Entertainment
15 April, 2024
Dancing skills to be tested
ART, sport and a lot of tartan will be on display at the 62nd Queensland Highland Dancing Championships and Scottish National Dance Premierships to be held in Cairns next week.
Over 100 dancers from FNQ and across Australia will put their skills to the test at the 2024 Queensland Highland Dancing Championships and Scottish National Dance Premierships organised by the FNQ Regional Committee of Highland Dancing Inc (FNQRCHDI), coming up on April 20 and 21 for an intense and skillful competition.
The premierships will take place at the Tropical North Learning Academy Centre of Artistic Development at Smithfield State High School with three judges from England, Bundaberg and Canberra officiating at the event.
FNQRCHDI president and Highland dance teacher for over 40 years Jackie Wilson said it was exciting for Cairns to host again after five years.
“This championship is held annually, and we host it from Cairns to Mackay, and we’re attracting dancers age four to over 30 from every state in Australia,” she said. “On Saturday, we’ll run the championship, that’s the premier dancers who have worked through the levels and are at championship standard.
“Then we have dancers at pre -premier level, and if they get placed, they progress through the levels that will make them eligible to dance the championships.
“A win in the Queensland championships can help them get the experience to qualify for the World Highland Dancing Championship at Cowal in August.”
City of Cairns Highland and Irish Dancers teacher Rachael Fullston said the Cairns cohort was excited to take on the challenge.
“We’re excited. We have one primary, two beginners, one novice and three premiers that will be competing,” she said.
“Having it (the championship) in Cairns is a great opportunity. Living in Cairns we don’t get to travel much, and if we didn’t have this one here, that would be one less that some dancers can attend because it is costly to travel.
“We’re still building a community of highland dancers, we’ve been going for 40 years, but there’s not many Scottish families up here, so this championship is also good to spread the word on our style of dance.”
The event is free to attend with a gold coin donation.
