Highland Dance Problems

A blog for Highland Dancers, by Highland Dancers! Please submit!

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Hello! My name is Gabby I am an Irish dancer in Florida and I'm extremely curious about your dancing

what do you want to know? :)

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Oh my, I love your blog! I had to stop attending my Highland classes after 9 years because I moved to the South of England for drama school 2 years ago. I'm trying to keep my foot in by teaching my curious English friends some steps and practicing myself. Blogs like this one really help keep me motivated, only one more year and then I'll be back based in Scotland and able to complete my Associate exam, so the motivation is appreciated! Keep dancing x

thank you! oh thats sad :( i had to quit when i moved to go to university so i feel you. props to you for keeping going by yourself! a month ago i put on my shoes out of nostalgia and wished that i could do some by myself but alas i never have time. good luck with your associate exam! :)

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Do Scottish dancers do anytype of tap-like dance like Irish dancers do? Also Irish dancing is VERY turned out its just crossed over too.

not really, highland dance is pretty different from irish dance. and yes, irish dance is turned out! the turning out in highland just looks very different. with all the side extensions its way less...idk, compact? than irish dance

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Hey, I love highland dancing! And I have been doing it all my life. I also play the bagpipes! But I am having trouble picking a kilt colour. I have brown hair and brown eyes and I don't know what colour would look the best! Thanks :)

well i’m really sorry that i didn’t reply to this until now.

hmmm im probably the worst person to ask about this because i dont have a good sense of colour. i also had brown hair and i had a green kilt, but i mostly chose that because i love green. honestly i don’t think you can go wrong but  maybe look up what sorts of colours will go with your hair colour and then pick your favourite colour from there!

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Have you ever competed? I REALLY want to but I have no self esteem. My teacher is amazing and extremely patient with me but I feel like I'm letting her down (wasting her time?) so I was wondering if there were any tips you could give me?

no i never did compete...when i was a kid starting out my parents didn’t believe in competition so they didnt let me compete and then when i was old enough to decide for myself i didnt really want to. i had no interest in trying to be better than anyone else. i did exams instead and that way i only was competing against myself.

anyway, you’re definitely not wasting her time or letting her down! im sure you’re fantastic. if you put in the time to practice there’s no way you could be letting her down. i think you should try competing. im sure it will boost your self esteem! do you do exams? 

keep your head up!

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how do I get my points better I've got good points but I've just started championship and I want excellent points with a good foot turnout:)

practice practice practice! dedicate time to perfecting your points. its the only way to make them better! 

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Going through your blog, I find it really weird that there are so many passionate highland dancers- It's great. I used to do a lot of dancing when I was younger, but I hated it then. All of the "confessions" about competitions and exams are lovely. I couldn't help but notice that your exam grading system is a tad different than here in Australia. We have a "fail" mark as well as an "honours" mark- which are the polar opposites. I hope you guys continue to dance and don't give up like I did.

It’s too bad to hear that you didn’t like highland, but understandable. Like any sport (or any extracurricular activity for that matter), if you don’t want to be doing it then you’re not going to like it! I know I personally had other extracurriculars that I quit because I hated them (hip hop, piano, softball). Highland was the one that I loved and I only stopped because I moved away to university! 

Interesting to hear about the grading in Australia! Of course, I can only ever comment from my perspective so I have no clue what a lot of other exams are like. I’ve had other people say as well that their exams are completely different!

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I cant do decent leaps and im going to start competing but i get really annoyed about my leaps ive tried stretching every day i do leaps on the back of chairs and i practice it a lot could you give me a few tips

Oh my gosh this message has been sitting in my inbox forever because I forgot about it. Sorry!

Hmm...tips for better leaps...sounds like you're doing what you need to be doing by stretching and practising. Honestly leaps just come easier to some people than others. I have ridiculously tight hamstrings and I can't leap to save my life, so I'm probably not the best person to ask!

Hey fellow highland dancers: anyone have tips for this lovely anon on how to improve leaps? Anybody figured out a trick besides just practise and stretching?

