Highland honour for canny youngster
Dancer’s delight at successes at national event
Esther Harry became entranced with highland dancing at a young age, especially the sword dance. Highland dancing runs through Esther’s blood as she follows in the footsteps of her mum and uncles, who have also danced since they were young.
The trio took Esther to her first dance competition to see what she thought of highland dancing, and Ester couldn’t stop watching the sword dance.
“When I saw the sword dance I really wanted to do it,” Esther said
Esther’s dancing took off from there, and she hasn’t looked back since.
When competing, the dancer wears a family kilt with the tartan pattern that her mum and uncles all wore when they competed.
The 9-year-old recently attended New Zealand Highland Dancer of the Year in Nelson, where she competed against top dancers her age from around the country.
In her age group, she was highly commended for her highland fling; was fourth in the sailor’s hornpipe, third in the Irish jig, and then won the sword dance.
Esther’s results mean she is now ranked runner-up for the 9 years age group nationally.
When asked how it felt to win all her awards, Esther said she felt excited and overwhelmed.
Esther’s dance teacher Nicole Brocklehurst, from Nicole’s School of Dance in Clive, is proud of the young dancer’s performance on the national stage and said Esther danced well while away.
Although she went down south for the dancing, Esther was also excited to see her best friend, also a highland dancer, who lives in Tauranga.
During their time in Nelson, Esther and her mum decided to do some clothes shopping.
Esther said, “I was very excited about the mall because we have no malls in Hawke’s Bay.”
While highland dancing is hard work, it is also fun, Esther says, and the young dancer would like to see more kids her age giving it a try.