Fling Movements in Scottish Highland Dancing: Part 1

Video Transcript

" Hi this is Kira Cogswell VanSteenkiste representing expertvillage.com you could contact me at michiganhighlanddance.com and in this clip I will be talking about the history and the basic movements of the Highland fling. The Highland fling has been around for a quick sometime it is one of the oldest types of Scottish Highland dancing. There are quiet a few stories that surround the Highland fling and one of them is when the warriors back in Scotland took there opponents sword and placed it on the ground and they dance the Highland fling on the shield. Cause the shield was so small the they were force to stand in one spot and that is why when you see when dancers dance the Highland fling there standing dancing it in one spot. Another story traditionally talked about the Highland fling is that one day a young boy was going out into the highlands and he saw a stag leaping to and from the Highlands and so when he was so excited that he came home to tell his parents about it and he when he described the stag leaping he described the stag showing that his parents what we now use as our fingers formation in our arms and so this is why our fingers are shown as they are in any of our arm movements is because it supposedly depicted what a stag look like. The boy when he came home he was so excited that he was expressing his arm movements and doing the Highland fling. So those are just a few of the stories regarding the Highland fling. I will now discuss some of the basic movements that are used in the highland fling. The first basic movement is a bow and a bow is used to any Highland dancing form. It is used to signified the beginning and the end of the dance. The bow for the Highland fling is 6 counts and you will appear in fifth position with the arms in first position. Highland bow is 6 counts. You would incline your body forward counting 1,2,3, and then you will replace your body back to the same position on counts 4,5, and 6. This is just using the five of the start of the dance. The next basic movement that I will talk about is the shedding. A shedding is a movement that is made up of different positions and each position that you move to you would do your position with a hop. So the first movement we are going to place into second position and when you place your foot into second position for the shedding your arm would also raise up to second position. The next movement or the next position is third arrow position which you would take to the back leaving your arm in second position. "