Local children are Highland dancers
By Joann Groff joann@theacorn.com

GREAT MOVES- From left, Allyson Hirsch, 12, Emma Schiff, 7, and Charlie Morris, 8, practice their moves during a recent Highland Dancing competition aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach. The youngsters study the traditional Scottish dancing at the Farrar School of Highland Dancing in Bell Canyon. Emma began Highland dancing when she was 5 years old.

Emma Schiff picked up Highland dancing after her mother, Jehanne, told her about her own childhood fling with the Scottish folk dance.

Emma's mother introduced the dance to her when she was 5, and Emma fell in love.

"When my mom was a little girl she saw a dancing competition going on, and she went back home and asked her mom what it was," said Emma, 7. "Her mom, my grandmother, told her it was Highland dancing. She tried it, but only for like two weeks. She didn't like it like I do."

"It was hard when I first started," said Emma, who lives in Agoura Hills. "But I've learned five dances. I have a lot of fun doing it, and I've been doing it for two years, but I think I have quite a couple more years doing it."

A group ranging in age from 4 to 23 practice Highland dancing at the Farrar School of Highland Dancing in Bell Canyon. The Scottish dance, not to be confused with Irish dancing, is made up of precise and difficult movements judged on timing, technique and the dancer's general appearance and interpretation.

Divisions range from primary to premiere, and competitors learn new dances as they progress.

Emma, a Sumac Elementary School second-grader, just moved up from beginner to novice division. In October, she won the Most Promising Beginner award, and in her first competition in the novice division over President's Day weekend, she was chosen champion.

"It was so great," Emma said. "I wasn't expecting it. I saw some good dancers, and I think they were all older than me except for one. I couldn't believe I got the trophy."

The competition, on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, is an annual event celebrating the queen's heritage. Part of a weekend festival, the ship hosts one of the largest West Coast Highland dancing open championships of the year.

Allyson Hirsch, 12, won the aggregate overall trophy at the Queen Mary Championship.

"There was dancing on all four of the (ship's) decks, and we got to dance in the queen's salon," Allyson said. "We also got to dance 'The Sailor's Hornpipe,' a dance that imitates sailors, on a ship, so that was great."

Allyson, also an Agoura Hills resident, moved on to Highland dancing a couple of years ago after playing field hockey.

"It's very fun and, first of all, it's very healthful," Allyson said. "You get very fit, and it's really, really fun. You learn new stuff, and it's really interesting and fun to do."

Allyson said she feels lucky learning under her teacher, Sharon Farrar. The Canadian transplant said that Highland dancing can help pull young children out of their shell.

"Little kids who sometimes would be hiding behind their mother's skirts, shy kids, become confident, poised young people as a result of dancing," Farrar said.

"When they go through competition and performances," she said, "they are really kind of overcoming some of the fears that young people have, testing themselves all the time."

Farrar began dancing when she was 5 and competed in Canada before moving to California in 1962. She began teaching while still competing and has run the Farrar School since arriving in the States.

"The thing about Highland dancing is that it appeals to families," Farrar said. "They make friends for life through this. And certainly the parents enjoy the wholesome environment."

Farrar said she's had several students who started training with her at 5 years old and danced until 25 when they got married. Now she teaches their children.

"It's such a good tool to teach self discipline and cause and effect of work habits. If you don't have them, you don't do well, but work hard, and you eventually will succeed."

Schiff, Emma's mother, agreed.

"It encourages self-esteem, a reliance on one's own self to remember how to get it right and keep at it until you do- and then better it," Schiff said. "It encourages a serious work ethic that in a very tangible way, teaches that you will reap what you sow."

Most of the dancers come to the studio twice a week and are required to practice another four days on their own.

"Highland dancing isn't for everyone," Farrar said. "This isn't putting on a little tutu and dancing around on the stage. This takes hard work and dedication. You don't have to be Scottish; it's the love of the dance, the music that gets it started."

In addition to the dancing and the traveling, when the dancers compete, they wear traditional kilts of dress tartans, matching socks and velvet jackets or vests. For little Emma, that is one of the major perks.

"At the Queen Mary, it was only my second time wearing my brand new turquoise Highland socks that you can get in one place in the world," Emma said. "I think the place is Ireland. I love them."

For more information, call the Farrar School of Highland Dancing at (818) 340-1227.