Dancing on air
DEVIN WEEKS/Press A limber leap is one of many Scottish Highland dance moves the kilted Victoria Hawkins demonstrated Wednesday during practice at the Lake City Highland Dance Studio in the Silver Lake Mall.
Highland dancer Victoria Hawkins, 15, came in second place in the Federation of United States Teachers and Adjudicators Highland United States Inter-Regional Championship and fourth place in the FUSTA North American Championship, both held July 19 to 23 in Las Vegas. Courtesy photo
Lake City Highland Dance Studio owner and instructor Kasey Settle inspects Victoria Hawkins' arm form during a practice in the studio Wednedsay morning. (DEVIN WEEKS/Press)
Highland dancer Victoria Hawkins, 15, watches as instructor Kasey Settle gives her a few tips for watching her toes during a rehearsal of the traditional Scottish sword dance. (DEVIN WEEKS/Press)
Scottish Highland dancers wear soft shoes called "ghillies" over wool argyle socks. (DEVIN WEEKS/Press)
By DEVIN WEEKS
Staff Writer
Pull up socks. Keep back straight. Point the toes. Concentrate.
"When I get on stage, I’m just like, ‘OK, remember to point and turn out and jump,’ and I’m just thinking about what I should be doing,” Victoria Hawkins said Wednesday morning. "After I’m done with the dance, I’m just like, ‘OK! I’m done! It was good! Yay!'"
The 15-year-old Lake City Highland Dance student is dancing on air these days. She outperformed Scottish Highland dance competitors from across the country and around the world to come in second place in her age group in the Federation of United States Teachers and Adjudicators Highland United States Inter-Regional Championship and fourth place in her age group in the FUSTA North American Championship, both held July 19 to 23 in Las Vegas.
"When I was called up to be first runner-up, I was like, ‘I did not expect this! This is incredible!'" said a beaming Victoria, who is an incoming Northwest Home Educators Association sophomore.
Victoria has been dancing since she was about 3. Her family shares a Scottish heritage on her mother's side, and her older sisters participated in Highland dance, and it called to Victoria more than ballet or other dance styles.
“I describe it as definitely a sport, because it's extremely hard,” she said. "I do it because it is extremely fun. It keeps me fit. I get tons of friends from all over the world.
"And I love winning," she said, grinning. "It’s very fun when I win."
Victoria won a large silver platter that she'll proudly display near the more than 100 other dance trophies she's earned. She practices every day for more than an hour, and she powers through shin splints and toe injuries.
"It does take hard work," she said. "You can’t just get to a competition and win without practicing."
Scottish Highland dancing requires lots of legwork and the ability to be light on one’s toes. It differs from traditional Irish dance in how arms are frequently in the air rather than held at the side. Highland dancing requires feet to be turned out instead of crossed.
Victoria's instructor, studio owner Kasey Settle, was not able to participate in the competitions because of a leg injury, but she was in the Vegas ballroom with a couple hundred spectators during the performances, cheering on her favorite local Highland dancer.
"It’s huge. She has made Idaho very proud and out of the entire Northwest region, she was the only Northwest kid to get into the top three out of all the age groups," Settle said.
Because of her high placement, Victoria will be able to compete in the U.S. championship next year as one of the top three.
"It's the first time in history someone from Idaho has placed so high," Kasey said.
Victoria and Kasey will be performing and competing from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Spokane Scottish Highland Games at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center at 404 N. Havana St. in Spokane this Saturday. They will also perform Scottish Highland dancing at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds on the last day of the fair.