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Bernadette of the renowned Celtic Cafe set me a task. "Can you explain to the lay person, just what is Highland Dancing, and how does it differ from Irish Dancing?" Simple enough. Ha!
I have for many years tried to find the "simple" answer when it comes to Highland, but what I have found is that there isn’t a simple answer. Highland is what the performer, teacher, adjudicator and audience perceive it to be. There are no rights or wrongs, just differences in interpretation, direction and history. I will try in the future to bring visitors to this site some of those opinions, history, and interpretations and some explanations of how the dance has evolved through out the world. I am by no stretch of the imagination an expert on the dance. My forte is in the world of theatre. Initially it was my "homesickness" that involved me in the world of the Scots. Having recently arrived from England to the Midwest (USA), new acquaintances suggested attending a dance where "there were a lot of people just like me!" As most immigrants from Britain realize, many Americans tend to think the Scots, Welsh, Irish and English are all one nationality. Thus, I ended up at a "Pipe Band Dance". The dancers from the band -- little girls about 11 years old -- were in fact performing the Sailor’s Hornpipe, a dance that I was familiar with from my father’s Royal Navy background. Year passed and I eventually had a daughter and a son. My husband joined the local Pipe Band and my daughter at the age of 6 started to take lessons -- whence came my involvement with Highland Dance.
The "story teller" part of me became intrigued with why my daughter was performing these dances --"surely they had a story, why were the hands held the way they are?" The question "why" kept popping up and the answers always led to another question. Seventeen years later I am still asking "Why" and more questions still arise.
So we will try to answer some of the questions with the help of some of Highland’s dancers, judges, historians and mothers.
Some of the people that you will meet in coming weeks will belong to various organizations and countries. This can sometimes get a little confusing as although the United States and Canada come under the total jurisdiction of one organization, other countries do not. We will also get into the different organizations and their philosophies, e.g. the way that Highland Dancing is performed in New Zealand and parts of Australia. I will try ato answer questions from readership and to direct them when I haven’t the information. I will be reprinting here some of my monthly columns from "Dancer." I have been writing a Highland column for Dancer Magazine for 5 years. Here too, readers will have the opportunity to read about "how to make that jacket fit, inadequate flooring, lack of parking, the other forms of Celtic dance as performed by the Welsh, Spanish etc. and life of the dancer on the competitive circuit. For now I would like to begin where the life of every dancer starts with -- mom -- and the reprint of a column "Just a Mother." Dancer 1996
"Just a Mother!!!!"
This past week during a soccer game a parent spoke out about the dangerous conditions on the playing field. Afterwards, a coach and referee walked past. "Is SHE anybody?" "Nah! She’s just a mother!" I would’ve given them both a piece of my mind but at that moment this "mother" was playing nurse to her injured player. It seems ironic that recently the whole country (USA) was celebrating "MOTHER" but when it comes to sports or the arts "mother" becomes almost an insult.
The Highland mums that I have met in the past years are, on the whole, a wonderful group. They are the financiers, chauffeurs, costumers ( how many times have they stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to finish that jacket, press that kilt?). They are the cheerleaders, dressers (you can spot a Highland mums, coat hangers and outfits at the ready, by the changing area), the nurses, hairdressers, statisticians (Highland mums KNOW who won what and where, and what judge placed who, where, throughout their child’s dancing career), travel agents, researchers.
Who is it that dries the tears on the long road home after a bad day? Who tries to explain to her dancer WHY they didn’t place, all the time trying to teach fair play and good sportsmanship? Who gets little Johnnie or Susie to lessons, keeps them interested when "it’s too hard" and who faces the teacher when "Susie doesn’t practice hard enough." Who is it that gets little Susie to practice? Who sits on hard bleachers in the heat, cold or rain, carries the umbrella, cooler and dance gear just so that she can hold her breath the whole time her child performs, praying all the time that that little foot doesn’t touch the dreaded sword? Giving of herself and time so that her child can experience that "moment in the light". Yes! We are "mothers" but we are so much more, we wear many hats, have careers, hopes, fears of our own but we would go to the ends of the earth for our children (in fact I think some Highland mums have packed the van and been there twice!).
For the past five years, Loraine Ritchey has been covering the Highland dance scene for Dancer magazine. Loraine would like to thank Owen Goldman, publisher of Dancer magazine, for giving space to the professional and the smallest studios in the heartland. Dancer magazine is a national publication.