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|  Scottish Highland DancingsHighland Dancing is one of the major attractions of every Scottish and Celtic festival. And for Williamsburg, it is no exception. Dance competitors travel from over a dozen states to compete at the Williamsburg Scottish Festival. Many highland dancers have an innate drive to compete and advance to a higher level. The Williamsburg Festival provides opportunities for amateur and premier competitors alike. Dancers progress from beginner through novice and intermediate levels of competition as their skills improve, with the goal of becoming a premier dancer. A serious competition often is an all day affair, and be it rain or shine, it makes little difference since our competition is comfortably facilitated under cover.The Williamsburg dance competition offers suitable awards for winners in all grades, to include cash prizes, trophies and plaques. As always, we'll be looking for unique dancers for our special awards. This year you may want to get into the spirit of the games by dancing at our Friday night ceilidh. After our big day of competition, before you decide to throw off your dance attire, you may chose to perform at the evening ceilidh to share the spotlight with some of the biggest names in Celtic music entertainment. Quite an event! This will be quite a memory and a most fitting conclusion to an exciting day at the festival park. Our Dances this YearSpectators can enjoy watching traditional dances performed for centuries by Scottish warriors. Dances such as The Highland Fling and The Sword Dance, with their execution of precisely placed foot positions, carry on traditions that date from the days when they were danced before and after battles. The Seann Triubhas or 'old trousers' depicts a person in the act of shedding his trousers reminding us when the wearing of the kilt was forbidden and then the joy of wearing it again.Our military guests will be interested in watching one of the character dances, the Sailor's Hornpipe, illuminating many shipyard activities common in the days of wooden ships and iron men. Or watch the Hielan' Laddie--a recruiting dance historically conducted by soldiers to encourage the village lads to join-up for all the fun and adventure offered by the military. After watching, some of you might even be ready to join-up with us! The other less rigid National Dances are graced with elegant movements. Traditionally, they were created for the stage and collected from old dance masters. These were introduced into American competition in the 1960s, and danced by women in a shortened version of the traditional 17th century ladies' attire, the "Aboyne Dress." This attire is named after the Aboyne Highland Games of Scotland where, even today, the wearing of the kilt is strictly forbidden to women. On stage this year you will see the Scottish Lilt, the Scotch Measure, and Blue Bonnets over the Border--Blue Bonnets honor the men as they went over the border into war, wearing their bonny blue bonnets.  Another popular character dance is the Irish Jig. Although not historically traditional, this immensely popular Jig is danced with controlled abandon. If performed by a female, the dance is supposed to represent an angry Irish washerwoman whose husband has been delayed at the local pub. If danced by a male, it portrays the story of Paddy's Leather Breeches, which have shrunk because of a careless Irish washerwoman. Registration
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