What’s Scottish Highland Dance?
Some would name highland an artwork type, some would name it a sport, and a few would say it’s a historic cultural follow.
We might say it’s the entire above.
Highland dance is believed to have arisen within the eleventh or twelfth century in Scotland. Within the centuries since, it has unfold all through the world to international locations together with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, america, South Africa, and plenty of extra. What began as a humble army celebration has became a extremely aggressive, athletic, and exquisite type of dance.
The Origins of Highland Dance
Highland dance has all the time been valued as a extremely athletic fashion of dance, and that started within the Scottish army within the eleventh or twelfth century.
Highland was mentioned for use by clan chiefs and kings to check and choose the strongest troopers, develop self-discipline of their troops, and showcase endurance and agility.
In 1746, the British monarchy, in an try to drive the usually rebellious clan system into compliance, handed an Act of Parliament which banned the Scots from sporting kilts and carrying weapons. This was a serious blow to Scottish tradition and highland dance.
When Queen Victoria took specific curiosity in the great thing about Scotland in the course of the mid-Nineteenth century, she triggered a resurgence in conventional Scottish tradition within the UK. This included the beginnings of the primary Highland Video games, and the primary Highland dance competitions.
Historical past of Ladies in Highland Dance
Like so many different arts and sports activities, girls have traditionally been prohibited from taking part in highland dance.
That was, up till the early twentieth century when 10-year-old Jenny Douglas entered a dance competitors dressed as a person, and competed even when she was particularly forbidden.
Jenny Douglas created sufficient of a stir that increasingly more girls started competing, notably in the course of the World Wars. In the present day, upwards of 95% of Highland dancers are girls and women!
The Historical past of the Highland Fling
Every dance carries a chunk of Scottish folklore, and tells a narrative of the previous. For instance, probably the most well-known highland dances, the Highland Fling, has a number of doable histories related to it.
One story hyperlinks the Highland Fling to a deer hunt, because the arms and palms could mimic a stag because it jumps alongside the Scottish countryside.
An alternate origin story describes the Fling as a dance of triumph after a battle to be danced over a small protect generally known as a Targe.
Dances such because the Fling started as automobiles of historical past, and proceed to hold these tales into the current, even tons of of years after their starting.
Fashionable highland dancing takes on an extra athletic aspect which pushes individuals to develop stamina, energy, and agility to carry out at their greatest.
What’s the Distinction Between Highland and Irish Dance?
One of the crucial frequent questions we’re requested is: What’s the distinction between Scottish highland dance and Irish dance?
Irish dance is extra well-known by most people due to Riverdance, so highland dancers are very used to being requested in the event that they put on the curly wigs. However nope – highland dancers put on the buns!
Hear, we get it, Scotland and Eire are proper subsequent to one another on the map. They share a historical past of being oppressed by the British monarchy they usually share some funky tunes and outfits.
However that’s about the place the similarities finish!
Listed below are a number of key variations:
Highland dance stylistic and costuming identifiers
- Usually, Highland dance consists of numerous leaping, sharp actions, and extensions.
- The knees are turned out persistently, positions and actions are paying homage to ballet.
- Highland dancers use their arms – usually positioned on the waist or above the pinnacle
- For costuming, Highland dancers:
- put on delicate, black, leather-based ghillies in most dances.
- Dancers with lengthy hair put on their hair in a slicked again bun.
- Dance costumes are closely regulated, with room for variation on color and a few small adornments.
- The normal kilt outfit features a kilt, argyle-pattern wool socks, and velvet jacket or waistcoat.
Irish dance stylistic and costuming identifiers
- Usually, Irish dance consists of numerous shuffling and tapping of the ft in fast succession. Simply recognisable are the occasional excessive kicks utilized by dancers.
- The knees are usually thought of to look turned in.
- Arms are usually stored by the perimeters
- For costuming:
- It’s common for Irish dance colleges to have their very own specific colors and designs to be worn on costumes
- For solo dances, dancers usually select colors, patterns, and adornments that swimsuit themselves and the dance with the objective of standing out from rivals
- It’s common for aggressive feminine Irish dancers to put on wigs styled in ringlets that bounce.
- Attire worn by feminine Irish dancers usually attain nearly to the knee, cowl over the collarbone and all the way down to the wrists, and are coated in intricate Celtic knot imagery, and crowd pleasing sparkles, vibrant colors, and different adornments.
- Male dancers usually put on trousers, a shirt, and a colored sash.
- There are delicate shoe Irish dances and arduous shoe Irish dances – the shoe worn will depend on the dance and the ability stage of the dancer.
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