Great athletic performance in the Highland fling Scottish dancing competition by male and female competitors during the 2018 Kenmore Highland Games by Loch Tay in Perthshire, Scotland.
My daughter once told me Scottish dancing looked ridiculously easy. Cool, but easy. She was a championship Irish dancer. Then she tried Scottish dance out and guess what, it was HARD! This pair here is amazing! Just wow!
It is good to see males participate in Scottish dancing. It takes hard work, courage and pride what you do. I am proud of you all. Dancing is very good exercising. Plus Scottish is part of my family background. I like the kilt suits. It looks very decent and professional in public.
Yeah guy, women weren't even allowed to learn highland dance until like 70 years ago or something. It is traditionally a men's dance associated with the military.
I think the highland fling originated from years ago after a soldier won a battle he would perform the highland fling. It was a victory dance for after battle lol
He had the slightest accent with his leg extensions. They were both wonderful, but he straightened his leg with the slightest bit more energy. So, so great to see male competitors in dancing. It makes my dancer heart happy 🥰
@@mewho6199 from a highland dancer, they are VERY good and they’re at the same skill level, not to mention the boy won an award and the world championships. 🙃
Males are the best dancers in general, they have the muscles that allow them to leap much higher as was originally intended. When I used to compete - long time ago now - our top two dancers were both male, one of them eventually moved to Scotland to compete/live because he couldn't go any higher where he was. Meant he had to take a 2 year break from competitions (display dances only allowed) before he could compete in Scotland. I often wonder how he got on after he moved, he truly was fabulous. But it meant that there was now a space for second place in the competitions, before he and Mark took all the top places.
You could take a dozen screenshots of this, compare the angles of both dancers’ legs using a protractor and I know you’d find the angles were identical each time. What a fantastic bit of synchronised dancing. Marvellous to watch. Congratulations to the two dancers. I’m off to have another look !!
Pretty sure the male dancer is Hamish McInnes from Australia 🇦🇺. 😍. I have seen him dance in person once. It is a sight to behold. So strong yet so elegant.
No! Not Australia!! Damn! I once saw some incredible Hawaiian hula dancing...it was the best Hula dancing that I have ever seen anywhere...it was totally mesmerizing and utterly perfect in its execution. I remember it clear as day it 20 years later...and where did I see it? Australia. Two white females...just totally nailed it...it was spell binding.
Excellent -- I'm tired out just watching this! Also great to see a bloke doing it (as they have in the past) -- not just a great dancer, but he's also got guts. I take my hat off to them both.
I dreamed I was doing this dance. When I described it to my mother over the phone, she in Northern New York, myself in Manhattan, she told me it was the Highland Fling. Her mother was a Scot as were both her maternal grandparents. Now I can't even demonstrate it; my God it takes stamina!! According to Wikipedia it was a dance invented by warriors who were victorious in battle. They danced on their upturned shields which had a steel point coming out of the middle. So not only stamina but courage and dexterity.
Try to find the sword dance if you can. Though these days dancers perform above fake swords, back when the dance originated it was done by warriors over there unsheathed weapons.
The two champion dancers are the supremely talented and lovely Lyndsey Douglas and Hamish McInnes. The piper is pretty darn good too, Grade I, I'd say.
I used to dance in these competitions when I was younger. I remember not liking when the guys would compete with us. My mom has since passed away. I'm here reminiscing and seeing what moves and dances I remember and critique the dancers. Lol
@@chuachua-hj9zdhighland dancing creates very strong bones but it is very demanding on the body. Dancers at this level have to train like athletes to minimise the impact on knees and rest of body.
@@chuachua-hj9zd I danced in competitions. I remember having a knee problem later on. Not sure if it has to do with that or just getting old. Lol. Either way, I've tried doing the dances I remember and I get out of breath pretty quickly and I'm not as light on my feet. But, my legs are strong. My BF is in MMA and my leg power is amazing
Excellent dancing from a former National Champion. Their core and athleticism spot on. I am critical and I am so pleased great execution. I am Scots and in my day we didn’t raise an arm on turns. I remember Americans and the Commonwealth dancers arriving in Scotland for Cowal and I actually thought it was a breech of the rules. Lol😂
Either the dancers sped up, or the piper slowed down... The slower the tempo, the higher you have to jump, right? Highland dancing is hard... That's why I switched to pipes.
Dancing is A LOT harder when it’s slower, in a way you do have to jump higher because you need to slow the dance down, AKA jumping higher to take up more beats
That is so cool that you are inspired by this video! I believe that with a lot of hard work and a specific goal in mind, you will become as good as (if not better than) these champion dancers; remember how hard they had to work to get to the top... If you have the fire in your heart, the beauty and the pride will shine from you, and the judges will love it! (Don't let this COVID-junk and the messed-up competition season get you down; Highland dancing has survived worse conditions than this, right?) ❤️✌️🏴 (Edit: ... Forgive me for assuming that you were a younger student; maybe you are not... If you are a sarcastic/jealous-adult teacher, that's ok, because so am I, and I hope you can inspire your pupils to achieve this level of competence. 😉)
When I had a presentaition about Scotland as homework I danced this dance. It was not easy and I was nervous but my teacher was proud af me. She called me "very brave child". This year I'll end school, and I'll be miss her
This was likely the “Championship fling” as set out by the SOBHD that year. It’s the regular first step, first back stepping step, toe heel step, final step. There’s many different middle steps to choose from.
@@mewho6199 He won thats the funny thing. Matter a fact he is a world champion. He jumps higher and has much more elegance in his form then she does. Both are very good though.
Man that is just stunning. I really dislike the numbers on the kilts...what are they? Cattle? But the dancing was just awesome. Amazing. Such wonderful dancing.
Beautiful dancing, they make it look so effortless... But while watching their feet I was distracted by the socks. I want a pair! LOL Any idea where Skottish dancing originates/ is influenced by? I can see similarities with other historical dances with holding hands high up and rigid, upright torso
Originally this form of dancing was to prove the fitness of the dancers. If you’ve ever tried jumping with your arms held up over your head, you’ll know how fit you have to be.
He dances better than her.more strong and perfect.betrer structure in his arms and stability in his jumps and more effortless this was traditionally a male dance.
His shoulders should be down and arms held as a natural curve like the stalks of a deer .. his arms were a bit too rigid needs to relax a bit .. but apart from that he was fab
Much Respects for Scottish Dancing~ if that were me I would be a Hot Sacred Mess Whimsical Dancer w/o constraints or boundaries dancing lyrically w/ ancestral spirit. ;)
Hello Dries. It's not a Clan tartan. Dancers in these competitions choose from a range of bright coloured check pattern material, which looks like a tartan and can be used by anyone.
@@ps5user155 Was a man only sport. It was originally done on top of a shield. If you were a good dancer you were a good fighter. Cheiftians would dance over swords before battle.
