Two students from the local Bell Studio of Highland Dance have recently returned home from performing with OzScot International at the Basel Tattoo in Switzerland.
Bell Studio of Highland Dance students Lucy Edwards and Tilly Salmon were selected to perform alongside 98 highland dancers from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Scotland and the USA in the tattoo, which ran for almost two weeks.
Bell Studio of Highland Dance Principal Katie Edwards said it was an amazing opportunity for the girls to perform at such a high quality international event.
“I am so proud of the girls for not only being selected to perform with OzScot Australia – Australia’s premier performance team – but also for their commitment to learning the choreography and making sure they were in the required physical condition to make it through such a demanding workload,” she said.
“This has been an experience that will stay with them forever, and it has opened the door to more future international performance opportunities.”
Once selected to be part of the OzScot team, Lucy and Tilly attended a workshop in Brisbane at the start of the year to begin learning the choreography, and then continued learning it via video.
They then had one week of rehearsing with the rest of the team in Basel before opening night.
“Rehearsal days typically started at 8am and finished any time between 8pm and midnight, so it was a lot of work to bring everything together,” Mrs Edwards said.
“Lucy and Tilly performed in four items per show, which ran daily for 10 days.”
After the completion of the tattoo, Lucy continued on to travel throughout Scotland on the competition circuit, winning 16 top three placings, with her overseas experience culminating in the World Championship qualifiers at Dunoon.
“As expected, the standard of highland dancing was exceptional, and for Lucy to be able to dance in the home of highland dancing, alongside the best dancers in the world, was a dream come true,” Mrs Edwards said.
Lucy and Tilly are now looking forward to expanding their overseas repertoire, with OzScot Australia headlining other events next year.
“This experience has ignited a passion for performance within both girls, and I’m sure this will only be the beginning of a highland dancing future filled with endless opportunities,” Mrs Edwards said.
