Competitions

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Highland Dancing Competitions comprise of 2 sections, The Highland and The National.

There are 4 dances in the 'Highland' section which are The Highland Fling, The Swords, The Sean Truibhas and The Reel.
The National section comprises of a selection from The Flora, The Lilt,Highland Laddie, Barracks Johnnie,The Irish Jig, The Sailor's Hornpipe and The Blue Bonnets to name a few.

The Dancers taking part are split into sections depending on how advanced the Dancers are, these are:-

Primary - for Dancers who are under the age of 7

Beginners - for Dancers who have just begun competing. The Beginners section in a competition can be split again into age groups at the organisers descretion.

Novice - when a dancer is placed 1st,2nd or 3rd in the Highland section of a competition they earn a stamp on their registration card.When they have 6 stamps they can progress from beginners to Novice. Only 1 stamp is awarded per competition regardless if the Dancers gets placed 1st,2nd or 3rd once or 4 times.Once a Dancer moves from beginners to novice they receive a new card and start again with no stamps. The Novice section can also be split into age groups at the organisers descretion.

Intermediate - When a Dancer acquires 6 stamps in Novice they can progress to Intermediate level. When they move to Intermediate they again receive a new registration card but do not need to acquire stamps to progress from intermediate, instead there is a time limit of 1 year starting from the date on their new intermediate card. This section can also be split into age groups at the organisors descretion

Premier - When a Dancer has spent enough time in Intermediate they progress to Premier. The Premier section can also be split into age groups and also at Championships this section is further split into Championships and Pre-Championships. To win the Pre-Championship section a dancer must finish 1st in the Highland section of their age group.Once a Dancer has won the Pre-Championships they can only compete in the Championship section at a Championship competition.

Dancers will be awarded a place in each dance by a judge depending on how well they have done, it is up to the Judge and organisers how many places are awarded so in some cases they may only be a 1st and a 2nd awarded but in others there may be 1st down to 8th, 9th or 10th.In Championship Competitions however there is only ever a maximum of 6 places awarded.

Each position earns the Dancers a certain amount of points, a 1st place is worth 88points for example and this number decreases incrementally the lower down the line up a dancer finishes, these points are totalled up at the end of the competition to determine which Dancers has won the overall Trophy in each section and age group, sometimes there is a seperate Trophy for Highland and national, sometimes it is for Highland and National Combined and somtimes there may be one for Highland one for National and one for overall.There are also other trophies awarded for various other categories at the organisors descretion such as best dressed, best local dancer and special fling for example.

Championships are judged by 3 judges who's verdicts are combined to ascertain who is awarded a place. Sometimes a Dancer is placed by one Judge but not the other two for example, so might just miss out on a place in the line up for a dance but because one judge placed them they are awarded championship points.In Championships only 6 places are awarded in each dance but Dancers who were not in the top six but received champonship points may also be called out.At the end of a championship competition the top six Dancers will usually receive a Trophy.