PUGWASH – There aren’t many competitive highland dancers in Cumberland County.
As a matter of fact, there is only one; nine-year-old Lilly MacDonald of Nappan.
“My husband is from Cape Breton, and I wanted her to learn to highland dance, and it just so happened he came across a teacher in Moncton, so she goes to Moncton for her lessons,” said Lilly’s mom, Mary Comeau.
Lilly started dancing six years ago, and she has never competed against another highland dancer from Cumberland County.
“There used to be some dancers in Sackville, N.B. That was a close as we knew of when we got into it,” said Comeau. “There are a lot of dancers from Pictou County but it would be nice to see more dancers from this area get involved.”
Lilly’s instructor is Ann Landry.
“She’s had dancers go to world championships and be world champions.”
Lilly attended the Scotdance Canada Championship Series in Charlottetown in 2017, where she came away with an eighth-place finish in the sword dance.
“It was a really good experience. The dancers were from across Canada, from Australia and other places,” said Comeau.
The 2018 championships are in Calgary this week, from June 29 to July 4, so Lilly won’t be attending.
“Next year it’s in Moncton, so we’ll definitely be at that.”
Lilly attends classes every Saturday, except in the summer, because that’s when she competes.
She was at the Gathering of the Clans in Pugwash on Monday where she earned a gold medal in the chartreuse and a bronze medal in the sword dance.
She says that, besides giving her discipline, highland dancing is also a lot of fun.
Lilly will attend Grade 5 at Cumberland North Academy this fall.
