Kim Roe, talks to us about the Highland dance competitions held at Riverside High School over the weekend and the benefits of this culturally rooted sport. Video Rod Thompson
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00:00 Oh, well we start from primary. They have to be four years old to do primary. So that
00:07 was in the primary section, so that's four to six years. So they're four, five and six
00:16 years and they did their little dances and they're much more simpler. And then we had
00:23 - so you can be a beginner. You could be a beginner. So we had, you know, beginners seven
00:29 years and eight years and then we had nine and over and then twelve and over. So, you
00:33 know, we had eighteen year olds who were beginner dancers. So it's for everybody. And then once
00:38 you've got so many prizes you go to novice and then if you're still dancing you go to
00:42 intermediate and once you've had your twelve months or I think we have six marks, you get
00:48 six first prizes, then you move on to premier, which is the championship standard. It became
00:54 popular because we had all the Scottish immigrants that came out. But it's very competitive in
01:01 Canada, USA, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa and then of course the big world championships
01:09 are in Scotland. That's where the largest numbers are. Yeah, we've got a very high standard
01:13 here. We've had lots of champion of champions and Australian champion and international
01:20 champions and I think last year we had two girls that made the world final for the twelve
01:27 to fifteen years in Danube. I just love seeing the involvement of everyone, like the little
01:34 ones and up to the seniors and I love seeing them clap for each other when they get a prize
01:40 and they haven't got one but their friend has so they jump up and cheer, you know. It's
01:43 got a really good atmosphere. But I think - I'm a PE teacher as well as a dance teacher
01:49 - but it's the fitness element that's really good and a lot of mental strength and having
01:55 to deal with success and maybe failure in your own eyes, but it's not failure, but not
01:59 getting a prize. There's so many mental health issues that are fabulous from this, you know,
02:05 learning to cope when you don't sort of achieve what you want to, but really you are achieving
02:12 a lot by getting up there and performing and training and working hard.
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