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Hey, that kilt photo you use for your highland dance problems, where did you find it??

this one? :) 

its a photo that i took of me and my dance friends at one of our year end shows a few years back! im the green one :)

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Submitted by maddie-p-1d

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Thanks for answering my question, very helpful!

:) Glad to help!

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Hi you answered my question earlier about half and full point, I started dancing last July and my teacher says I have done really well for the amount of time I've been dancing. Also do you have and tips for bigger leaps? Thanks!

Good for you! :D Are you liking it? 

Bigger leaps…hmmm…well, I have abnormally tight hamstrings and I am physically incapable of leaping properly so I’m probably not the most qualified person to answer, but honestly I think if you want bigger leaps you just have to stretch! Stretch every day and practice a bunch too! Over time bigger leaps will come :) (unless your body is screwy like mine in which case they’ll never come but thats not the case for most people)

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I'm in beginner and I want to work on half point or full point, how do I get there?

How long have you been dancing for? :)

I don’t know if this helps, but one exercise that my old teacher had us do was stand with our foot on a half point in third position and beat the rear foot (like in a pas de basque) repeatedly for a certain amount of time, and then switch feet and repeat with the other foot. this was to practice strengthening of our half points so we could eventually do a pas de basque without our ankle bending or twisting as we beat. we also did the same exercise in an open position, as for open pas de basques. you can start on a bar to help with your balance, and eventually move off the bar. make sure you focus on getting your foot set up perfectly each time before you beat, there’s no use doing the exercise if it’s sloppy!

i did 11 years of dance and still never mastered the half point. i have beautifully shaped half points when i’m motionless but as soon as i try to beat my back foot, my ankle twists backwards. also when im dancing up to speed i usually default back to the ball by accident. sigh.

anyway, that’s basically the only thing i ever remember doing in class to work on half points…

anything to add, guys? how do you work on half points? any tips? 

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"Highland Dance" on Redbubble

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For your last anon getting a kilt, don't get a trendy colour. Right now pastels and bright colours are the in thing but I personally think it's better to go with something more traditional but still unique so in the future you don't regret getting the trendy tartan as getting a new kilt is very expensive

I agree! I haven't seen many "trendy colours" because I don't compete or anything so I don't get much of a chance to see kilts, but I definitely know they're out there! When I was considering getting a kilt made new a few years ago, I remember lusting after a lime green tartan. I probably would've regretted that though. ;) I knew a few girls that had hot pink ones. THAT was interesting.

So yes, stay away from what's trendy! Stay away from weird neon kilts! 

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I'm looking to get my own kilt (till now I've been borrowing one) I'm having a really hard time just setting on one without thinking I'm picking the wrong one. Is there any advice you can give on just picking one and sticking to it?

Heres all the advice that I can come up with:

Get one that has large hems so there’s room to let it out if you grow. You want it to last a long time!

When picking colour/tartan, choose one that you really like! You’re going to be wearing it a lot, and probably keeping it for a while, so maybe sure you like the colour! Also make sure that it compliments your skin tone and hair colour. 

Make sure you pick a tartan that will go well with one of the normal vest/jacket colours. It’s one of my pet peeves when someone’s vest/jacket doesn’t actually match their kilt! My current vest is black and it doesn’t match my green kilt (there are no black lines in the kilt, only dark green) but I had to buy it because I outgrew my green vest and couldn’t find another in the same colour. It drives me crazy that it doesn’t match!

Basically, the most important thing is making sure you like it. And, if it turns out you made the wrong choice, you can always sell it and buy a different one!

What do you think, guys? Anything you want to offer? My kilt is a hand-me-down from my old dance teacher so I never really had the experience of “choosing” one. (And the ones I had before that were from a limited selection and were the only ones that fit me).

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Playing around and making some highland dance designs for my Redbubble! Go forth and browse! There's only a few designs right now but you can get them on shirts, posters and prints, phone/iPad cases etc! I even have a customizable dancer. You can pick the hair/skin/vest colours for her. More designs are on the way so check back for more! Also, requests/suggestions are welcome!