to wear their kilts again.
| This is a very popular movement from the 'Truse |
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| And me, after messing up at the end of my Hornpipe, quite pleased with myself :P |
Ok, so the second dance, is called the Sword Dance. There is much dispute that this is the hardest dance to perform,
and one of the least favourites. I can't really say, since I don't know all of the dances yet, but i do agree that it is a
bit tougher, but I think it's one of my favourites. The dance is performed over and around 2 swords layed out in a cross
shape. The history behing this dance is that, after Malcom Canmore defeated MacBeth at Dunsinane, he laid
his opponent’s sword on the ground, placed his own on top of it, and danced over them in victory. Afterwards, the
Scottish soldiers performed this dance before a battle to predict the outcome. If dance perfectly, they would be victorious.
If they touched the swords, they would get injured, and if they displaced them, they would die. Thankfully, today, if you
displace them, you jsut get disqualified... it's the lesser evil I suppose ;)
The Reel (there are a few different kinds, but they are all danced with 4 dancers dancing around
and with each other) was created one morning when parishioners in the village of Tulloch headed to their Church but
the minister wasn't there. Since it was cold outside, the villagers decided to warm up by dancing. Kind of fun,
don't you think?
| A pic of me doing the Reel |
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