strathspey@strathspey.org:52639

Sophie Rickebusch

Re: No more sword dances?

June 3, 2008, 2:31 p.m. (Message 52639, in reply to message 52611)

The ethnic argument should also be valid in England and Wales. As far
as I know, there are more Scots living in England than in Scotland,
why should they not be allowed to practise their indigenous traditions
too? As for non-Scottish Highland dancers, well... just where would
you draw the line? Surely "foreign"-born children of Scottish parents
should be allowed access to their ancestors' culture? I can't see
anyone trying to enforce "You can only do the sword-dance if you have
at least one grand-parent born in Scotland", can you? Otherwise,
they'd probably have to ban non-Japanese people from practising any
kind of martial art which uses weapons (e.g. Kendo archery) and so
forth. Anyway, that's probably one argument in favour of getting an
exemption under "sport" rather than "ethnic tradition" - it would
include all the "Scottish at heart" dancers out there too :-)

Cheers,
Sophie
(currently wrestling with HM Revenue and Customs forms clearly not
made for Brits born abroad)

--
Sophie Rickebusch
Edinburgh, UK