Not everyone chooses to compete at Highland Dancing, but the vast majority do. As and when you are ready and decide to compete, you should click here for information on how to go about getting ready for and competing at competitions. Highland Dancing competitions basically take three different forms:-

These are held once a year for the area which they cover. They range from championships covering certain states in the USA to the famous World Championships held at the Cowal Gathering in Dunoon each August. A Championship confers the title of "Champion" on the competitor in each age group who receives the most points across Highland Fling, Sword Dance, Seann Truibhas and a Reel. It is a very prestigous event to win - preceded by very intensive training and practice. Championships must always have three independent judges marking each dancer so as to ensure fairness throughout. All dancers will perform the same steps - these are known as the Championship Steps for the year. This website publishes a calendar for this year's championships as well as results for those which have taken place. If you would like the results of your championship posted here then please send the results to the webmaster.

These are held throughout the year in many places. The most plentify supply of them are in Scotland where, theoretically, it is possible to compete on every weekend of the year and during the summer a couple of times each weekend! Dancers will compete in the four Highland Dances with the addition of four National Dances such as the Flora MacDonald's Fancy or the Irish Jig. Competitors are only allowed to compete in a maximum of eight events at each competition. Click on Competition Calendar to see what competitions there are taking place which this School will normally attend. Click here to find out how pupils of this school have done in recent competitions.

These are a very well known Scottish tradition and occupy the competitive dancer's weekends for most of the Summer and early Autumn months. Highland Games were traditionally gatherings of the clans where each would vie to win titles for athletic, heavyweight, dancing and bagpipe playing events. Highland Games are a fantastic way to compete at Highland Dancing if you live in Scotland as there will always be plenty of events close to where you live. Down here in England, there are, obviously, not so many similar events. There are, however a number that are usually well attended including Colchester, Banbury, Harpenden, Corby, Ashbourne and the wonderful Chatsworth Country Fair. Even Holland has a similar event - however, they call theirs the "Lowland Games" reflecting the exceptionally flat terrain! For information on Highland Games events close to where you are - follow the link for the Scottish Games Association in the Links page of this site.

Progression

The path a competitor normally takes through their competing years follows the Registration Scheme of the Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing. In order to ensure that as children (and sometimes adults!) are introduced to competitive dancing they compete with dancers of a comparable standard, they progress through a number of sections. The Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing very tightly regulates the conduct of competitions throughout the world and dancers must register with them before they are allowed to compete. Dancers who do not register or forget to bring their registration cards to a competition are not allowed to compete. The sections a dancer will compete in are:

Primary Section

This section is for those aged 4 years and above who have just commenced competitive Highland Dancing. The stay in this section until their 7th birthday when they advance to the "Beginners" section. Dancers in the Primary Section (which used to be referred to as the "Baby" section) compete only in pas-de-basques, pas-de-basques and high cuts, Highland Fling and Sword Dance. They will receive medals if they are placed high enough in their group by the judge but do not receive overall trophies or other awards. A Primary dancer will carry a blue registration card.

Beginners Section

This section is for anyone (adults or children) who have just started competing. A dancer will stay in this section until such time as they receive a 1st, 2nd or 3rd prize in any dance at six different competitions. However, in Scotland, that could happen within 3 weeks if a dancer is progressing well enough and, therefore, they would be allowed to stay in the Beginners section until six months have elapsed from when they first registered. These dancers also carry blue registration cards.

Novice Section

This is the next progression from the Beginners' section above and follows exactly the same rules. A dancer will stay in this group until they have six 1st, 2nd or 3rd prizes from different competitions, or until six months have elapsed from advancing from Beginners - whichever is the later. Dancers in both Beginners and Novice will only compete in Highland Fling, Sword Dance, Seann Truibhas, a Reel, Flora MacDonald's Fancy and Scottish Lilt. These dancers carry yellow registration cards.

Advanced

A dancer will stay in this section for a period of twelve months from their first competition in this section whether they are successful in winning a prize or not. At this point, extra National Dances can be included in the competition from Barracks Johnnie, Highland Laddie, Irish Jig and Sailor's Hornpipe. An Advanced dancer will carry a red registration card.

Premier

This is the last and longest section a dancer will compete in until they retire from competitive dancing. A dancer here can enter any of the events performed at a competition and is also able to compete in Championships. When a Championship takes place, there is often another competition run concurrently called a Pre-Championship. This is for competitors who have never won a Championship or Pre-Championship before. Dancers in this section carry a white card which must be renewed yearly.