08/27/2026
As a 48 year old Premiere who started Highland at age 30- “winning” is a relative term.
Some will not compete or be allowed to compete until they (or their teacher) KNOW that they can win. I understand that this because you not only represent yourself but your teacher on that platform. It can make for a better experience when winning is almost guaranteed if you are held back long enough to perfect your dance.
We- Miss Jenn and I- work from the other side of that ideology. Competition shows you who you are when things go perfectly and when things go wrong. I personally got volun-told that I was competing after only 3 months of dance. Was it because I was a prodigy?
Hell naw. Hell to the naw, naw, naw.
Miss Sandy, our legacy teacher, wanted me to get my feet wet, and see what I was made of and see how I responded to competition. She knew I wouldn’t place well, if at all- but that didn’t matter.
“You never know until you try.”
Now, for Miss Sandy, there was likely an entertainment value in watching me squirm. She is a cheeky one. I took last in every dance. And when I groused about it, Miss Sandy said to take heart- “you took 4th place in 3 dances. The judge did not have to place you at all.”
I didn’t understand until later that 4th was not a participation ribbon for this particular judge. It was actually earned.
Holding a dancer back until they can win is just holding them back, period.
All of that brings me to this- I know my best dance days are behind me. I know my competition is half my age with twice the experience and that many think I shouldn’t even be up there trying.
I will tell you one thing I learned from many dancers of all abilities- the victory is not the elevation of highland Dance as an art form. The victory is getting all of the way through your dances and maybe getting one sixth place. I am happier with that than I would have been with a trophy in my younger years.
We don’t dance because we know we can win. We dance because we can.
We are also too dumb to quit.
But more eloquently, my friend and long time dance supporter Mama Rusty and I were talking about aging, life and dancing. She relayed what her dapper friend Marcel Toussaint once said-
“We should never willingly give up doing the things we worked hard to be able to.”
