The pipes were playing, the tartan was flying, and toes were tapping as the Quill Lake Highland Dance Club held their 22nd annual Robbie Burns Night.
Club dancers from age three to 17 took to the stage to dance a variety of traditional dances of the Scottish highlands. The club was also joined by the Glenlily Dancers out of Saskatoon, a highland dance group featuring dancers over the age of 18, which includes dance instructor Renee Ingram.
The club has been working since September to prepare them for the recital, says Renee, with practices going until March.
Renee is proud of her dancers who have been working hard to learn their routines. She made more mistakes during the evening than they did, she laughs.
The club is on the move, she says, with a jump from 16 dancers last year to 23 this year.
Next year will see at least one dancer move on from the club with Bethany Norris graduating this year from high school and moving on to the University of Regina.
Norris danced a special solo performance as a way to say goodbye to the club.
“I’ve been a student and now a teacher. It’s taught me to be a leader and work together with people and have great communication and great relationships with people.”
Planning her dance with Renee was an emotional process since both Norris and Renee did not want her year to end. Her performance did lead to many tears being shed by herself and fellow dancers.
While her performance wrapped up 14 years of dancing with the club, Norris says she will be looking to continue dancing in Regina.
Other special performances included bagpiper Lynda Lyon-Walls piping the dancers in to start the evening, Jim Walls on the guitar offering some musical numbers, and Emma Wood offering her beautiful vocal talents.
Organizer Melanie Ingram says the group has a great group of parents supporting the club and lending a hand in preparing for the night.
“Everything went so smoothly, I’m waiting for the ball to drop,” says Melanie, but she was happy to say that the night went off perfectly.
“Everyone came to help and a lot of hands made light work.”
Since the event started, it has been a big hit, says Ingram, with much Scottish representation in the Quill Lake area. It is too late to stop now, says Ingram.
“Everybody comes back year to year and it would be really sad if it didn’t happen. There’d be a lot of disappointed families,” says Melanie.
Haggis has been a tradition for the night, which has been made by Melanie, since she is the only one brave enough to cook it, she says.
Since sheep stomach is hard to come by, the liver, heart, steal ground oat mixture is cooked in an over bag, she says.
The key is in the spicing and it cannot be made too dry.
The club holds their annual night in January and Melanie says there is always a great turn out.
