Bay Harbour: November 25, 2020
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PAGE 6 Wednesday <strong>November</strong> <strong>25</strong> <strong>2020</strong><br />
BAY HARBOUR<br />
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz<br />
‘I’m always there to be called upon if needed’<br />
• From page 5<br />
How popular is Highland<br />
dancing in New Zealand’s<br />
‘English city, surely it’s a<br />
bigger deal in Dunedin, the<br />
‘Edinburgh of the South?’<br />
We have about 20 teachers in<br />
Christchurch. Canterbury-West<br />
Coast as we call it is the largest<br />
centre for dancers and pipers in<br />
New Zealand. The Caledonian<br />
Society and the Scottish Society<br />
of New Zealand contribute to<br />
the large numbers. We have<br />
winter lessons there on Saturday<br />
and that brings the children in.<br />
Well, we try to bring the children<br />
in. There’s a lot of uphill work<br />
getting new kids to start. You’ve<br />
got to have the parents wanting<br />
to do it.<br />
Highland dancing was<br />
originally a male bastion, but<br />
now it’s associated more with<br />
females isn’t it? How do you get<br />
more laddies involved?<br />
Highland dancing was for men<br />
in the beginning, not the women,<br />
way, way back. Quite often boys<br />
come along because their sisters<br />
are learning and then the boys get<br />
a bit of a grip on it and away they<br />
go. But they want to play rugby as<br />
well, or football. We’ve got some<br />
very strong male dancers in New<br />
Zealand, but not many. I could<br />
probably count them on two<br />
hands, but they carry on dancing<br />
right into their 20s.<br />
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SKILLS: Young Highland dancers go through their routine<br />
at the Hororata Highland Games, an event that has<br />
boosted the profile of the pursuit.<br />
You have two boys, were they<br />
encouraged to give it a go?<br />
Jason had lovely feet (for ballet).<br />
The teacher I took him to, she<br />
had a son and he’d come to the<br />
class too. As soon as that boy<br />
stopped that was it for Jason.<br />
He started to learn the bagpipes<br />
but I think his friends told him<br />
it wasn’t the thing to do and<br />
he gave it up. I never pushed<br />
(eldest boy) Gregory. Wendy,<br />
my daughter, learnt Highland<br />
dancing. When she got to about<br />
14 her friends said to her: ‘It’s not<br />
the thing to do Wendy.’<br />
Which is the hardest dance to<br />
learn?<br />
The Highland fling. It’s the<br />
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first dance they learn and there’s<br />
a lot of pressure on their little<br />
legs. To turn your knees out and<br />
understand the time count and<br />
everything.<br />
At what age can you start<br />
Highland dancing?<br />
About five. Some children start<br />
younger but you’ve got to be able<br />
to count to 16. The Highland fling<br />
puts a lot of pressure on one leg at<br />
a time. There’s four counts on one<br />
leg and then four counts on the<br />
other. That’s quite a lot of springing<br />
on one leg for a little kid.<br />
Talk up the selling points of<br />
Highland dancing?<br />
It’s good for posture, they<br />
carry themselves well. I also find<br />
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they’re very respectful. I think it’s<br />
the discipline of Highland dancing.<br />
They also need determination<br />
to achieve what’s required.<br />
Where and when are the<br />
major Highland Games in New<br />
Zealand?<br />
There’s Waipu on January<br />
1, then there’s Turakina<br />
(Wellington) at the end of<br />
January. Hastings is at Easter<br />
and then there’s Hororata<br />
(<strong>November</strong>). Hororata would<br />
probably be one of the biggest in<br />
the southern hemisphere.<br />
You had an eye operation<br />
recently but were you still<br />
able to take in the Hororata<br />
Highland Games weren’t you?<br />
I helped organise the Highland<br />
dancing. We had 93 dancers out<br />
there (on <strong>November</strong> 7). At the<br />
games most of our dance pipers<br />
were involved in pipe bands they<br />
couldn’t commit to playing for<br />
the Highland dancing so we had<br />
to use iPod music.<br />
Have the now decade-old<br />
Hororata Highland Games been<br />
beneficial in terms of dancing’s<br />
profile?<br />
It’s good exposure to the<br />
general public. A lot of people<br />
bring their little kids along, they<br />
watch the dancing for quite<br />
a while and think: ‘I wonder<br />
where you have to go to learn<br />
that?’. You’ve only got to go on<br />
the website for the Piping and<br />
912 Colombo Street, Christchurch<br />
Ph: 03 981 8181 or 0800 4 Males (0800 462 537)<br />
www.vasectomy.nz<br />
Dancing Association of New<br />
Zealand and you’ll get all the<br />
names of teachers in your area.<br />
Are you still focused on<br />
teaching?<br />
I’m there to relieve if any of<br />
the young ones can’t come in to<br />
teach. You’ve got to make room<br />
for young ones. I’m always there<br />
to be called upon if needed.<br />
How do you see the future<br />
of Highland dancing in New<br />
Zealand?<br />
I think it’s positive but we have<br />
to keep getting it out there in the<br />
public eye. You’ve got to keep<br />
promoting it otherwise they’ll go<br />
and do something else.<br />
Your service to Highland<br />
dancing has been recognised in<br />
recent years hasn’t it?<br />
I was made a Member of the<br />
New Zealand Order of Merit in<br />
2008 for services to Scottish stuff.<br />
They called it the Scottish arts.<br />
In June I was made a life member<br />
of the Highland dancing section<br />
of the Caledonian Society (www.<br />
canterburycaledonian.org.nz). I<br />
do appreciate the recognition.<br />
Does a love of the pipes and<br />
drums go hand in hand with<br />
Highland dancing?<br />
I do like pipe band music. I do<br />
a programme, I’ve been doing<br />
it for 15 years, on Plains FM<br />
96.9. It’s a Scottish session. I go<br />
in there and pre-record it about<br />
once a month.<br />
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