Scottish highland dance facts for kids

A dancer at a Highland games event

Highland dancing is a special traditional dance that comes from Scotland. Dancers need to be very fit and strong. They also need to have a good sense of how things look, as the dance is very precise. Highland dances are usually performed alone to the sound of the great highland bagpipe. These dances require a lot of coordination and careful movements. Many competitions for Highland dancing are held around the world. The main places for these events are Scotland, the United States, Canada, and Australia.

How Dancers Are Judged

When dancers compete, judges look at three main things:

• Timing: Dancers must follow the rhythm of the music perfectly. If they are off the beat, they lose points.
• Technique: Dancers need to perform each step correctly. This includes the exact position of their feet, arms, and head. Every movement must be precise.
• Posture: Judges also look at how the dancer presents themselves. They need to have good posture and look like the dance is easy and natural. A big smile helps too!

If a dancer does all three of these things perfectly, they have a great chance to win.

Popular Highland Dances

A male dancer at a Highland games

Here are some of the most well-known traditional Highland dances:

• The Highland Fling is a dance with four or six steps. It was traditionally performed after winning a battle.
• The Sword Dance is done around two crossed swords. Dancers perform it to the bagpipe song "Ghillie Calum." The dance starts with slow steps and finishes with faster ones. The main goal is to dance without touching or moving the swords!
• The Sean Triubhas (pronounced "shawn trews") tells a story. Long ago, a British law in 1747 made it illegal for Scots to wear their traditional kilt. They had to wear pants instead. This dance shows a person trying to get used to wearing pants in the first part. In the last part, it shows them happily getting their right to wear the kilt and their customs back.
• The Irish Jig is a funny dance that makes fun of Irish dancing. Dancers wear special hard shoes that can be red, black, or green. The dance often shows an angry housewife waiting for her husband. She is upset because he took money to go to the pub.

A dancer performing the sword dance. She is wearing matching tartan hose and ghilies shoes.

Costumes

Highland dancers wear special outfits:

• Girls and Women: They wear a colorful tartan kilt, which is a pleated skirt. They also wear a short white blouse with a sleeveless velvet jacket over it. Their socks, called hose, match the tartan of their kilt. They complete their outfit with soft leather shoes called ghilies.
• Boys and Men: They wear a kilt with a small pouch called a sporran. They also have a white shirt with a thin tie, a dark jacket, and green or black hose. Like the women, they wear ghilies shoes.

Images for kids

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  Highland Dancers compete at the Cowal Highland Gathering 2008

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  Royal Military College of Canada Scottish highland dance, piper, drummers

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  A young Highland dancer demonstrates her Scottish sword dance at the 2005 Bellingham (Washington) Highland Games

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  Highland dancers at the Ceres Highland Games, 2013

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  Scottish national dancing at the 2005 Skagit Valley Highland Games. The dancer is wearing the Aboyne dress for females.

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  Girls dressed for Highland dancing

See also

In Spanish: Danza de las tierras altas escocesas para niños