Highland dancing originated as athletic male dances in Scotland reflecting emotion and triumph. Competitive Highland dancing began in the 19th century during a cultural revival and now women also compete. Dancers are judged on timing, technique, and deportment, with emphasis on footwork, coordination, and capturing the spirit of the dance. Dancers progress through five ranked groups from primary to championship based on competition wins.

1. Cassandra Pattison

2.  Dating back to before recorded history, the Highland Dances of Scotland
were originally highly athletic male dances of triumph, joy, and other
reflections of emotion. Competitive Highland dancing as we know it
began during the revival of interest in Highland culture during the 19th
century. Women first began competing at the turn of the century.
Highland dances require both athletic and artistic skill and are danced
both informally and in competition. In competition, dancers are judged
on three elements: timing, technique and general deportment. Timing is
the dancers ability to follow the rhythm of the music. Technique concerns
the dancers footwork and the coordination of head, arms and hands.
Good positioning of the feet is most important. General Deportment
concerns the dancers interpretation and ability to capture the spirit and
motif of the dance and includes balance, overall appearance, bearing and
carriage of the head, arms, body and hands. Upright posture is essential,
and the dancers must exhibit a happy demeanor. Although the dances are
very athletic, they must be danced with seeming ease, with no signs of
strain and free of elaborate showiness. For competitive purposes, each
dancer is ranked according to one of five groups: Primary, under 7 years
of age; Beginner until winning 6 different contests; Novice, until winning
6 more competitions; Advanced Intermediate, for one year from date of
last Novice competition; and the big leagues, Championship or Premiere.
There are age classifications in each group.

3.  Making sure you warm up before dancing is
always a good thing. It will prevent injuries
and also help you dance to the best of your
ability.
 Sanding or wetting the bottoms of your
Ghillies so you don’t slip on the stage.
 Taping injuries so that they don’t get worse
by dancing on them.

4.  At all competitions run under the Association dancers will dance
in reverse order of enter, i.e. first to enter will be last to dance
unless otherwise stated on the entry form.
 Dancers must dance to pipers supplied by the dancing
committee. Dancing committees must be careful to select
reliable pipers for dancing.
 All dancers must be registered with S.D.B.C., (ScotDance B.C.) or
other registration scheme which is recognized by the S.O.B.H.D.,
(Scottish Official Board Of Highland Dance), prior to receiving
awards.
 Pre-Premier dancers who attain a first, second, or third placing
must have their registration card stamped.
 All scoring will be done as outlined by the S.O.B.H.D.
 The competition committee may cancel or combine classes as
deemed necessary.
 The Association will not be responsible for ant accidents, injury
or illness to competitors or spectators at any of its competitions.
 All steps for Highland dance must be taken from the Official Text
Book of the S.O.B.H.D.

5.  This can go from a theatre stage, to a
gymnasium floor, to an outdoor platform in
Scotland.
 Depending on the weather, outdoor platforms
are most of the time very slippery, so we
must be prepared by sanding our shoes ahead
of time.

6.  Highland dancing has 4 different dance categories;
Highland, National, Sailors Hornpipe, and Irish Jig.
 In the ‘Highland’ component dancers are required to
wear a traditional kilt, tartan of their choice, along
with wool socks and velvet jacket or vest. Must
always be accompanied by a ‘dickey.’
 In the ‘National’ component dancers were something
slightly different than a kilt. More of a ‘pretty’ skirt
compared to the kilt. Also accompanied with a velvet
vest and dickey.
 As for the Hornpipe, a dancer must wear a sailor suit.
 The Jig was a dance based on a washerwoman, so the
dancer is required to wear a red or green dress with
jig shoes that are have slightly higher heels.