The Highland Fling

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It is strictly FORBIDDEN for any participant to run in place of another runner. No one is allowed to run using another runner's race number.

James, a Scottish peasant, is about to marry a peasant girl named Effie. A Sylphide (a mythical winged sprite as difficult to hold as a dream) falls in love with James on his wedding day. She makes herself visible to him, and he falls in love with her and leaves his bride-to-be, relatives and wedding guests to escape with the Sylphide. James, a simple mortal, realizes that it is impossible to keep her at his side. Madge, the witch, sees James’ conundrum and offers him a magic scarf which he must tie around the Sylphide’s waist. This however will make her wings drop off leaving her unable to fly. James’ hope of the Sylphide being his forever is shattered as she falls to the ground dead. Perhaps nothing captures the spirit of Scottish culture better than the sight of Highland dancing being performed at some Highland gathering in some far flung corner of the world. This sophisticated form of national dancing has been spread by Scottish migrants across the world and competitions are now regularly organised in Australia, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and the United States. Whilst the majority of dancers now entered into these competitions are female, the roots of these ritualistic dances lay with warriors imitating epic deeds from Scottish folklore. There are many more steps in existence, some of which have been recorded in publications, for example, Traditional Step-Dancing in Scotland [6] while some exist only in the memories of senior dancers. Highland dancing is a healthy workout for adults and for children. It is a great way to develop good coordination, posture and overall muscle tone, not to mention aerobic capacity and strength. One study showed that a half hour of dance was equal to a soccer match.I do like characters with flaws because at least it feels more real even if they annoy me at times.

John is delighted to be presenting "Highland Fling" on thesoundsofscotland.com as it gives the opportunity to share the music and songs of Scotland around the world via the internet. I thought this book worked really well because while it was less steamy than some other books Quinn’s written, this one had more depth. I also liked how goofy the protagonist was, although I know some other readers found Bonnie to be a bit much. I thought she balanced really well with the other characters though, they played nicely off of each other. The relationships also faced significant conflicts, the love interest had actual obstacles he was trying to overcome, and there was real tension. There weren’t just silly fights about ridiculous misunderstandings, the issues were major and felt organic to the story. (You don’t always get that with romcoms so I like when it feels like there are actual stakes.) And the romances were so sweet! I loved that both Bonnie and Dakota had romantic storylines, and they were both adorable. And I was expecting Rowan to be this super alpha douche since I’ve run into that with the other books I’ve read of hers, but he really wasn’t. He genuinely was lovable and just kind of crotchety and overcoming trauma.

Customer reviews

As far as competitive Highland dancing is concerned, until 1986 only four standard dances remained – The Sword Dance (Gille Chaluim), The Seann Triubhas, The Highland Fling and The Reel of Tulloch. Like many other dance traditions Highland dancing has changed and evolved over the years, integrating elements that may have their roots set in centuries old tradition with elements that are much more modern. Primarily to make judging easier however, the selection of dances being performed were gradually narrowed down over the years and decades that followed. The result of this was that many traditional dances simply got lost, as they were no longer required for competition purposes. In addition, over the years Highland dancing has moved from being an exclusively male pursuit, to one that today includes more than 95% of female dancers.