In the same way as the bonecarving I brought this special hobby from one of my holidays. Do you guess where I have been? *grins*

When I visited Scotland by bike in 1998 I watched one of the highland games as well. For all of those who read this page and have not been to Scotland yet I should explain that the highland games consist of many different contests. Most people think of strong men dressed in kilts throwing cabers, stones or metal through the air as soon as they hear about it. That might be because most reports do not show more than this. Even less than this they explain any of the rules. Another competition you may know is the one of the pipe-bands or solo pipers. But there are also competitions in wrestling, tug-of-war and dancing, the Scottish highland dancing.

So I watched lots of young girls and women in a gym at these highland games at their competition and was totally fascinated of their graceful movements. Immediately I wanted to learn it as well. But how could I do so not living in the UK? Unfortunately this kind of dancing is not very popular in Germany. There are only a few workshops from time to time. As I know there is no regular class in Germany right now. Maybe there will be a class close to my town someday again?! If you know about one please let me know.

While I was in Scotland I thought about teaching it to myself from books but I did not look for books because I was going to run out of money already. But even if I would have searched for books I would have given up with the first one I would have found. These books are completely unintelligible for a layman. But when I came home from my holiday I found a regular class in Bonn by accident. So I trained there for nearly one year until the teacher moved to another place which was too far away to keep on going. I liked this two semesters very much even though it was very exhausting.

But now you still do not know what I am talking about. Do you?

What is the special thing about this kind of dancing? It is quiet difficult to explain but I will try my very best.

This kind of dance has it's origin in ballet as I am informed. At the Scottish highland dancing there are several positions for the feet and arms as well as at ballet. But there is a very dominant difference between ballet and Scottish highland dancing. At ballet it is the graceful movement into a certain position which is important. At the highland dancing it is the position itself which is important to be reached at a certain moment. If you compare the two way of dancing you would say that ballet is a graceful, harmonic movement and highland dancing is more of fast and abrupt movements. This could look very elegant at skilled dancers anyway. But to be that good you have to be very much disciplined because the technique is quiet difficult.

But that is not enough to explain the way of highland dancing. The most difficult thing about it is still missing. The whole dance has to be performed on the ball of the foot except for a few steps. So that means that your heel has to be as far away as possible from the ground. And as if that would not be difficult enough you have to jump nearly all the time. If you think that is not difficult at all try to jump two minutes on the spot while you are trying not to touch the ground with your heel and not to sprain you foot. You have to jump as high as possible by the way! To avoid injuries you will have to use the right technique for it. You have to be able to capture the bumps of every jump. So you have to bend your knees for that which means that you will have to initiate the movement from the thigh. That's much more exhausting but also healthier.

As soon as you know the steps and positions of your feet and do not twist your legs anymore you extend the dance with positions of the arms and the head. In comparison to Irish dancing which you might know from Riverdance or Lord of the dance, the movement of the arms is as important as everything else.

The dance is accompanied by pipe-tunes of course. At the highland dancing contains many different dances for which certain steps and combinations are prescribed. Each dance has got its very special song. Most of the dances have a story they tell or about their origin. The sword dance for example is said to be danced after a battle for the first time. The winner of the battle took the swords and threw them on the floor. Afterwards he started to dance over the crossed swords because of his victory. From that day on the warriors danced it every time before they went to battle. Did one of the warriors touch the swords during his dance it was interpreted as a bad omen for the following battle. Today this dance is still presented with two blunt swords that lay crossed on the floor. To touch them during a competition means loosing points.

So Scottish highland dancing is not only exhausting but it is also difficult to co-ordinate all the different actions at the same time. Maybe you start wondering why people are crazy enough to practise that. It is the same question I ask myself when I see people taking part in a marathon. The answer is surely the same: they like it. It is fun. You might not believe it but I can tell you that it really is fun. I liked it very much and the girls I saw at the competition surely liked it as well. Otherwise they would not have reached that level of dancing without practise.

If you visit Scotland go and watch a highland competition. But there are also dancers outside of Scotland as well. In Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg they practise it more than in Germany and also in New Zealand you shouldn't miss the chance to watch a competition if you have it. It is said that the kiwis are the best highland dancers of the world. In former times highland dancing used to be a dance only for men but today it is danced mostly by young girls. Every boy who joins in a competition has a small bonus. So, all the men reading this: Start dancing! *grins* At the competitions every participant gets a number which is fixed to the kilt. Traditional clothing is requested at competitions of course. But you don't have to buy it you can borrow it from dancers who join in competitions more often and bought one already. You only have to know them. *g* The dancers are classified by age and skill.

So there are very young dancers that just started dancers as well as adults who are really good. These are the ones you should not miss to watch them. If you want to join in a competition you don't have to participate in all the dances. You just join in at the dances you want to. That might be only one single dance. No problem! On stage there are three or four dancers at once who are rated by the judges. Nearly all of the dances are for single dancers so everyone dances on their own. For each mistake you will loose points e.g. if you touch the swords or if one of your straps opens during the dance. Of course there will be a victory ceremony afterwards. Just go and watch it!

If you got notice of a workshop around your town just try it and tell me. It is really fun!

Two of the girls on these pictures above have got their own little (Irish) dancing group called "an macalla". If you are interested you may have a look at their homepage as well: http://www.anmacalla.de