Highland games: Difference between revisions

The [[Cowal Highland Gathering]] hosts the annual World Highland Dancing Championship. This event gathers the best competitive dancers from around the world who compete for the [[Highland dancing#Organization|SOBHDRSOBHD]] sanctioned World Championship title. But most other Highland Games have dancing as well. The impressiveness of the performance varies wildly depending on the section dancing, with the 4/5/6 year old Primary dancers bringing the cuteness but not necessarily the technique compared to the 10-30+ year olds that are typical of the Premier (Open) section. The dances performed can vary quite a lot depending on the size of the dancing boards, access to swords for dancing over, and just preference of which dances to perform. Among the most common dances are the Highland Fling, the Sword Dance or the Ghillie Callum, the Seann Triubhas, the Irish Jig and the Hornpipe. Of these dances three (Highland Fling, Sword Dance, and Seann Triubhas) are performed wearing the semi-traditional kilt whilst the Irish Jig and the Hornpipe have specific outfits for their dances.

At modern-day Highland Games events, a wide variety of other activities and events are generally available. Foremost among these are the [[Scottish Clan|clan]] tents and vendors of Scottish related goods. The various clan societies make the Highland games one of the main focus of their seasonal activities, usually making an appearance at as many such events as possible. Visitors can find out information about the Scottish roots and can become active in their own clan society if they wish. These are more common at Highland Games held outside of Scotland as there is less of a demand for them in Scotland, which is not to say that they do not pop up from time to time.