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  • HOME
  • INSTRUCTORS
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  • ENTRIES & DOCS
    • Scholarship Forms
    • Competition Entry Forms
    • Registration Forms
    • Workshop Forms
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  • SDCCS RESULTS
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  • WEBINARS & RESOURCES.
  • OUR PARTNERS
ScotDance Ontario
A Passion for
Highland Dance.
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Drumroll....We have received many beautiful essays for the ScotDance Ontario Essay Contest,

and are pleased to announce the winner!

Congratulations to... Fiona T!

We've sent you your $40 For Reel Apparel Gift Card via email!

Thank you to all who participated; we'll be posting the

Honourable Mention Essays in the next few days!

Please enjoy Fiona's essay below:

My heart does not beat in time to any electrical current or pulse that comes from my

body. It does not function according to any typical rules. At the very center of my heart there is a

tiny highland dancer and every time she dances my heart beats, waiting for that next jump to

continue beating on.

 

That tiny dancer is my greatest source of strength, my reason for waking up in the

morning. She urges me to dance and that keeps me alive.

 

Before this year, I would not have been able to explain what highland dancing meant to

me. I took for granted that I would always be able to dance at competitions, highland games, and

recitals. When they were all taken away, I was left with only a tiny dancer in my heart who

wanted so desperately for me to keep dancing but I didn’t know how. I didn’t know how to go to

class or how to practice if I had nothing to work for.

 

I had to figure out why I started dancing in the first place. I thought about my five year

old self who walked into the dance studio and immediately fell in love with the sound of

bagpipes and dance moves with funny names like pas de basques and highcuts. I went to dance

class because it was fun and it made me happy. It was such a pure, simple reason but somewhere

along the way I forgot that is all it takes.

 

I see this joy in the little kids I teach. When they run into class excited to tell me that they

practiced, or when I see the smile on their face after they finish a dance without making any

mistakes, it makes my heart swell with happiness and the tiny dancer in there jumps for joy along

with my students. This connection I feel to my students shows how incredible highland dancing

is that it can connect people across generations; I love each of my dancers in the same way I

know my teacher loves me. While I may not always understand the lives of my 6 year old

dancers, when they step in the studio and start dancing, I am connected to them in a way that is

almost magical.

 

This ineffable, magical sense of community is present in so many ways I wasn’t aware of

until I started looking closer. It is present when my Grandad, who immigrated to Canada from

Scotland, tells people his granddaughters are highland dancers. It is the pride in his voice that we

are honouring his culture and heritage. It is present when I’m walking down the street and I hear

bagpipes playing and I share a knowing glance with my sisters because we know exactly what

tune it is and what dance we could jump into. It is present in the smiling faces of every dancer

I’ve ever shared the stage with. We are all connected by a love for an obscure sport that

sometimes feels like a shared secret identity or superpower. We know the difference between a

kilt and a skirt. We know that Irish dancing and highland dancing are definitely not the same

thing. We understand why people put on so many extra pounds of wool and velvet to dance on a

plywood stage in the hot sun at highland games because we love to do it too. I have yet to find

anything that rivals the deep and powerful connection I have with other highland dancers. It may

have taken a disastrous year for me to realize it, but I have never been more grateful for such an

amazing sense of community.

 

I, like so many others, have felt the strain of this pandemic in how little time I’ve been

able to spend with friends. We don’t get to see each other everyday and when we do connect, it

 

is through a screen or in a socially distant setting. It’s been a very overwhelming and isolating

experience but highland dance has helped me through it. Once I was able to reconnect and

remind myself why I loved dance, it became my favourite thing to do again. When I’m stressed

or lonely, all I need to do is go to dance class and I know I’m going to feel better. Even though I

can’t hug the people at dance, just being close to them and being able to talk and laugh together

is the best medicine. It cures the part of me that struggles to get through the day because it seems

like this crazy situation is never going to end.

 

While I may have already known the highland world was filled with incredible people,

this year has taught me how important it is to have such a strong community. I have also realized

it is not enough to acknowledge the existence of such a community, it deserves more

commitment. I need to be aware of how this amazing community benefits my happiness and

well-being so I can continue paying it forward to the next generation of highland dancers. I

promise I will, because without highland dance I definitely would not be the person I am today.

It has given me everything from my work ethic to the tiny dancer at the centre of my heart and

for that I will be forever grateful.

 

-Fiona T. 

It's Contest Time!

Introducing the ScotDance Ontario Essay Contest!

 

How does it work? 

 

  • We're asking Canadian Highland Dancers to submit an essay of 500 words or more about what Highland Dancing has meant to you as a part of your life. 
  • Feel free to include funny stories or anecdotes - we want to know how Highland Dancing has enhanced your life. 
  • Canadian Dancers of any age may submit. 
  • Guidelines for choosing the winning essay will include writing style, originality, content, character count, and the power in the essay to move the reader.
  • Please send entries to sdo.socialmedia@gmail.com.
  • The lucky winner will win a $40 Gift Card from For Reel Apparel. 
  • Deadline for entries is December 15th on which date the winner will be announced with their essay published on social media. There will be 3 honourable mentions posted as well.  
  • All essays, including those that do not win, may be published on social media along with the author's first name and last name first initial. Please indicate in your submission email if you would not like your essay to be published. 

 

 

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