A number of highland dancers from the North Island participated at a recent competition hosted at Vancouver Island University by the Nanaimo Highland Dancing Association.
The competition had very large classes and tough competition for the dancers.
Emma Walkus competed in the Primary 4 & 5 group.
Abigail McCorquodale placed 3rd out of 41 competitors in the special event all ages fling.
She also competed in the Beginner 7 & Under class and placed first in the Sword, Seann Truibhas, Strathspey and Highland Reel, Lilt and Flora. Abigail won the aggregate trophy for her class.
Emma Barrett and Shelby Keen competed in the Beginner 8 & 9 class. Shelby placed 5th in the Lilt.
Mollie Johnson competed in the Beginner 10 & over class.
Catherine Symons and Emma Jensen competed in the Novice 11 & under class.
Catherine placed 4th in the Strathspey and Highland Reel, 5th in the Sword, and 6th in the Flora.
Emma placed first in the Sword, Seann Truibhas, Strathspey and Highland Reel, Lilt and won the aggregate trophy for her class.
Emma beat out 26 dancers to win the all ages special event fling for the Novice division.
Heather MacKenzie competed in the Novice 12 & over class and placed 4th in the Sword and 2nd in the Flora.
In the Intermediate special event Fling, Georgia Walkus placed 3rd and Xandryn Frost placed 5th.
In the Intermediate 12 & under class Georgia placed first in the Sword and Seann Truibhas and won the aggregate trophy for the class.
Xandryn placed 2nd in the Seann Truibhas and 3rd in the Sailor’s Hornpipe. Emily Walker placed 5th in the Seann Truibhas and the Hornpipe and 4th in “Wilt thou go to the Barracks Johnny?”
Ella Waring placed 5th in the under 16 Premier special event Fling. Ella also placed 5th in the Seann Truibhas, Johnny and Village Maid.
Laina Southgate placed 6th in the 16 & over Premier special event Fling and competed in the 16 & over Premier class.
In another competition in Langley hosted by the Fraser Valley Highland Dancing Association Jan. 14, two local dancers competed.
Abigail McCorquodale competed in the Beginner 7 & under group and placed 3rd in the Fling, 2nd in the Sword, 3rd in the Lilt, 2nd in the Flora. Abigail won the aggregate trophy for the highest points in her class.
Ella Waring competed in the Premier 15 group and placed 4th in the Seann Truibhas and 6th in the Irish Jig.
A group of dancers from the Team Charlton Highland Dancers are currently preparing to attend Championships this spring, and will also be competing in the Scotdance Canada annual Canadian event which is being held in Edmonton in July.