The Highland Fling
Perhaps the best known of the Scottish Highland dances , the Highland Fling is said to have originated as a dance on the shield of a clansman in Scotland. It is now a very stylised and is the classic Scottish solo dance at competitions
A wild nature of the dance, with the arms held up in the air, is believed to have originated with dancers copying stags fighting. It became a wild dace of victory after a battle, and was always danced with enthusiasm
At a serious competitive level today, the highland fling requires a great amount of technique, skill and timing
The Sword Dance
Another Scottish dance that has evolved from martial roots. Originally the Sword Dance was danced on the evening before a battle. The soldier dancing should not touch the swords, or ill fortune would follow him into battle.
The first person to use swords in this way has probably been lost in time, but one tale attributes it to Malcolm Canmore, who won the Battle of Dunsinane in 1054, against one of MacBeth's chiefs. He is said to have used his enemy's sword and his own to form a cross on the floor, and to have danced a victory jig to the skirl of his pipers.
The sword dance is a natural for Highland Games, and can invariably been seen at these gatherings