For the Northern Highlands Regional High School newspaper see The Highland Fling

For the famous NZ trotter see Highland Fling (horse)

Highland Fling (horse)

Highland Fling was a New Zealand bred Standardbred racehorse. He is notable in that he won two New Zealand Trotting Cup races, the richest harness race, and sometimes the richest horse race in New Zealand. Highland Fling was a leading performer in the years 1947 and 1948...

The Highland Fling is one of the oldest of the Highland dances

Scottish highland dance

The term Highland dance or Highland dancing is used today to refer to a style of athletic solo dancing which developed in the Gaelic Highlands of Scotland...

 that originated in the Gaelic

Gaels

The Gaels or Goidels are speakers of one of the Goidelic Celtic languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx. Goidelic speech originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to western and northern Scotland and the Isle of Man....

 Highlands

Scottish Highlands

The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...

 of Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. Returning from a victorious battle, male warriors would perform the dance in celebration of their success. It was performed on a small round shield

Shield

A shield is a type of personal armor, meant to intercept attacks, either by stopping projectiles such as arrows or redirecting a hit from a sword, mace or battle axe to the side of the shield-bearer....

, called a targe

Targe

Targe was a general word for shield in late Old English. Its diminutive, target, came to mean an object to be aimed at in the 18th century....

. Most targes had a sharp spike of steel projecting from the center, so the dancers learned to move with skill and dexterity to avoid injuring themselves.

This dance is now performed at dance competitions and events around the world. It is no longer danced on a shield, but it is still the goal of the dancer to stay in the same spot throughout the dance. The Highland Fling is danced at almost all competition levels, from Primary to Premier. It is also performed for most Highland and Theory examinations. Dancers wear the standard Kilt

Kilt

The kilt is a knee-length garment with pleats at the rear, originating in the traditional dress of men and boys in the Scottish Highlands of the 16th century. Since the 19th century it has become associated with the wider culture of Scotland in general, or with Celtic heritage even more broadly...

 outfit to perform this dance.

Some people believe the Fling may have originated from a different source. There is a story about a young boy who saw a stag

Deer

Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...

. When his father asked him to describe it, the boy could not find the words, so he danced on the spot, shaping his arms and hands into the animal he saw.

List of steps

This dance can be done as a:

• 4 step dance. Usually danced by Primary, Beginner, and Novice dancers at competitions.
• 6 step dance. Usually danced by Intermediate and Premier dancers at competitions.
• 8 step dance. Very rarely done at Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing (SOBHD) competitions, although it is still danced at some traditional Highland Games.

The first and last steps must always be danced in those places, but the rest of the steps are up to the dancer to choose. At the higher levels the SOBHD will release a different order of steps for each year to be danced in championship competitions. Dancers taking theory exams may also need to know all of these steps, as well as their order, depending on the level of exam they reach.

Music (Bagpipes

Bagpipes

Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...

) - "Monymusk" or any other suitable Strathspey tune.

Steps Tempo - 114* beats to the minute

First Step: Shedding

Second Step: First Back-Stepping

Third Step: Toe and Heel

Fourth Step: Rocking

Fifth Step: Second Back-Stepping

Sixth Step: Cross-Over

Seventh Step: Shake and Turn

Eighth Step: Last Shedding

These steps comprise the steps for the Highland Fling included in the SOBHD text book. There are many more steps in existence which have been used in competition over the years - some of which have been recorded in publications by, for example, Flett, while many more exist only in the memories of senior dancers .

The current (2006) recommended tempo for the Highland Fling is 114 bpm. This has slowed considerably over the years - from 192 bpm one hundred years ago, 152 bpm in the 1960s and then 134 bpm in the 1980s.

External links

• SOBHD - Championship Steps/Tempo

The Highland Fling can also been seen in the 2002 version of Nicholas Nickleby, performed by Alan Cumming
Nicholas Nickleby (2002 film)

Nicholas Nickleby (2002 film)

Nicholas Nickleby is a 2002 comedy-drama film written and directed by Douglas McGrath. The screenplay is based on The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens, which originally was published in serial form between March 1838 and September 1839.-Plot:In a prologue we are...