Highland Dancing on the Move in Northern Ireland

The first Northern Ireland Highland Dance conference in the Quality Hotel Carrickfergus on Friday and Saturday March 21-22 was attended by candidates from Scotland, Italy and Northern Ireland.

Representatives came from dance groups - Kirknarra, Brightlights, Magherafelt, Coothill, Londonderry, Monaghan, Ballynahinch and Sollus, all of which are affiliated to the Scottish official board of Highland Dancing and community groups from Donegall Road Methodist, Knocknagoney, Lisburn, Olympia and Ballysillan.

These groups collectively teach more than 500 young people the majority of which are girls.

George Holmes, of the Ulster-Scots Agency, who set the scene for the rest of the conference, opened the proceedings.

Anna Bane- vice president United Kingdom Alliance of Dancing and member of world governing body The Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing, gave a presentation and led a workshop on the topic "Learning from the Scottish experience".

Other workshops undertaken were "Where are we now?" introduced by Gillian Jones (SBCS) and "The Way Forward" by Vivian Hewitt (Italy).

The main aim of the conference was to explore the possibility of forming an association of Highland Dance in Northern Ireland.

The workshops addressed issues such as the current position of Highland Dancing in Northern Ireland and the need to form a central body, its structure, funding, tutor training, awareness and cultural development, use of professional support as required and standard setting.

It was agreed to form a steering committee to look at these and other issues raised with an ultimate objective of forming an association, the title of which is to be the Ulster-Scots Highland Dance Association.

The committee consists of representatives from groups who attended the conference:  John McIntyre, chairman, Gillian Jones (SBCS), James kee (Bready), Charles McAdam (Monaghan), Tilly Hay (Bright Lights), Maynard Hanna (Kirknarra) and Raymond Smyth (Ballynahinch).